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<ul><li>Mumbai-based <keyword id="1745661" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mswipe">Mswipe</keyword> has launched an <keyword id="115504" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="App-Store">app store</keyword> called <keyword id="7846164" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="money-store">Money Store</keyword>.</li><li>The app store will have apps for merchants to help them digitize their businesses. </li><li>The platform will have 200 apps.</li></ul>Point-of-sale terminal startup Mswipe has launched an app store called Money Store which will house merchant-centric apps. This however is not restricted to payments, but will help digitize several other verticals of their businesses. To bring these productivity apps on board, Mswipe partnered with app-makers like GoFrugal, Logic ERP, ePaisa, Logosoft, Adequare, Retailware, Intution, Clinicia and nGO. Software developers will be able to showcase their apps on the store, and get direct access to 500,000 merchants. The app store which will have 200 apps, already has 100 apps available at the time of launch. “Automation can be a game changer for SME merchants. The Money Store with its best-in-class productivity apps will substantially enhance the value of our products for our customers enabling them to increasingly use their POS terminals for activities like sales, purchases, inventory management, purchase of goods, etc besides accepting all types of payments,” said Manish Patel, Founder and CEO, Mswipe. In April 2019, Mswipe raised $30 million in a series E round with plans to sign up 1.5 million merchants by 2019-20. Mumbai-based Mswipe had raked in ₹1.42 billion in revenue post demonetisation in the year 2016-17. According to an RBI report from January 2019, the number of PoS terminals from banks alone went up by over 3.6 million in India.

Mswipe opens an app store, developers will now have access to 500,000 merchants

<ul><li>Point-of-Sale startup <keyword id="1745661" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mswipe">Mswipe</keyword> has raised $30 million and now plans to acquire 1.5 million merchants by 2020. </li><li>The Indian PoS market has been fast-growing with even the likes of Amazon, Google expanding to offline markets. </li><li>The focus now is on building technology-driven devices or apps that will make way for <keyword id="7488649" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="smart-billing">smart billing</keyword> systems.</li><li><keyword id="1034238" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Poynt">Poynt</keyword>, a smart terminal which has been founded by the creator of Google Wallet <keyword id="225346" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Osama-Bedier">Osama Bedier</keyword>, too is looking to enter India.</li></ul>The Indian government has set ambitious goals for the country to become a cashless economy. And pushing forward this digitisation are point-of-sale terminals or portable billing machines. Now, PoS startup Mswipe, has raised $30 million in a series E round with plans to sign up 1.5 million merchants by FY 2020. Mumbai-based Mswipe, which raked in ₹1.42 billion in revenue post demonetisation in the year 2016-17, has been possibly one of the biggest beneficiaries of the note ban apart from Paytm. The cost of a Mswipe machine starts at ₹1,500. The 7-year-old startup also appears to be gearing up for competition. Be it the Indian competitor Payswifff or US-based Poynt. Poynt – a smart terminal which is the brainchild of Osama Bedier, the creator of Google Wallet – is also looking at India as an ideal market. Poynt, as Bedier likes to call as the ‘Android’ for digital payments. But the focus now has to be on technology. Mswipe is developing its technology with the introduction of WisePoS, a smart billing machine that will enable retailers to run multiple applications on them including billing, inventory management and supply chain along with integrated payments. It is also currently piloting the MoneyStore, an app store for payment productivity apps. “Tech powered products will add significant value to merchants including an app-based ecosystem to help our merchant partners beyond payments. We are big believers in offering merchants access to a merchant-friendly cost-effective open ecosystem,” said <keyword id="182064" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Manish-Patel">Manish Patel</keyword>, founder and CEO, Mswipe. Meanwhile, Poynt offers an open operating system that can power any smart payment terminal worldwide. “300 million smart payment devices will exist in the next five years. 50 million of those will be in India. These devices will be responsible for at least half of the world’s commerce. If these devices are changed to computing devices, the software that runs on those that will be a trillion dollar business. In an app store model, where you take 10 or 20% just to distribute that, that itself is a $200 billion business,” Bedier told Business Insider in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/google-wallet-creator-osama-bediers-startup-poynt-will-launch-in-india-in-2019/articleshow/68145220.cms">an earlier interview</a>. This market opportunity is not missed by the big players – Amazon, Google – who are all rushing to have a pie of the offline payments market. It’s India’s bullish move to be a cashless economy that has empowered the presence of these PoS terminals. According to RBI report from January 2019, PoS terminals from banks alone go up to over 36 lakhs in India. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/google-wallet-creator-osama-bediers-startup-poynt-will-launch-in-india-in-2019/articleshow/68145220.cms">The creator of Google Wallet is making a big bet on India via his 4-year old startup</a>

