The RBI's authorization enables JPSL to manage digital transactions under Section 7 of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007. Following the development, Jio Finance shares surged, trading at ₹321.45 apiece today, up 1.45%. The news comes as Paytm continues to face regulatory action ...

This Jio Financial-subsidiary can now operate as online payment aggregator

Nuvama has maintained a 'buy' rating on Zomato, raising the target price to Rs 325, citing growth momentum and faster Blinkit dark store additions. However, profitability may need more upfront costs. Conversely, Macquarie retains an underperform rating, highlighting concerns over margin expansion ...

Hot Stocks: Brokerage view on Paytm, Zomato and Bajaj Finance - The Economic Times

Paytm’s parent company, One 97 Communications Limited (OCL), has initiated the process of transferring its customers to other payment service provider banks (PSBs) in compliance with regulations set by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Paytm begins user transfer to PSP banks with NPCI’s approval

The four handles to choose from include @ptsbi, @pthdfc, @ptaxis, and @ptyes.

Paytm Initiates Customer Migration To Partner Banks For UPI Services | Personal Finance News | Zee News

Paytm will be a high conviction exclusion, causing outflows of $77 million from India, the domestic brokerages&#x27; note said. Paytm&#x27;s exclusion comes after a nearly 40% correction in the share price following RBI&#x27;s ban on its Paytm Payments Bank. Meanwhile, Berger has yielded nearly 9% returns ...

12 stocks likely to enter MSCI index in May rejig, trigger $2 billion inflows. Paytm to exit - The Economic Times

NPCI approves Paytm&#x27;s OCL to migrate users to major banks for UPI. PPBL issues force transition. New UPI IDs introduced. Merchants impacted by changes.

Paytm is changing your UPI ID. Here's all you need to know - The Economic Times

According to data from the NPCI website, Paytm&#x27;s UPI market share fell to nine percent in March, marking its lowest level in the past four years.

Paytm Begins Customer Migration To Fresh UPI Handles - News18

Stocks to watch: Shares of firms like Infosys, Paytm, Voda Idea, Bajaj Auto, Zee, Ambuja Cements, and others will be in focus on Wednesday&#x27;s trade.

Stocks to Watch: Infosys, Paytm, Voda Idea, Bajaj Auto, Zee, Ambuja Cements, and Others - News18

GIFT Nifty traded 41.50 points or 0.19% lower at 22,112.00 indicating a negative start for domestic indices. Here are the top stocks to watch for the day.

Stocks To Watch: Ambuja Cements, Paytm, Vodafone Idea, Infosys, Vedanta - Market News | The Financial Express

Accordingly, it started transitioning ‘@paytm’ handles users to Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI, and YES Bank, ensuring seamless UPI payments. All four banks are now operational on the TPAP (third-party application provider), streamlining the process for Paytm to shift user accounts to these ...

Buzzing Stocks: Adani Ent, Infosys, Tata Comm, Vodafone Idea, HDFC Bank, Ambuja Cement, Paytm, Zee and others

Paytm

paytm

Hi! In this blog, we will see how to integrate paytm payment gateway in React-Native. Mobile wallets have become immensely popular in recent years, and paytm is highly trusted among online customers. Many people use it every day for doing online recharges, DTH & other bill payments. It reduces the risk of exposing customer’s banking credentials and credit card details to hackers. Therefore, Paytm is a good solution for online payments on your Website and Mobile Apps. Before we begin integrating paytm gateway into our React-Native app, create an account on paytm as a merchant. Step 1: Installing Required Libraries Install the following libraries in your React-Native app npm install paytm_allinone_react-native — save
npx react-native link Step 2: Including the Necessary Maven Repository In the project level, build.gradle file add the following line in the repositories section allprojects {
  repositories {
      ...      maven {
          url "https://artifactory.paytm.in/libs-release-local"                   }   
}
 } Step 3: Including Necessary Libraries to Make HTTP Requests Next in the app level build.gradle file add the following dependencies implementation "com.squareup.okhttp3:okhttp:4.2.1"
implementation "com.squareup.okhttp3:logging-interceptor:4.2.1" 
implementation "com.squareup.okhttp3:okhttp-urlconnection:4.2.1" Step 4: Installing Core Node-js Module Crypto After all of this is done, some other things need to be done, which are not mentioned in the official documentation of PayTm. First of all, install core node-js module crypto as mentioned in this article in your react native app. React-Native**-Randombytes** Step 5: Installing Once the crypto module is installed and React-Native-Randombytes is installed, go to the paytmchecksum folder located inside the node_modules folder. Make the following changes to paytmchecksum.js file. //import crypto module from root directory
const crypto = require('./../../crypto')
//Import randombytes dependency 
import { randomBytes } from 'react-native-randombytes' Make sure your generateRandomString function located in paytmchecksum.js looks like this: static generateRandomString(length) {
   return new Promise(function (resolve, reject) {
      randomBytes((length * 3.0) / 4.0, function (err, buf){                       if (!err) {
             var salt = buf.toString("base64");
             resolve(salt);
       }
          else {
            console.log("error occurred in generateRandomString: " + err);
        reject(err);   }
    });
  });
 } Step 6: Writing a Method to Initiate the Transaction and Generate Transaction Token Once all these things are done, we can actually start writing code for making payments. We will use the fetch module instead of the HTTPS module to make requests. To make any transaction, we first need to generate a transaction token. //method to get txn token 
import PaytmChecksum from 'paytmchecksum'
const merchantId ="Your merchant Id"
const data = {orderId:"01",txnAmount:"1",customerId:"001"}
export function getTxnToken(data){
   
