Heena Sharma Blog

  It is Dhanteras today, an occasion that marks the beginning of Diwali festival in India. Dhanteras is considered an auspicious day to buy precious metal. While there is no specific sale happening around the occasion, e-commerce platforms operating in the country like Amazon and Flipkart are running Diwali sales where one can avail offers and discounts on wide range of products, besides bank offers such as no interest equated monthly instalment and instant discounts. Let’s take a look at offers available on e-commerce platform: Amazon India Dhanteras sale Amazon is currently running its annual festive season sale named the ‘ Great Indian Festival sale ’ . Valid until November 13, the sale include wide range of products, including discounts on precious metals like Gold and Silver. Besides, there are bank offers to sweeten the deal; Amazon is offering 10 per cent instant discount on transaction made through State Bank of India credit cards subjected to minimum order value of Rs 5,0

  Google has stirred up a storm over several past weeks. First, it was the spat with Paytm . Google removed Paytm from Play Store for a few hours on September 18 because the latter was promoting its fantasy sports offering Paytm First Games. Google does not host, or allow other apps to promote, fantasy sports on the app store. Then on September 28, it came out with a policy change. Google said, starting next year, it will charge 30 per cent commission on in-app purchases for all kinds of app businesses. Google already charges in-app purchase commission on certain a category of apps; the latest directive basically makes it apply across the board. Google said only three per cent of app developers will be affected. The move created furor in the internet business community. App developers and founders took to social media to protest against Google's ostensible abuse of its dominant position. Google’s Android operating system is installed in 98 per cent of Indian smartphones, an

  Paytm has taken the challenge to Google’s Play Store by launching its Android Mini App Store , through which it seeks to help developers take their applications to the masses. This is the start-up’s latest move to break Google’s monopoly over distribution of Android applications. Paytm is providing listing and distribution of these mini apps from within its app, without any charge. Developers will be able to give a choice of Paytm Wallet, Paytm Payments Bank, UPI, net banking, and card payments to users. Mini apps are custom-built mobile websites that give users an app-like experience without requiring an actual download — which will benefit millions of users by helping them save their data and memory. This comes weeks after Google pulled down the Paytm app from its Play Store temporarily, citing violation of its gambling policies. Read More

  Digital wallet Paytm vanished from the Google Playstore on Friday, reportedly pulled down for being an "unregulated gambling apps", said CNBC-TV18 quoting Google. Paytm is India’s leading digital payments app, claiming over 50 million monthly active users. Twitter users were first to spot the app was missing from the Store "We don’t allow online casinos/support any unregulated gambling apps that facilitate sports betting. It includes if app leads consumers to an external website that allows them to participate in paid tournaments to win real money/cash prizes,” said a Google statement quoted by CNBC-TV18. Read More

Digital wallet Paytm on Monday refuted reports that it is going to charge users extra amount for digital transactions on its platform. "We would like to clarify that Paytm app /payment gateway owned by One97 Communications Limited does not charge or levy any convenience/transaction fee from our customers on using any payment method which includes cards, UPI, net-banking and wallet. "Paytm customers will continue using all the services available on the platform without any fee," the Noida-headquartered company said in a statement. The ET report on Sunday said that Paytm is going to allegedly charge 1 per cent on payments via credit cards, 0.9 per cent for debit cards and up to Rs 12-15 through net banking and UPI-based methods. According to the digital payments company, there have been few merchants like educational institutes or utility service providers who do not absorb credit card charges and expect customers to pay the same. "In such cases, we rec

Google showcased an innovation for its mobile payments app Google Pay on Wednesday, wherein merchants at stores can initiate payment requests by punching in a customer’s mobile number on their point-of-sale (POS) terminals. With this the California-based firm is taking on PhonePe and Paytm in their own home ground and is also challenging its US rival Amazon. Google also unveiled two other services through which its payments application users can book train tickets and buy gold. “ Digital payments has been a phenomenal story for India,” said Ambarish Kenghe, director, product management, Google Pay, India. “We want to address use cases that are close to our (customer’s) heart.” Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transaction volumes have outpaced all other forms of digital payments including wallets, mobile banking, and credit and debit cards. It has grown 40 times in 18 months, from 17 million transactions in August 2017 to 673 million in February 2019. Read More Article