A lot of money is flowing into making 'smart' billing machines in India

There is a new industry that is rising with the motive of making banking easier for customers, and to top it all, it’s still away from regulators. The financial technology sector, or <keyword id="2461546" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="FinTech">fintech</keyword> as it is christened by users, is attracting talented individuals from all the industries. 
 
It was last week that Flipkart hired for two high-profile jobs in the fintech business, following Paytm, which had roped in PwC's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Shinjini-Kumar-to-head-Paytm-payments-bank/articleshow/51056601.cms">Shinjini Kumar</a> to be the CEO of its <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/IT-giants-like-Infosys-TCS-want-to-pull-off-a-deal-worth-Rs-125-crore-with-Paytm-for-its-payments-bank/articleshow/51102984.cms">payments bank</a> that is yet to be launched. Not only this, Krishna Hegde, Barclays’ top executive, and Vipin Surelia, former DGM at RBI, were also hired. 
 
Fintech, the umbrella term, covers technology-based companies operating in insurance, payment, and asset management, etc. It is already transforming banking business, challenging mammoth banks, which is why headhunters are observing talents moving towards it. 
 
"Finance technology is a booming segment in India with the opening of numerous mobile wallet companies, non-banking financing companies and now payments banks - all running on robust digital platforms," said AG Rao, group managing director of ManpowerGroup India. Being relatively new, the segment is already generating a lot of new jobs, with most of them clustered around mobile, user experience and financial analysis. 
 
More than 117 million Indians use smartphones and over 160 million of us are connected to the Internet, which is why a large number of companies are coming up with products that can assist their customers. Financial sector is not far behind in this, as technology is developing at a rate alarming for traditional banking. 
 These low-cost, high-tech technology models deal with low-value, high-volume financial customers, which is why companies like <keyword id="143842" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mobikwik">Mobikwik</keyword>, <keyword id="2461194" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Capital-Float">Capital Float</keyword>, <keyword id="1745661" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mswipe">MSwipe</keyword>, <keyword id="6580234" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="CITRUS-PAY">Citrus Pay</keyword> and <keyword id="6519244" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ezetap">Ezetap</keyword> have raised more than $150 million in India. 
 
"Considering this is a newly evolved industry, it will see at least a 20% increase in hiring due to new e-wallets and payments banks. It will be due to large scale of business (ecommerce) and financials going online," Ajay Shah, assistant vice president at Teamlease Services, told ET. 
 
Talking about the future of fintech in India, it is as of now synonymous with just payment technology; however, globally speaking, there are 11 lending fintech unicorns. Nonetheless, the sector is expected to spread its wings in India, covering hitherto untapped areas such as lending and personal finance. 
 
<a href="http://hollandfintech.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/fintech-apps.jpg">Image source</a>

Fintech sector spreading its wings in India, attracting talents from across industries