           var paytmParams = {};
           paytmParams.body = {
             "requestType"   : "Payment",
             "mid"           : merchantId,
             "websiteName"   : "WEBSTAGING",
             "orderId"       : data.orderId+"",
             "callbackUrl"   : "https://merchant.com/callback",
             "txnAmount"     : {
                 "value"     : data.txnAmount,
                 "currency"  : "INR",
              },
             "userInfo"      : {
                 "custId"    : data.customerId,
             },
  //You can enable any other modes if you want 
   "enablePaymentMode":[
            {"mode" : "UPI",channel:     ["UPI","UPIPUSH"]}, {"mode":"DEBIT_CARD",channel:["RUPAY"]}
            ]
          };
PaytmChecksum.generateSignature(JSON.stringify(paytmParams.body), "L&qCdepjSHKzEX0l").then(function(checksum){
    paytmParams.head = {
       "signature"    : checksum
    };
     var post_data = JSON.stringify(paytmParams);
     var options = {
         /* for Staging */
         hostname: 'securegw-stage.paytm.in',
         /* for Production */
         // hostname: 'securegw.paytm.in',
          port: 443,
          path: '/theia/api/v1/initiateTransaction?'+    'mid='+merchantId+'&orderId='+data.orderId+'',
          method: 'POST',
         headers: {
           'Content-Type': 'application/json',
           'Content-Length': post_data.length
         },
         body:post_data
};
fetch('https://securegw-stage.paytm.in/theia/api/v1/initiateTransaction?mid='+merchantId+'='+data.orderId+'',options)
.then((response)=>{
    response.json()
    .then((txnToken)=>{
//here call the method to start transaction.
     startTransaction({orderId:"01",txnToken:txnToken,amount:"1"});   
     })
   .catch((error)=>{
      //Handle the error
      console.log(error);
      })
    })
  })
 
} Step 7: Writing a Method to Start a Transaction Once we have the method to generate a transaction token, we can write a method to start a transaction. import AllInOneSDKManager from 'paytm_allinone_react-native';
const data = {orderId:'01',txnToken:"",amount:"01"}
export function startTransaction(data){
   
       
       AllInOneSDKManager.startTransaction(      data.orderId,merchantId,data.txnToken,data.amount,"https://merchant.com/callback",true,false)
.then((txnDetails)=>{
   //txn is successful
   //Verify the txnDetails call fetchTxnStatus method
   fetchTxnStatus({orderId:"01"})
  }).catch((error)=>{
      //handle the error
      console.log(error);
   })
 
} Step 8: Writing a Method to Fetch Transaction Status Once the transaction is successful, we have to fetch transaction status from paytm servers and then show the payment confirmation message to the user. Here’s how to fetch transaction status. //function to fetch transaction status of a transaction
export function fetchTxnStatus(data){
   
      
      var paytmParams = {};
      paytmParams.body = {
      "mid" : "your merchant Id",
      "orderId" : data.orderId+'',
    };
   PaytmChecksum.generateSignature(JSON.stringify(paytmParams.body),     "your_merchant_key").then(function(checksum){
   paytmParams.head = {
     "signature" : checksum
   };
  var post_data = JSON.stringify(paytmParams);
  var options = {
     hostname: 'securegw-stage.paytm.in',
     /* for Production */
    // hostname: 'securegw.paytm.in',
    port: 443,
    path: '/v3/order/status',
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
       'Content-Type': 'application/json',
       'Content-Length': post_data.length
     },
    body:post_data
};
fetch("https://securegw-stage.paytm.in/v3/order/status",options)
.then((response)=>{
    response.json().then((txnStatus)=>{
    
    if(txnStatus.body.resultInfo.resultCode=="01"){
       //show that the transaction was successful
       //You can call a function to confirm the payment
       console.log("Transaction Successful");
}else{
       //show that there was some problem with transaction
       //txnStatus.body.resultInfo.resultCode=="400" means pending
       //complete list of responses and their meanings
}
  })
 .catch((error)=>{
     //handle error
     console.log(error);
    })
   })
 });
 
