IDFC Bank to Roll Out Aadhaar Pay for Cashless Payments to Merchants Nationally

IDFC Bank has announced the nationwide launch of IDFC Aadhaar Pay, India’s first Aadhaar-linked cashless merchant solution that uses a retailers’ own android smart phone to enable cashless payments. Aadhaar Pay has been developed by IDFC Bank in association with Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

IDFC Aadhaar Pay will enable millions of merchants across the country to facilitate cashless purchases for customers in a cost effective and scalable way, supporting the government’s initiatives towards boosting cashless transactions. 

Dr. Rajiv Lall, Founder MD and CEO, IDFC Bank, said, “IDFC Aadhaar Pay is a breakthrough in technology for cashless payments. It will enable citizens in the deepest corners of the country to participate in India’s digital movement, even those who do not own a phone but want to pay digitally. People only need to have a bank account and their Aadhaar linked to it.”

“It is, thus far, the simplest way to pay as it does not require a customer to swipe debit cards, remember passwords, or download apps. Importantly, there are no transaction fees for both merchants and customers. IDFC Aadhaar Pay will accelerate the pace of growth for cashless payments, giving wings to the government’s efforts towards digitization for inclusive growth,” he added.

IDFC Aadhaar Pay went live last week at a fair price shop in Andhra Pradesh, inaugurated by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, and was subsequently introduced to merchants in Delhi and Bihar. Over the past three days, over 100 merchant outlets have been using IDFC Aadhaar Pay.

IDFC Aadhaar Pay is a solution made available on a merchant’s smart phone.  A merchant is on boarded with IDFC Bank using e-KYC, within a short time span of an hour. An SMS link enables the merchant to download the IDFC Aadhaar Pay app on any basic smart phone. This phone is connected to a STQC certified Aadhaar biometric reader. A customer can pay the merchant with just two fields in the IDFC Aadhaar Pay app - Bank name and Aadhaar number. The fingerprint is the password, thus making it easy to use.

IDFC Aadhaar  Pay is unique because it is does not compel a customer to use cards, download new applications, remember passwords, account numbers, set up virtual payments addresses, type detailed USSD codes to transfer money, or even have a phone to do cashless payments.

In rural and semi-urban areas, where customers need ‘assisted digital’ banking formats, IDFC Bank’s Aadhaar Merchant solution is a perfect fit. The merchant benefits from the medium – as this being a new AEPS payment railroad, it has no merchant discount rate (MDR) attached to it and can provide the service to customers without having to pay the bank a transaction fee.

IDFC Bank has been leading on the financial inclusion front by using technology for banking the unbanked. In one such effort, the Bank has placed over 2000 interoperable microATMs (Aadhaar based) at kirana stores, chemists, dhabas, mandis, panchayat offices and other customer touch points, to reduce time and distance taken to access a bank’s branch or an ATM. This initiative has significantly enhanced convenience to citizens in deep rural and semi-urban locations across the country.

India Key Economic Forecast for 2017 and Beyond...

Real Economy: 
IIP for the month of Nov 16 is expected to be in the positive zone in Oct 16 largely owing to the base effect. Industrial production in the country continues to be plagued by weak investment activity, decelerating bank credit growth, weak external demand and lower capacity utilization rate. Besides the dent in consumption demand owing to demonetisation is also expected to impact production activity going forward. DnB expects IIP to have grown by 2.0%-3.0% during Nov-16.

Price Scenario:  While demonetisation is expected to pull inflation down as cash constraint impacts the prices of commodities, the impact will the transitory. Upside risks to inflation persists with increase in global commodity and crude oil prices, strengthening of dollar, US fed rate hike and downward pressure on the rupee. D&B expects the CPI inflation to be in the range of3.4%-3.6% and WPI inflation to be in the range of 3.2% - 3.4% during Dec-16, respectively.

Money and Finance:  Yields across maturities during Dec 16 is expected to be lower or at the same level as in the month of Nov16 owing to moderation in inflation. Also, given rise in bank deposits, banks are parking their funds in government bonds. However, the hawkish stance of both the RBI and the Fed would pull down the bond prices although in the near term. D&B expects 15-91 day T-Bill yield to average at around 5.9%-6.0% and 10-year G-sec yield at around 6.3%-6.6% during Dec-16.

External Sector:  Rupee is expected to remain under pressure in Dec 16. Uncertainty on impact of demonetisation, low productivity in parliament and ambiguity over the implementation of the GST on target date, uncertainly around global economy, OPEC decision to cut oil production along with strengthening of dollar will continue to exert downward pressure on rupee. DnB expects the rupee to trade in the range of around 67.70-67.90 per US$ during Dec-16.