<ul><li>India’s central bank will be releasing a paper on digital payment charges soon.</li><li><keyword id="30067" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="RBI" source="Orion">RBI</keyword> is also planning to introduce UPI-based payment products to India’s feature phone users.</li><li>Currently, no UPI player in India makes money out of it.</li></ul>The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will release a discussion paper on charges on digital payments in India, Governor <keyword id="6359111" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Shaktikanta-Das" source="Orion">Shaktikanta Das</keyword> revealed as part of the monetary policy announcement on December 8. In order to further boost financial inclusion, RBI will also be introducing a unified payments interface (UPI)-based payment products for feature phones. Notably, UPI is currently the most popular digital payments method in India. Nearly 4.1 billion transactions worth ₹6.68 lakh crore were carried out by UPI in November 2021. RBI will also enhance the transactions limited to ₹5 lakh for UPI payments for RBI's Retail Direct scheme. The previous limit was ₹2 lakh. Das believes that it will help deepen the UPI payment segment and ease the transactions even further. RBI will release a discussion paper on various charges in the payment system which includes cards, wallets and UPI, Das said. One of the long-standing demands of the UPI players in India is the imposition of merchant discount rate (MDR) on these transactions, which will allow the facilitators to make money on it. Currently, any digital payments player — including Paytm, Google Pay and PhonePe — makes no money on UPI-based payments as they are not allowed to charge any commission on it. Although the same players can charge on other non-UPI digital transactions. PhonePe’s Founder and Chief Executive Sameer Nigam, in a press conference held on September 8, had highlighted that currently 85-90% of the firm’s transactions are carried out using UPI that has "zero MDR". PhonePe currently processes over 45% of UPI transactions in India on a monthly basis and is the biggest player in this domain. However, it is still not sure if RBI would take due notice of this matter. Ankit Bhatnagar, Head of Product at Mswipe, said, “At Mswipe, we witnessed this trend too with our merchants seeing an uptick in UPI transactions. Mswipe merchants clocked transactions worth INR 810 crore in September 2021, a significant increase over the year from INR 132 crore in October 2020. RBI’s proposal of introducing UPI-based payment products for feature phones will further boost the acceptance of digital payments and also boost financial inclusion. This will not only benefit users in terms of flexibility and convenience but also ensure to bring more small merchants into the digital economy while also strengthening the payments infrastructure of the country." "Additionally, RBI’s decision on forming a panel to study <keyword id="8261758" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="digital-payments-charges" source="Orion">digital payments charges</keyword> will mitigate the concerns of customers over the reasonability of various charges incurred by them and will bring in more transparency and regulation in the system as a whole,” he added. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/zoho-freshworks-and-top-indian-saas-companies-have-given-500-entrepreneurs-to-the-indian-startup-ecosystem/articleshow/88145310.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Zoho, Freshworks and top Indian SaaS companies have given 500 entrepreneurs to the Indian startup ecosystem</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/investment/news/humanoid-robot-sophia-is-entering-the-metaverse-with-intelligent-nfts/articleshow/88156738.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Humanoid robot Sophia is entering the metaverse with ‘intelligent’ NFTs</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/policy/news/here-is-what-to-expect-from-the-rbi-monetary-policy-today/slidelist/88150941.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Six charts explain what the market expects from the RBI’s monetary policy review</a>

These are the likely changes in digital payments as indicated by the RBI governor