} That’s all, folks! Now you can start receiving payments. References https://developer.paytm.com/docs/all-in-one-sdk/hybrid-apps/react-native/ https://developer.paytm.com/docs/api/initiate-transaction-api/?ref=payments https://javascript.plainenglish.io/using-core-node-js-modules-in-react-native-apps-e6002a33b6ff https://developer.paytm.com/docs/api/v3/transaction-status-api/?ref=payments

How to Integrate the Paytm Payment Gateway in Your React Native Apps

in Delhi depicting Gandhi’s Sculpture Salt March When ‘Startup India’ becomes ‘Crony Capitalist India’, we should side with ordinary people against the autocratic government. I have a T-shirt branded ‘One97’, which I got along with a coffee cup as merchandise at a startup event many years ago. One97 Communications was a sponsor of the event, and a positive force in the Indian startup community. I have visited their Noida offices, and I appreciated founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s support for the Net Neutrality movement, including the . The success of their mobile wallet product Paytm heralded an opportunity for India’s masses to leapfrog traditional banking and move to mobile money. campaign against Facebook’s Free Basics My positive view of the company ground to a halt a few weeks ago. Paytm newspaper front page ad congratulating the Prime Minister on the demonetisation decision On November 8 2016, India’s Prime Minister announced that most banknotes would , and had to be deposited in exchange for new currency. The main rationale was to tackle ‘black money’ (tax-evaded wealth). However, only a fraction of Indians are wealthy, and within that group, Income Tax that only up to 6% of black money is held as cash instead of assets like real estate — prompting the Supreme Court to compare the note ban to indiscriminate ‘ ’. no longer be valid raids show carpet bombing While any benefits of demonetisation remain tenuous, it soon became apparent that it would take months to print enough new notes. This cash liquidity crunch was a bonanza for fintech companies like Paytm. They asked everyone to join the ‘Cashless Revolution’. (This happens to be the first ‘Revolution’ I’ve been asked to join by the head of government and the financial industry!) In these post-demonetisation days, when I need cash to buy groceries I spend hours looking for and queuing up at a working ATM. It’s like living in a hunter-gatherer society. Now imagine the situation for people who don’t live in major cities or don’t have bank accounts. Then extrapolate to the business activity that shut down because of demand contraction and supply disruption. Reporters have been tracking the resulting deaths and devastation across this nation of over a billion people. Seeing thousands of middle-aged people line up at banks in my neighborhood for a chance to access a bit of their own money really got under my skin — I thought, ? I was most personally saddened by this photograph of an despairing old woman unable to withdraw her pension of $14 a month. how can you do this to My People An overview of the effects are discussed in the Frontline article, ‘ ’. Steve Forbes says, ‘ .’ Shashi Tharoor sums up the exercise as a ‘ ’. Wrecking the system What India has to done to its money is sickening and immoral disaster As the fallout continued, Paytm released an ad dismissing complaints about demonetisation as ‘drama’, which they on social media. revised after getting flak Between their splashy ad welcoming the decision, the gloating, and profiteering from the note ban, Paytm has firmly associated themselves with the demonetisation policy. My opposition to the policy thus extends to resisting the coercion to use their app. I am not against financial technology in general. I’m supportive of products that compete with traditional banking — I made a presentation last year showing from a product perspective. I plan to continue using other wallet apps, like Mobikwik, whose founders have been more considerate in public statements. how digital wallets can grow Most importantly, I will use payment apps only by choice. Digital solutions have to win by appealing to the market. They cannot win if the only incentives are to opt in to the surveillance state, contribute fees and personal data to financial firms, and the artificial cash restriction — which is not only , but also as Nobel laureate Amartya Sen rightly says, a ‘ ’. dangerous for the economy despotic action Nikhil Pahwa writes that something about the direction in which we’re headed: feels wrong When the founder of India’s (self-proclaimed) largest fintech company stands up on a stage [and] calls it his company’s “pious mission” to make India cashless… The religiosity of that phrase — “pious” — invariably invokes thoughts of “white man’s burden”, imperialism and conversion that comes with it. Let’s call it “digital man’s burden”… We’ve gone from technology giving people choice to technology robbing people of choice: the way technology is being implemented by our government today is an attack on freedom and choice… the dog-eat-dog competition in tech becomes a battle between a beast and a pup when politics enters it. — Year end rant 2016: Technology has never been this political in India Government propagandists deflect concerns about the cash crunch by saying ‘go cashless’, which plays directly into the message of fintech firms. This circular dynamic between irresponsible politicians and opportunistic businesspeople leaves everyone void of empathy. The assumption that every Indian faced with household needs or medical emergencies has an adequate bank account and smartphone to suddenly use digital payments led a Parliamentarian to deem the Prime Minister ‘ ’. Modi Antoinette It is disturbing that all of a sudden, without discussion or debate, the government and corporations are chanting the technocratic mantra ‘go cashless’ to sedate people into forgoing vigilance of their rights. Jean Drèze describes the : convergence of interests What is astonishing is how little concern this catastrophe is causing in the corridors of power… the tremendous power of the software industry in India [may] help to explain why the disruptive effects of demonetisation are taken lightly… Government policy is now aligned with the interests of these business lobbies… a private consultant recently confided, “our marketing costs have gone down” because the government is doing the advertising… The revolving door between government and corporations is getting wider every day. — The mother of all disruptions The rise of the and ambitious telecom behemoths like Reliance Jio underscore the concern that, as Aruna Roy says, “the every citizen within the most ordinary tasks”. It is to America’s credit that Silicon Valley has a libertarian streak — if Indian tech culture doesn’t develop a similar passion for civil liberties, we will end up a modern-day banana republic, a Jio Republic. Aadhaar identity system digital platform will trap The vulnerable people of India should not become lab rats for technocratic adventures in social engineering by a creepy alliance of government and business. As former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh , no legitimate reform can “entail even a single loss of life of an honest Indian”. points out I don’t recall signing up for technocratic despotism. I shall resist. Will my personal boycott make a difference? Hardly. But I’m taking the advice of the Pink Floyd lyric featured on the old T-shirt: “We don’t need no thought control.” I cannot in good conscience be a customer of a company that benefits by pretending to provide adequate recourse to the demonetisation disaster. I know that long after the machinations of this government and financial companies, the people will live on, having freed themselves of this latest attempt at thought control. The people yesThe people will live on.The learning and blundering people will live on. They will be tricked and sold and again soldAnd go back to the nourishing earth for rootholds, The people so peculiar in renewal and comeback, You can’t laugh off their capacity to take it. — Carl Sagan When the government snatches food out of a billion citizens’ mouths and one corporation celebrates, it is time to side with the people. I boycott Paytm. You can get in touch with me on Twitter , LinkedIn or firasd at gmail