India’s online retail industry has been in turmoil since the government implemented stringent new rules to rein in major players like Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc.’s Flipkart . Amid the uproar, Vijay Shekhar Sharma -- whose two-year-old Paytm Mall is backed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. -- is quietly devising ways to outstrip his rivals. The new regime forbids retailers from holding any business interest in online merchants on their websites, exclusive arrangements and deep discounts -- forcing Amazon and Flipkart to redraw contracts and rescue thousands of product listings that vanished overnight. The founder of Paytm Mall operator Paytm E-commerce Pvt, an affiliate of India’s largest digital payments provider, spoke in an interview this week about how his business stands to gain. The new rules require more stringent adherence by e-commerce marketplaces. For some of us who have been compliant all along, this gives us an opportunity to consolidate the business while rivals

Ride-hailing company Ola said that it has achieved a unique milestone of facilitating the issue of 20 million in-trip micro- insurance policies to its customers every month under its flagship and industry-first programme, in association with a new age insurer. The product was designed to cater to the needs of customers during their cab rides, specifically for city rides and outstation rides on the Ola platform. Launched in April last year, Ola said the in-trip insurance saw acceptance from all age groups with key metros like Bengaluru, Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai registering the fastest adoption growth rates. “ This unique micro-insurance program has been custom built for Ola users, covering the risk of untoward incidents when on the road,” said Nitin Gupta, CEO of Ola Financial Services (OFS). He said over 20 million policies have been availed by customers, every month since the trial phase in April 2018. “We continue to work on such unique propositions that will transform t

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has revealed that Paytm was in violation of know-your-customer (KYC) rules while on-boarding users for its payments bank business for which it was banned from opening new accounts and e-wallets in August, The Times of India reported. In an RTI reply, the RBI revealed the payments bank failed to maintain the prescribed net worth limit of Rs 1 billion and also violated the end-of-the-day Rs 100,000 limit per account. Payments banks are not allowed to hold more than Rs 100,000 in each account. The RBI also expressed unhappiness at the close relations between Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s One97 Communications and the entity that runs Paytm Payments Bank (PPB). While Sharma owns a 51% stake, the rest is owned by One97 Communications and its subsidiaries. Payments banks are expected to maintain an arm’s length relationship with promoter group entities. Read More Business Standard

Taking its digital payments platform to the next level, One97 Communications Limited, which owns the Paytm brand, is experimenting with facial recognition technology to unlock the payments application. This is expected to enhance the security of accounts, said source in the company privy to this development. To begin with, the Vijay Shekhar Sharma-owned company is testing the face login feature on its Android beta app, the person said. This will be an important security update for Paytm users that is designed to prevent phishing attacks by providing an additional security layer of biometric security, said a security expert. ALSO READ: Paytm's losses rise by almost 80% on the back of massive expansion plans The tool would also remove the complexity of resetting passwords to log in to accounts as there are instances when users accidentally share their account details with others and are mostly not comfortable with resetting their password. Reports have said that th

Amazon and Flipkart have cornered about three-quarters of the online Indian retail market, but other big players are getting aggressive Companies News : India's long-neglected retail market is turning into one of the world's hottest thanks to Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos and a frenzy of billion-dollar dealmaking. Walmart Inc just wrapped up a $16 billion agreement for control of the country's leading e-commerce player, Flipkart Online Services Pvt, while Bezos' Amazon.com Inc negotiates deals with a large supermarket chain and an investment in a prominent retail conglomerate, according to local media. This week, Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc agreed to acquire a stake in the company behind digital payments leader Paytm. Why the sudden interest in India? The new optimism is fueled by rising standards of living, increases in smartphone usage and cheap data plans that are boosting internet penetration across the nation. Perhaps most important, India

The messaging app will partner HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank to process the transfers, and State Bank of India will join once it has the necessary systems in place Technology News : Facebook   is set to offer its   WhatsApp   payment services to the whole of India as early as next week in an attempt to win market share, even though its partners aren’t all ready, said people familiar with the matter. The messaging app will partner HDFC Bank,   ICICI Bank and   Axis Bank   to process the transfers, and State Bank of India will join once it has the necessary systems in place, the people said.   Facebook   was aiming for a full rollout with four partners but decided to go ahead with just three as its rivals were racing ahead, the people said, asking not to be named as the information isn’t public. The entry of   Whats app   into India’s payments space has been likened to We Chat, which reshaped payments in China when it expanded beyond messaging. The pilot ver