<keyword id="149108" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bharat-Biotech">Bharat Biotech</keyword>'s <keyword id="9485939" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="covaxin">Covaxin</keyword> has demonstrated 77.8 per cent effectiveness against symptomatic COVID-19 and65.2 per cent protection against the new Delta variant. The company on Saturday said it concluded the final analysis of Covaxin efficacyfrom Phase3 trials. The efficacy analysis demonstrates Covaxin to be 93.4 per cent effective against severe symptomatic COVID-19 cases while safety analysis shows adverse events reported were similar to placebo, with 12 per cent of subjects experiencing commonly known side effects and less than 0.5 per cent feeling serious adverse events. The efficacy data demonstrates 63.6 per cent protection against asymptomatic COVID-19, a release from the city-based vaccine maker said. Phase 3 <keyword id="83911" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Clinical-trials">clinical trials</keyword> of the vaccine was an event driven analysis of 130 symptomatic COVID-19 cases, reported at least two weeks after the second dose, conducted at 25 sites across <keyword id="3658" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="India">India</keyword>. The whole virion inactivated vaccine against SARS-CoV2, was developed inpartnership with Indian Council of Medical Research and National Institute ofVirology in Pune. Krishna Ella, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Biotech, said, "The successful safety and efficacy readouts of Covaxin as a result of conducting the largest ever COVID Vaccines trials in India establishes the ability of India and developing world countries to focus towards innovation and novel product development. We are proud to state that Innovation from India will now be available to protect global populations." Director General of ICMR, Balram Bhargava said, "I am delighted to note that Covaxin developed by ICMR and BBIL under an effective public private partnership, has demonstrated an overall efficacy of 77.8 per cent in Indias largest COVID phase 3 clinical trial thus far. Our scientists at ICMR and BBIL have worked tirelessly to deliver a truly effective vaccine of highest international standards." He further said Covaxin will not only benefit the Indian citizens but would also immensely contribute to protect the global community against the deadly SARS-CoV-2 virus. "I am also pleased to see that Covaxin works well against all variant strains of SARS-CoV-2. The successful development of Covaxin has consolidated the position of Indian academia and Industry in the global arena," Bhargava said. The Phase 3 trials were conducted between November 16, 2020 and January 7, 2021 with 25,798 participants who were randomised to BBV152 or placebo groups. The preprint data of COVAXIN efficacy has not been certified by peer-review, according to Medrxiv in which thedata was published. SEE ALSO - <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/bharatpes-banking-licence-digits-funding-mswipes-new-ceo-and-more-mega-deals-and-launches-in-indias-fintech-space-/slidelist/84085401.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">BharatPe’s banking licence, Digit’s funding, Mswipe’s new CEO and more -- mega deals and launches in India’s fintech space</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/google-crypto-tokens-binances-regulatory-troubles-free-nfts-and-more/slidelist/84086617.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Google’s crypto tokens, Binance’s regulatory troubles, free NFTs and more — Here’s what happened in the world of crypto this past week</a>

Covaxin shows 77.8% effectiveness against symptomatic COVID-19 cases in phase-3 trials

A French judge has been appointed to lead a "highly sensitive" judicial investigation into alleged "<keyword id="46183" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Corruption">corruption</keyword> and favouritism" in the Rs 59,000 crore <keyword id="6381048" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="rafale">Rafale</keyword> fighter jet deal with India, French investigative website Mediapart reported. Following the development, Congress chief spokesperson <keyword id="498878" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Randeep-Surjewala">Randeep Surjewala</keyword> on Saturday urged Prime Minister <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword> to come forward and order a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Rafale deal. "Corruption in the Rafale deal has come out clearly now. The stand of the Congress party and <keyword id="5268" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rahul-Gandhi">Rahul Gandhi</keyword> has been vindicated today after the French government has ordered a probe," he told reporters at a press conference. However, there was no immediate reaction from the Indian government or the BJP. The Mediapart said the probe into the inter-governmental deal signed in 2016 was formally opened on June 14. "A judicial probe into suspected corruption has been opened in France over the 7.8-billion-euro sale to India in 2016 of 36 Dassault-built Rafale fighter aircraft," the Mediapart reported on the latest development on the controversial deal. It said the investigation has been initiated by the national financial prosecutors' office (PNF). The judicial investigation has been ordered by France's national financial prosecutors' office, following Mediapart's fresh reports in April of alleged wrongdoings in the deal as well as a complaint filed by French NGO Sherpa that specialises in financial crime. "The highly sensitive probe into the inter-governmental deal signed off in 2016 was formally opened on June 14th," the media report said. Mediapart journalist Yann Philippin, who filed a series of reports on the deal, said a first complaint was "buried" in 2019 by a former PNF chief. "The judicial investigation was finally opened following the revelations of the investigation #RafalePapers of @mediapart and a new complaint from @Asso_Sherpa. A 1st complaint was buried in 2019 by the former PNF boss, Eliane Houlette," he tweeted. In April, Mediapart, citing an investigation by the country's anti-corruption agency, reported that Dassault Aviation had paid about one million Euros to an Indian middleman. Dassault Aviation has rejected the allegations of corruption, saying no violations were reported in the frame of the contract. The <keyword id="105903" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="National-Democratic-Alliance">National Democratic Alliance</keyword> (NDA) government had inked a Rs 59,000-crore deal on September 23, 2016, to procure 36 Rafale jets from French aerospace major Dassault Aviation after a nearly seven-year exercise to procure 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) for the <keyword id="15141" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Air-Force">Indian Air Force</keyword> did not fructify during the <keyword id="83449" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="United-Progressive-Alliance">United Progressive Alliance</keyword> (UPA) regime. The Congress accused the government of massive irregularities in the deal, alleging that it was procuring each aircraft at a cost of over Rs 1,670 crore as against Rs 526 crore finalised by the UPA government during the negotiations for the MMRCA. Prior to the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, the Congress raised several questions about the deal and alleged corruption but the government rejected all the charges. SEE ALSO- <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/bharatpes-banking-licence-digits-funding-mswipes-new-ceo-and-more-mega-deals-and-launches-in-indias-fintech-space-/slidelist/84085401.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">BharatPe’s banking licence, Digit’s funding, Mswipe’s new CEO and more -- mega deals and launches in India’s fintech space</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/google-crypto-tokens-binances-regulatory-troubles-free-nfts-and-more/slidelist/84086617.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Google’s crypto tokens, Binance’s regulatory troubles, free NFTs and more — Here’s what happened in the world of crypto this past week</a>