Technocratic Despotism: Why I Boycott Paytm

Till now, developing countries have not been able to overcome their internal problems with volatility and high levels of environmental uncertainty. Some of them are still characterized by low trust in traditional banking systems and currencies. But people still need proven financial tools to manage their funds, creating a blank space that could be filled with fintechs. Why fintech? Fintech companies are more agile, and in most cases, they work based on digital assets like cryptocurrencies. This is especially important in regions where inflation depreciates national currencies and pushes mass crypto adoption.  In this article, let’s delve deeper into the problems of emerging markets (EM) and see how fintech can help their financial systems. The main challenges of emerging markets As I mentioned in the introduction, developing countries can usually be described as regions with high uncertainty levels. Such a description refers both to problems in the political system and the national economy. Due to underdevelopment, there can be a high level of corruption, unfair elections, etc. These problems decrease people’s trust in all regulatory bodies, including the financial system. Such major issues may entail major problems in the economy, for example, currency depreciation, high inflation, the slowdown in production, etc. A bright illustration of the emerging state with a ton of economic problems is Argentina, the second country with the highest inflation rate ranking. The inflation is peaking up to 250% in this region. Emerging markets also cannot boast of an educated population. They suffer from a lack of financial literacy and an inability to allocate incomes properly. The majority of them do not understand sophisticated financial tools or digital assets. Nevertheless, sometimes it is explained by low incomes: emerging markets sometimes match the lower middle income strata. However, this is a problem from two sides. Sometimes, people do not know much about the financial system because it is simply underdeveloped. As proof of my words, there is the World Bank report where researchers highlight the same: nearly 30% of adults do not have financial accounts either because the maintenance costs are high or the institutions are too far away. How can fintech companies improve the situation? First, fintech companies usually provide their services online without the need to contact any financial institutions. Fintech can also afford to provide a service that is usually free of charge. This is thanks to low costs of keeping an online business. So, all in all, their products can be considered more affordable and accessible. To overcome political challenges, fintech also thoroughly considers the regulatory environment. Each market has its own set of rules and nuances that fintech companies have to adapt to or help to transform for better. Many fintech companies are working with crypto. Cryptocurrencies can be a real saver for people living in developed countries as they are a more stable payment method. With, for example, stablecoins, developed countries' citizens should not worry about high inflation decreasing their assets. Additionally, crypto payments are an excellent method to be engaged in global commerce as crypto deletes borders and facilitates international payments. Actually, this also inspires marketplaces to operate in emerging markets, which creates a positive effect for the whole region’s development. Fintech companies also care about raising financial literacy. Sometimes before offering a product, they educate the potential user on its pros and cons and the ways on how to use it. This is a win-win strategy, as companies increase their clientele and population increase their knowledge of finance. As financing is a problem, fintechs can also have a hand in regions’ wealth increase. They grant loans on more affordable terms and have fewer requirements during credit scoring, compared to banks. Not only theory but also reality In fact, there are indeed many companies in the world today that operate quite successfully in emerging markets. One such example is 8B World. It is a fintech platform that provides cross-border payment solutions for emerging markets such as Africa and Asia. The project combines local payment systems into a single platform. For anyone willing to access these markets or for locals seeking financial services, it becomes much easier and more convenient. 8B World integrates popular payment methods such as mobile wallets and complies with local regulations. This makes the platform also accessible for small and medium-sized businesses that want to work in new markets. The success stories of companies such as M-Pesa, Paytm, Nubank, and Flutterwave serve as proof that even in such regions, the fintech sector has huge potential. These companies have transformed access to financial services in their markets by offering them to the general public. M-Pesa, for example, has become a key player in mobile payments in East Africa, Paytm has radically changed the approach to digital payments in India, and Nubank in Brazil and Flutterwave in Africa have made financial services simpler and more convenient. Such examples are truly inspiring. They highlight one more time how fintech platforms can improve access to financial services in regions with limited banking infrastructure. The future in emerging markets belongs to fintech Taking into account all the benefits of fintech in EM, it becomes clear that their future with fintechs can be bright and promising. Developing countries are like an untilled field, where one can harvest a lot. They not only extend the offer of financial tools in these regions but also bring EM to the global standards and include them in the global system. For example, In Southeast Asia, countries like Thailand and Indonesia have developed their payment systems, but they must still connect to the global ecosystem to remain competitive. Till now, developing countries have not been able to overcome their internal problems with volatility and high levels of environmental uncertainty. Some of them are still characterized by low trust in traditional banking systems and currencies. But people still need proven financial tools to manage their funds, creating a blank space that could be filled with fintechs. Till now, developing countries have not been able to overcome their internal problems with volatility and high levels of environmental uncertainty. Some of them are still characterized by low trust in traditional banking systems and currencies. But people still need proven financial tools to manage their funds, creating a blank space that could be filled with fintechs. Why fintech? Fintech companies are more agile, and in most cases, they work based on digital assets like cryptocurrencies. This is especially important in regions where inflation depreciates national currencies and pushes mass crypto adoption.  