Advanced Indian Manufacturing Policy to be Unveiled Shortly

The government is formulating a National Policy for Advanced Manufacturing as one of the key tools to attain its objective of increasing the contribution of manufacturing output to 25% of GDP by 2025 from the current 16%.

The National Policy for Advanced Manufacturing also aims to significantly enhance India's global manufacturing competitiveness. However, the government is mindful of the "threat to jobs" due to adoption of smart manufacturing.

"There are a lot of concerns, lot of opportunities, there are also threats particularly on jobs so how to make our policies, how to tailor our industry, how to get ready for this in a manner that the transition is seamless and our people are skilled enough, may be to relocate to other areas," said DIPP Secretary Ramesh Abhishek.

He was addressing a meeting to seek stakeholders' inputs on the policy. The meeting, chaired by Department of Heavy Industry Secretary Girish Shankar, also discussed the framework for introduction of 'Industry 4.0'.

"The National Policy for Advanced Manufacturing which essentially is how to increase technological depth so that we become globally competitive and are not left behind," Shankar said.

However, he pointed out that framing of the policy may take some more time because it needs a lot of consultation, and invited comments from the public.

The capital goods policy envisages formulation of a National Policy for Advanced manufacturing which would include advanced materials, modern manufacturing like advanced robotics and 3D printing, among others.

The National Capital Goods Policy, approved by the government in May, envisages increasing production of capital goods from Rs 2,30,000 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 7,50,000 crore in 2025 and raising direct and indirect employment from the current 8.4 million to 30 million.

Relicance Comm To Sell 51% of Tower Business to Brookfield Infra

Reliance Communications (RCom) said it has signed a binding agreement to sell 51% stake in its tower business to Canada-based Brookfield Infrastructure and its institutional partners.

RCom will receive an upfront cash payment of Rs 11,000 crore ($1.6 billion) on completion of the transaction. The transaction will represent the largest ever investment by any overseas financial investor in the infrastructure sector in India, the company said.

RCom's telecom towers will be demerged into a separate new company that will be 100% owned and independently managed by Brookfield Infrastructure, thereby creating the second largest independent and operator-neutral towers company in India.

RCom will also receive Class B non-voting shares in the new tower company, providing 49% future economic upside in the towers business, based on certain conditions, the company said. RCom will utilise the upfront cash payment of Rs 11,000 crore solely to reduce its debt.

RCom and Reliance Jio (Mukesh Ambani's 4G telecom venture) will continue as major long-term tenants of the tower company.

Last week, a Bernstein report said large Indian telecom firms may offload their tower assets in 2017.

"2017 may very well shape up to be the year where the largest Indian telcos all sell down their tower assets. We believe the likelihood of Airtel, Idea and Vodafone all selling (or at least selling down) their holding is high," it said.

In October this year, telecom major Bharti Airtel had said it will explore stake sale in its Indian mobile tower arm Bharti Infratel, where its holds 72% stake.

Its Board of Directors had authorised the committee of directors to evaluate option for "monetisation of significant stake in Infratel", Airtel had said in a BSE filing

Only 1% of Indians Pay I-T, Says Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog

Chief Executive Officer of Niti Aayog Amitabh Kant said just 1% of India's more than 1.25 billion population pays Income Tax and the country cannot afford as high as 95% of its economy making cash transactions.

Addressing a workshop on Cashless Transaction organised by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Kant said India cannot afford as high as 95% of its economy making cash transactions if the economy has to be taken from $2 trillion to $10 trillion by the year 2030.

"Besides, only 1% of the more than 1.25 billion population pays Income Tax," he said.
Kant said there are more than a billion mobile phone subscribers in India and more than one billion Aadhaar biometrics have been created so far, according to an official release. He said with an aim to push India among the top economies of the world, the government has enrolled nearly 26 crore people under the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) and more than 20 crore RuPay cards issued.

The time is here to make a transition to cashless transactions, he said.

Addressing the function, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju asked NDRF personnel to adopt cashless transactions and utilise their vast reach across all corners of the country to spread the message of digital payments.

Rijiju said the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and state police forces personnel must take the lead as the nation is poised to join the leading economies of the world.

Seclore & TechnoBind Partner to Increase Distribution Network and Drive Growth

Seclore, the leading provider of Enterprise Digital Rights Management (EDRM) solutions, today announced its partnership with TechnoBind, India’s first specialised distributor for data and the associated domains. This association will offer support to Seclore’s strategic and business expansion plans in India and meet the growing needs of firms in the region for data- centric security solutions.