India's deal to buy Rafale fighter jets will face a judicial probe for alleged corruption in France

<keyword id="6354576" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="facebook">Facebook</keyword> on Thursday said it has joined hands with early stage venture capital fund <keyword id="136057" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Matrix-Partners">Matrix Partners</keyword> to scale <keyword id="390673" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="small-businesses">small businesses</keyword> in India by providing them with timely digital skilling support. The move comes barely a week after the social networking giant announced a grant of $4.3 million (Rs 32 crore) for more than 3,000 small businesses in Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru impacted by Covid-19. The tie-up with Matrix Partners is a part of Facebook's VC Brand Incubator Programme that collaborates with venture capital funds to help early-stage small and medium businesses (SMBs) to maximise their digital potential. In light of the pandemic, Facebook has taken the programme online to ensure continued skilling and support for small businesses even in these times. "Facebook is committed to supporting the growth of small businesses in India, and this charter is stronger than ever as we work towards enabling their recovery from the pandemic," Archana Vohra, Director, Small and Medium Businesses at Facebook India, said in a statement. With the tie-up with Matrix Partners India, the program also completes one year during which it has collaborated with six VC Funds -- Sauce.VC, Fireside Ventures, SAIF Partners, Sequoia Capital, DSG Ventures, and Matrix Partners India. During this period, the programme has skilled, trained and mentored more than 150 brands at various stages of their growth journey. Matrix Partners India is a leading early-stage investor that partners closely with SMBs across sectors including consumer technology, business-to-business, enterprise, and fintech among others. In India, among many other brands, they have also invested in marquee companies such as Ola, Quikr, Practo, Dailyhunt, Mswipe, Country Delight, and Razorpay among others. "We've been early backers in many challenger brands from across the spectrum -- eCommerce, gaming, CPG, neo-banking, healthcare, content – to name a few, and we're thrilled to see them create world-beating products and leverage Facebook's platform to reach their end consumers, and bring about large scale impact," said Sanjot Malhi, Director, Matrix India. "Over 20 companies from our portfolio, including Country Delight, Stanza Living, OZiva, ManMatters, Zupee, The Whole Truth, Dealshare, have now partnered with Facebook on this programme." As part of the VC Brand Incubator Programme, Facebook has also started Campaign Lab that helps direct-to-consumer small businesses get creative solutioning support, and go live with mobile friendly creatives and strategy in under 72 hours. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/this-startup-wants-to-turn-kirana-stores-into-electric-vehicle-charging-stations/articleshow/78289491.cms">This startup wants to turn kirana stores into electric vehicle charging stations</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/yes-bank-is-hiring-again-for-the-coming-year-after-workforce-shrinks-by-1000-since-march/articleshow/78287419.cms">EXCLUSIVE: YES Bank's workforce shrank by 1,000 employees since March but now it's hiring again for the coming year</a>