In this article, let’s delve deeper into the problems of emerging markets (EM) and see how fintech can help their financial systems. The main challenges of emerging markets The main challenges of emerging markets As I mentioned in the introduction, developing countries can usually be described as regions with high uncertainty levels. Such a description refers both to problems in the political system and the national economy. Due to underdevelopment, there can be a high level of corruption, unfair elections, etc. These problems decrease people’s trust in all regulatory bodies, including the financial system. Such major issues may entail major problems in the economy, for example, currency depreciation, high inflation, the slowdown in production, etc. A bright illustration of the emerging state with a ton of economic problems is Argentina, the second country with the highest inflation rate ranking. The inflation is peaking up to 250% in this region. 250% 250% Emerging markets also cannot boast of an educated population. They suffer from a lack of financial literacy and an inability to allocate incomes properly. The majority of them do not understand sophisticated financial tools or digital assets. Nevertheless, sometimes it is explained by low incomes: emerging markets sometimes match the lower middle income strata. lower middle income strata. lower middle income strata. However, this is a problem from two sides. Sometimes, people do not know much about the financial system because it is simply underdeveloped. As proof of my words, there is the World Bank report where researchers highlight the same: nearly 30% of adults do not have financial accounts either because the maintenance costs are high or the institutions are too far away. 30% 30% How can fintech companies improve the situation? How can fintech companies improve the situation? First, fintech companies usually provide their services online without the need to contact any financial institutions. Fintech can also afford to provide a service that is usually free of charge. This is thanks to low costs of keeping an online business. So, all in all, their products can be considered more affordable and accessible. To overcome political challenges, fintech also thoroughly considers the regulatory environment. Each market has its own set of rules and nuances that fintech companies have to adapt to or help to transform for better. Many fintech companies are working with crypto. Cryptocurrencies can be a real saver for people living in developed countries as they are a more stable payment method. With, for example, stablecoins, developed countries' citizens should not worry about high inflation decreasing their assets. Additionally, crypto payments are an excellent method to be engaged in global commerce as crypto deletes borders and facilitates international payments. Actually, this also inspires marketplaces to operate in emerging markets, which creates a positive effect for the whole region’s development. Fintech companies also care about raising financial literacy. Sometimes before offering a product, they educate the potential user on its pros and cons and the ways on how to use it. This is a win-win strategy, as companies increase their clientele and population increase their knowledge of finance. As financing is a problem, fintechs can also have a hand in regions’ wealth increase. They grant loans on more affordable terms and have fewer requirements during credit scoring, compared to banks. Not only theory but also reality Not only theory but also reality In fact, there are indeed many companies in the world today that operate quite successfully in emerging markets. One such example is 8B World. It is a fintech platform that provides cross-border payment solutions for emerging markets such as Africa and Asia. The project combines local payment systems into a single platform. For anyone willing to access these markets or for locals seeking financial services, it becomes much easier and more convenient. 8B World integrates popular payment methods such as mobile wallets and complies with local regulations. This makes the platform also accessible for small and medium-sized businesses that want to work in new markets. The success stories of companies such as M-Pesa, Paytm, Nubank, and Flutterwave serve as proof that even in such regions, the fintech sector has huge potential. These companies have transformed access to financial services in their markets by offering them to the general public. M-Pesa, for example, has become a key player in mobile payments in East Africa, Paytm has radically changed the approach to digital payments in India, and Nubank in Brazil and Flutterwave in Africa have made financial services simpler and more convenient. Such examples are truly inspiring. They highlight one more time how fintech platforms can improve access to financial services in regions with limited banking infrastructure. The future in emerging markets belongs to fintech The future in emerging markets belongs to fintech Taking into account all the benefits of fintech in EM, it becomes clear that their future with fintechs can be bright and promising. Developing countries are like an untilled field, where one can harvest a lot. They not only extend the offer of financial tools in these regions but also bring EM to the global standards and include them in the global system. For example, In Southeast Asia, countries like Thailand and Indonesia have developed their payment systems, but they must still connect to the global ecosystem to remain competitive.