Seclore provides one of the most advanced, secure, and automated EDRM solutions to help companies in controlling and managing user access to critical documents and files. This comprehensive software suite comes bundled with industry-specific features, convenience, advanced technology, and connectivity that delivers automated file protection.

TechnoBind’s alliance with Seclore will benefit businesses who have been looking for a packaged solution that strikes the right balance between data-centric security and collaboration. It enables companies to secure sensitive data as it is exchanged and shared across a variety of different sources.

“In this era of consumerization of IT and enterprise mobility, end-users are demanding ‘anywhere, anytime’ access to information data. While it improves productivity, constant file sharing introduces new challenges to businesses.Seclore’s offerings will address some of the key pain points around Information usage control, information rights management and securing information as it travels.,” said Prashanth G J, CEO at TechnoBind.

Seclore has a growing client roster of Global 5000 companies in the banking, financial services, insurance, pharmaceutical, telecom, government, and manufacturing industries that rely on Seclore’s technology to persistent protect information wherever it travels and is stored.

“Seclore is growing and we wanted a key strategic partner that would enable us to cater to growing demand and to scale rapidly in critical markets. The Central Government’s sustained focus on “Digital India’ ensures huge potential for Seclore’s business. TechnoBind brings in both the reputation of being a value added distributor and a widespread operational footprint. This partnership with TechnoBind makes us well positioned to accelerate the expansion of our business in the India market,” said Amit Malhotra, VP, Sales - India, Middle East & Africa, Seclore.

According to Seclore, interest in EDRM is growing rapidly. The benefits of EDRM are clearly being seen now across a range of sectors. The new partnership will bring new opportunities for both Seclore and TechnoBind’s, who will be able to tap into these verticals where data-centric security is the primary focus. This partnership announcement comes at a time when Seclore has won a recent ‘Channel Leadership survey’ award from a leading publication house for the best EDRM solutions. Seclore expects EDRM to take a greater share of the increasing IT investment in the region over the coming years.

Brocade Ruckus ICX 7150 Switch to Bring Enhanced Functionality & Performance

Ruckus Wireless, a part of Brocade, has announced the Brocade Ruckus ICX 7150 switch, an entry-level stackable campus switch for budget-conscious customers in the education, hospitality and small-to-medium business (SMB) sectors. For the first time, budget-sensitive organizations will be able to experience the same features and high performance that major enterprises enjoy while also being able to scale and grow accordingly without having to replace equipment.

“Access Networks utilizes enterprise-grade network appliances to provide the finest network solutions for its customers’ connected lifestyles,” said Hagai Feiner, founder and CEO, Access Networks. “As a long-term, satisfied Ruckus partner, we are very pleased to add the ICX switches to our portfolio. The new ICX 7150 switch is an ideal complement to the Ruckus Wi-Fi networks. It delivers the enterprise-class features, flexibility and scalability at an affordable price that we need. From the ability to upgrade uplinks from 1GbE to 10GbE with a license, long-distance stacking, and the ability to expand our network with other ICX 7000 switch families with Campus Fabric, the ICX 7150 switch does what no other competitor can match for the price.”

What:

The Ruckus ICX 7150 offers unprecedented, enterprise-class features and performance at an entry-level price. At the same time, it enables organizations to buy what they need now and easily scale to support growth and new technologies in the future.

The Ruckus ICX 7150 is available in 12, 24 and 48 port 10/100/1000 Mbps models with 1/10 GbE dual-purpose uplink/stacking ports. The switch’s Power over Ethernet (PoE) and Power over Ethernet Plus (PoE+) capabilities make powering of high-capacity access points (APs) and other devices along with data connection easy. Additional features include:

·         Software upgradeable uplink/stacking ports from 1 GbE to 10 GbE

·         SDN-enabled with OpenFlow support

·         Easy transition to Brocade Campus Fabric for network automation and management simplicity

·         Plug-and-play operations for powered devices via LLDP and LLDP-MED protocols

·         Auto-configuration ensures error free configuration and accelerates deployment

·         Hot-insertion and removal of stack members simplifies operations

·         sFlow-based network monitoring

·         Flexible stacking adds capacity throughout the network without increasing the management load

Who:

The Ruckus ICX 7150 switches are ideal for organizations in the education, SMB or hospitality sectors as well as organizations that are more budget conscious.

When:

The Ruckus ICX 7150 can be ordered now with volume shipments starting in February 2017.