Facebook partners with sixth VC firm in India – Matrix Partners to scale small businesses

<ul><li>Digital payment transactions dipped by 30% in India, says a report by payments company <keyword id="2777173" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Razorpay">Razorpay</keyword>.</li><li>However, interestingly ‘online donations’ went up by 180%. </li><li>Razorpay founder Harshil Mathur believes that this is an opportunity for fintech companies to turn things around.</li></ul>It looks like Indians are tightening their purse strings and loosening it for essentials only. As per a report by Razorpay, digital payment transactions fell by 30% in India in the last 30 days of lockdown. This is an aberration for fintech companies whose transaction numbers have only been rising since demonetisation in 2016. “In the first two weeks of March before lockdown, the overall online spending increased by about 10% but later saw a dip primarily owing to precautionary measures which people started to take by staying indoors,” said Harshil Mathur, CEO and co-founder, Razorpay. According to the company’s report, transactions in logistics dropped by 96% due to gaps in supply chain, travel sector declined by 87%, real estate by 83%, food and beverage (F&amp;B) by 68%, and grocery by 54%. <div type="javascript" title="Custom" contenttype="Image"><cdata><![CDATA[<div class="flourish-embed flourish-chart" data-src="visualisation/2086535" data-url="https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/2086535/embed"></div>]]></cdata></div> However, interestingly ‘online donations’ went up by a whopping 180%. After the pandemic, several organizations called for donations to help out the needy and it looks like many answered the call. Since the country is closed for everything except essentials, several fintech companies with payment products have seen a drop in transactions. In some cases, by almost half. “During the lockdown, Paytm saw a drop by 47%, Google Pay by 43% and PhonePe by 32%,” says the report. However, Paytm dismissed the same. "We would like to ascertain that Paytm Payments Gateway is India's leading payment processing platform with over 50% market share. For our merchant partners, we are directly processing transactions that can not be captured by any other payment gateway provider with regards to Paytm's UPI growth, contribution, and market share. Therefore, transactions done on Razorpay cannot be put forward as the industry's trend to determine Paytm's contribution to UPI. Their representation on Paytm's growth is misleading," said a Paytm spokesperson. But Mathur believes that this is the time fintechs saw an opportunity to turn things around. “I believe this is a huge opportunity for fintech companies, some of them may have to re-examine their business models after Covid-19, prioritising growth and customer acquisition over profitability. The fintech industry will be forced to evolve, think big and act boldly which will eventually result in innovations in payments and banking solutions to be able to meet new customer demands and behaviour,” he said. Mathur believes that in a post Covid-19 world, there will be a greater collaboration between banks and fintech companies as new digital tools will be integral to any bank’s strategy. “The new macroeconomic narrative will soon transform into the next normal,” he said. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/mswipe-a-nine-year-old-point-of-sale-startup-reveals-that-it-has-broken-even-while-denying-a-report-that-it-is-up-for-sale/articleshow/75349455.cms">MSwipe a nine-year old point-of-sale startup reveals that it has broken even while denying a report that it is up for sale</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/udaan-fires-half-its-contract-employees/articleshow/75357229.cms">EXCLUSIVE: The nearly $3 billion Udaan lays off thousands of its contract staff⁠— sales and delivery guys are now out of jobs</a>

Digital payment transactions fall by 30% in India for the first time since demonetization because of coronavirus lockdown