How Fintech Companies Can Increase Financial Inclusion in Emerging Markets

At a time when the Global Tech sector is facing stagnant growth and employees are facing job losses, the Indian tech industries are booming. Recently, a Mumbai-based Identification verification startup, IDfy, raised 27 million dollars in total primary and secondary funding from top firms like Elev8 Venture Partners, KB Investment, and Tenacity Ventures. On its LinkedIn page, IDfy claims to "help enterprises eliminate fraud and establish trust using tech-powered products and solutions for KYC, KYB, Background Verification, Risk Mitigation, Digital Onboarding and Digital Privacy." IDfy is a top Indian identity verification company that provides services to help other organizations like banks and e-commerce sites verify a person's identity. They are crucial for preventing fraud and theft. While applying for EMIs through certain services, we are often asked to take a picture of ourselves after entering details like Aadhar's card number and account number. The picture that is taken is then compared to the picture on the Aadhar card servers to make sure the person applying is genuine and not a fraud. This complex process is carried out by services like IDfy. The funds raised by the company will be used in its expansion programs and product development to provide a better experience for the users, the company said in a statement on Wednesday, 6th March 2024. "Investment from Elev8 and Tenacity is a strong validation of our vision and capabilities. IDfy’s mission is to eliminate fraud and establish trust," said Ashok Hariharan, co-founder and chief executive of IDfy. IDfy was founded in 2011 by Vineet Jawa and Ashok Hariharan. Since then, it has grown to become one of the major players in the field of risk management both nationally and internationally. IDfy provides crucial services to India's top companies, including but not limited to KYC, KYB, background checks, risk mitigation, digital onboarding, and privacy solutions. The company has a big list of clients that includes HDFC Bank, AxisBank, Zomato, PhonePe, Paytm, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, and American Express, managing over 60 million verifications monthly. It also provides its services to millions of users in the international markets. In a statement, Elev8 said it was drawn to IDfy's strong leadership team, its product-centric approach, and its alignment with India's digitization story. “The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of cloud-based services, driving a surge in digitization and a shift in consumer behavior. This, coupled with the supportive regulatory environment fostered by the India Digital Stack initiative, creates a fertile ground for IDfy's continued growth." “We have known Ashok and IDfy for several years and are impressed with how they have built great products and a great brand. We believe that trust platforms from India will scale internationally, and IDfy can compound meaningfully with these global tailwinds. We look forward to a fruitful partnership with the management team to build IDfy in its next phase of growth," added Rohit Razdan, managing Director of Tenacity Ventures. The company plays a major role in one of the most important sectors in India, making life easier for millions of Indian and international customers. As of 2021, the company is valued at 66.9 million dollars. It has brought significant investments to India and sets a major example of showing the unstoppable growth of India and the potential of talented Indians who are only limited by their creative minds. Also published here