New Delhi, Feb 23 () German wholesale retailer Metro Cash &amp; Carry is gearing up for expansion in India with the addition of five new stores this year and also plans to accelerate its e-commerce play and partnership with kirana stores, according to a top company official. The wholesale retailer, which has registered profits in the last two years in India, has so far partnered with 2,000 kirana stores in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Delhi, offering them complete end-to-end retail solutions. "The company thinks India is a big growth market. The opportunity for growth in India is huge in both physical stores and e-commerce," Metro Cash &amp; Carry India Managing Director and CEO Arvind Mediratta told . As part of expansion plans, he said, "we have five stores coming up this year in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana." Metro Cash &amp; Carry currently has 27 cash and carry stores in India in 17 cities. When asked about investments for the new stores, he declined to comment but said besides the new physical stores, the company has also been focussing on its partnership with local neighbourhood stores through its 'Smart Kirana Programme'. The whole idea is how to make a kirana store smarter in terms of usage of technology, by running business more efficiently, targeting more customers using data analytics, drive more customer traffic and make it more successful and profitable, he added. "We believe in helping kiranas in increasing their sell-out, not just sell to them because if their sell-out improves, and if they think Metro can help increase their sell-out, we automatically become their preferred supplier," Mediratta said. The company has provided point of sale (PoS) devices, which come with a Metro app to kirana owners through which they can order items from Metro online, get daily sales and profit report while also track top customers, the most selling articles and slow moving items. The device also allows them to accept debit/credit cards and accept wallet payments, which offer customer cashbacks and other offers. It enables passing on of such benefits to the end customer, he added. "The programme is working well and we believe we now have enough results and have got approval from our global board to expand this programme and take it national. We are now already in the process of scaling it up," he said. For scaling up its Smart Kirana Programme, Mediratta, said the company is taking it one step at a time. "Our idea is to first saturate Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi before you enter newer cities. You get better returns on investment if you do one market and do it really well, this is one of our big learnings when it comes to profitability. Strengthen your dominance wherever you are," he said. Metro has partnered with Paytm in Delhi and MSwipe in the rest of the country for digital payments while it has also roped in ePayLater which not only offers credit to kirana stores but also to their end-customers enabling them to shop at specific stores, Mediratta added. Stating that Indian retail landscape is changing with new-age online players both in business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) investing a lot of money, including on pricing which has put a lot of pressure on local kirana stores. In order to help the small stores keep up with the changes, he said Metro is also helping the kirana owners remodel their stores and convert old closed-loop stores into an open format modern store where customers can come inside and shop thereby increasing customer traffic and impulse buying. "What we are tying to do is organise loans for these kiranas for remodelling, because it can cost from Rs 75,000 to Rs 2 lakh and the remodelling operations takes only 48 hours," Mediratta said. RKL DRR

Metro Cash & Carry to open 5 new stores in India this year, enhance partnership with kirana stores

<keyword id="6354814" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="prime-minister-Narendra-Modi">Prime Minister Narendra Modi</keyword>’s aggressive push for cashless society is showing some results post <keyword id="3315394" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="demonetisation">demonetisation</keyword> as digital transactions have gone up by 25% since demonetisation announcement. 
 Not only in organised retail, <keyword id="6358577" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Digital-Payments">digital payments</keyword> saw an increase from roadside merchants as well, who are shifting to digital payments. 
 
"From month on month, now we are checking weekly growth data which is showing a jump of around 5 per cent per week, which is a very healthy number. The average value of each transaction which had slipped to Rs 2,000 from Rs 2,700 before November 8 has now stabilised at that level," Lokvir Kapoor, chief executive officer at Pine Labs, which facilitates installation of point of sale (PoS) terminals at merchant outlets, told ET. 
 
Since note ban, Pine Labs has been processing around 1.1-1.2 million transactions on an average per day. Before demonetisation, the figure was nearly 5 lakh on an average weekday. 
 
"We did 2 million transactions last Sunday; this Sunday being Christmas, we saw 2.2 million transactions on our network which is a healthy 10 per cent jump," Kapoor told ET. 
 
"We are mostly prevalent in smaller cities like Jaipur and Chandigarh and are operating 10,500 PoS terminals presently. Now, our call centre is flooded with queries from merchants who wish to accept digital payments; we received an order of 3,000 terminals over the past one month," Jitendra Gupta, managing director, PayU India, told ET. 
 
India has around 15 lakh PoS terminals, almost 74 crore (740 million) debit cards and 2.7 crore (27 million) credit cards. This data does not refer to wallets which are a parallel network. 
 
These mobile wallets too have started reaping the benefits of demonetisation. 
 
Card processing companies and banks have upgraded their bandwidth to process the rising number of payments. 
 
"I believe it will take around 18-24 months of consistent push from the authorities in order to bring about a behavioural shift in Indians. The habit of making payments through cash has to change so that people even make card transactions for small purchases," Manish Patel, founder of mSwipe, which also works with roadside stalls, told ET.

From average 5 lakh to 1.2 million per day, digital transactions have gone up by 25%, thanks to demonetisation

<keyword id="224987" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Avnish-Bajaj">Avnish Bajaj</keyword> is an entrepreneur turned investor who has always been driven by the pursuit of success in entrepreneurship but from wanting to be rich to now making other people rich, he has come a long way. “It has always been about achievement. That being said, money is a scorecard for achievement. Numbers are very important for investors but it is not the end of the game, it is the bridge between needs and means and for me once my needs were met, I just wanted to learn and help,” Bajaj told Business Insider, who thinks that we’re seeing the best entrepreneurs in the history of the Indian consumer tech sector. In terms of investing, Bajaj thinks that all elements of the venture funding are in place and for the first time, the question of exits is being answered, “As the market starts deepening, the exits will start happening. The next decade or so are going to be very exciting for the investors,”Avnish says that the Indian founders are as competent as their American or Chinese counterparts and have great potential. <keyword id="136057" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Matrix-Partners">Matrix Partners</keyword> has many popular companies on its portfolio namely Ola, Practo, Dailyhunt, Quikr, Housejoy, LimeRoad, Mswipe and Cloudnine. <div type="embedgroup"> <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="59181595" title="Exclusive: Global Superangel Forum’s (GSF) founder Rajesh Sawhney is an Innerchef at heart" rank="1.0" kind="RELATED" publishDate="Jun 16, 2017, 8:17 PM" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div></div>




























 Downturn for the win Bajaj thinks this ‘downturn’ that the Indian start-up ecosystem is seeing is necessary, “All elements of this industry are amplified and disruptive; the entrepreneurs, the investors and even the media get carried away in the possibilities. It’s all part and parcel of being an entrepreneur; if things were so easy, everyone would be starting their own business.” Avnish says that recession is a good sign as companies like Facebook and Google were started during downturns and now, the entrepreneurs will be starting for the right reasons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 <div type="embedgroup"> <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="59181977" title="Exclusive: Rajesh Sawhney banks on the people who make up companies with the right product market fit" rank="1.0" kind="RELATED" publishDate="Jun 16, 2017, 8:56 PM" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div></div>




























 The "dis-ease" of doing business “In India, it’s never been easy to do business but things are improving overall. What the start-ups need is protection against the negative elements even if there is no positive reinforcement,” says Bajaj regarding the role of the state in the success of new businesses. Bajaj has seen hardships as an entrepreneur in 2004, as he was arrested by the Delhi police over a complaint that an obscene video had been uploaded for auction on Baazee.com. Bajaj was acquitted but then he was against let down recently with arrest of his portfolio company, <keyword id="1112419" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Stayzilla">Stayzilla</keyword>’s founder happening on shaky grounds,”Startups are soft targets for most authorities because they don’t have the kind of influence compared to big corporate companies. We just want the government to stop harassment at all agency level. Let's extend Swacch Bharat to get India rid of corruption and harassment before we aim for loft goals like <keyword id="1929810" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Digital-India">Digital India</keyword> and Start up India." says Bajaj who agrees that the government has the intent to support start-ups but it hasn’t reflected yet. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 <div type="embedgroup"> <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="59287646" title="Exclusive: Avnish Bajaj, Founder &amp;amp; MD, Matrix Partners India thinks that investing is entrepreneurship on steroids" rank="1.0" kind="RELATED" publishDate="Jun 23, 2017, 7:00 PM" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div></div>




























 E-commerce or re-commerce? Bajaj who is known for his e-commerce investments has agreed that the sector has lost its sheen but says that at the end of the day, the team matters above everything, “Fin-tech, Health-tech, and SAAS are the most exciting sectors right now,” Bajaj who had been pessimistic about the growth of start-ups in the past has started to get excited for the India growth story and so have we.

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