Mumbai-based Identity Verification Startup IDfy Raises $27M Amid Indian Tech Boom

Convincing someone to pay you money is hard. There are thousands, if not tens of thousands, of companies, products, and consultants who will sell you something that claims to help you make more money. Some of these products/methods might work, some only in certain scenarios, and some are snake oil. It's really hard to tell which is which without experience. From my experience, hands down the easiest way to make more money as a business is to find the people who are already trying to pay you and make it easier for them. For 99% of subscription companies, the place to start is getting better at payment processing. A Quick Primer: Payment processing is everything that happens after someone has entered their payment info on your checkout page and clicked submit. A surprising number of companies lose 10%+ of their monthly revenue due to payment issues. To understand how to improve your payment processing, it helps to orient yourself in this world. The major players are: Gets a credit or debit card from a bank and uses it to pay for things. These are your customers. Cardholders: A business that takes card payments for stuff. This is you. Merchants: Handles merchant accounts and lets merchants put money from card payments into their accounts. Merchant Banks: Companies that process card transactions & connect merchants, banks, card networks, and others to make card payments work. Payment Processors: Places that give out cards to people. Issuing Banks: In charge of card rules and rates, handle things between banks. Card Associations (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express): You can visualize the world like this: Why This Matters: Fraud Models, Account Balances, Cards Understanding the details of each step isn't critical, but a general picture helps you understand why the optimizations work so well. Subscription businesses, by nature, do a lot of payment processing as they collect the value from customers incrementally over time. Instead of $120 upfront, most subscription businesses will collect $10 monthly for 12 months. While this has a lot of benefits, such as making products more affordable to consumers, raising conversion, etc., the big downside of this is that there is a 12x increase in the likelihood that something will go wrong and you will lose money. Pitfall #1: False Positives in Risk Models Because of the legal liability and amount of money flowing through the payments universe, each one of these steps will have an ML-based risk model that seeks to protect whoever is on the hook for that step of the transaction from fraud. All models have a false positive rate, meaning they will flag something that is legitimate as fraud and block the transaction. For the sake of argument, let's assume that there are five major steps in processing that each step uses a model that is 99.5% accurate at identifying fraud. You might be thinking that a .05% false positive rate isn't so bad, but you have to remember that each of the five steps has a 0.5% error rate, so that would be: Total False Positives = 1 - (1 - 0.005) * (1 - 0.005) * (1 - 0.005) * (1 - 0.005) * (1 - 0.005) = 0.024875 or ~2.48% Losing almost 2.5% of your recurring revenue monthly would be very bad, especially if it can be avoided. Pitfall #2: Lack of Balance on Cards To complete a transaction, your processor must validate that your user has the month to cover the transaction. Not that they are "generally good for it" or that they might have the money soon.  They need to have the money right now. When you consider the realities of personal finance, that people get paid at different times, their spending habits vary, and these balances will fluctuate. Your user might get paid on the 15th, but you tried to charge them on the 11th, and the card didn't have enough money. Unless you have an auto-retry set-up, your billing system might mark this user as "failed payment," and you'll lose them forever. Pitfall #3: Expired Cards & Changing The big irony about subscription businesses is that the better you are at extending the LTV of your customers, the more payment issues you'll encounter. The longer you charge someone, the more you'll have to deal with expiring cards and changing numbers. The average credit card in the US expires every 3-5 years.  If you are selling mostly annual plans (which should be your goal), you might only get 2 charges for a customer before the number changes. This is especially painful as annual plans are likely your best customers. So What Should You Do With This Information? Payments are a very deep rabbit hole to go down, and what you should be doing depends on where you are as a company. As companies get larger, they throw more and more resources at collecting payments as it is effectively free money that's there for the taking. What you should be doing depends on where you are as a company, but this is the normal trajectory of tactics and tooling. Step 1: Collecting Money At All To collect anything, you need to have a payment processor set up. For most US-based companies, that typically means Stripe. It's a solid product and has a lot of out-of-the-box functionality that is either free or very low cost.  Set it up, configure your plans, and start charging. As of August 2023, they are releasing a set of that you should enable: ​revenue recovery features​ Auto Retry Failed Payments - Stripe comes out of the box with an Auto Retry feature, which you can set manually to try again every 1, 3, 5, or 7 days. This is better than doing nothing and should be enabled for all accounts. ML-Based Dunning - This is like Auto Retry's big brother, where Stripe's algorithm is trying to guess when a card will have a balance on it. Based on the last prices I saw, you'll pay another 0.3% per transaction, but this was well worth it for most companies I work with.  Do the math yourself, but I guess it will also be for you. I would also set this as aggressively as possible within a 30-day window. Update Payment Method Emails - When a card expires or fails, Stripe will email them asking them to update the card or risk losing access. I find it worth it to put a little effort into these emails and ensure you send enough of them right after the payment fails. Step 2: A Second Processing Gateway Certain payment gateways are more effective at successfully charging people in certain countries. Gateways that are good for users within the US will not perform as well in places like Asia, India, and vice versa. If you ask a payment gateway whether they are strong in a certain country, they will always say yes. Don't believe them.   Ask around for similar companies in your industry and ask the subscription management companies if you can see benchmark data. They are more impartial. Your second gateway should cover users in the part of the world where your first gateway is terrible at charging cards. For most US-based companies, starting with Stripe, PayPal is typically the next payment gateway added. It's generally good where Stripe is weak. If you are based in India, and your first option was something like PayTM, maybe Adyen is your next move so you can charge users who are based in Europe more successfully. I have also heard anecdotally that having a legal entity & bank accounts in the same country, you're trying to process cards in helps. I have never seen this work firsthand, but you should ask your gateways if this is true before going through the work to set up entities and bank accounts. Step 3: Subscription Management Platforms Now that you have two gateways, this hopefully allows you to collect more money but also introduces new headaches. You need to manage pricing packages in two locations, settings in two locations, customer data in two locations, and having a centralized view of your revenue will be harder. This is why subscription management platforms exist, and products like Recurly, Chargbee, and Paddle start to make sense. They will let you set up everything in one place and have all gateways follow those settings. How much do these cost? A stupid amount of money, but they are probably worth it. They allow you to use the same revenue recovery features that Stripe has and see the benefit across all gateways. Alternatively, you can build this functionality yourself, which will allow you to customize exactly what happens. Still, you probably need at least two engineers to build & maintain this full-time, so you'll probably save money by buying this to start. Step 4: Adding Additional Gateways & A/B Testing Impact Now that you have multiple gateways set up, you can try to find out which countries it makes sense to install a 3rd, 4th, or 5th gateway and A/B test the impact. Last I checked, the subscription management tools don't have A/B as an out-of-the-box feature, but I recommend testing the impact and being confident that you're making the right call. When I was at Codecademy, we ran these tests and couldn't reach significance when we were charging around $50M per year.   I would guess that you need to be doing between $50-$100M ARR for this to be worth it. These tests were not cheap to set up and took a long time to run, so I would wait until a company is reasonably mature to test this tactic. Step 5: The Fancy Stuff Past this stage, companies start to get creative with any way to prevent transactions from failing. They cut data partnerships with credit card providers to ensure they know the new card number you'll be issued after your last card expires. AAA, the Road Side Assistance company in the US, left me three voicemails when I didn't update my credit card for a $ 99-a-year membership. They can likely afford this as most members will be around for ten years, so any effort to prevent accidental churn is worth it. If you have ever added an invalid payment method on Amazon, you'll notice that you never get an error on the site. Instead, you get an email a few minutes later asking you to update your payment method. This is because: Amazon is trying your payment method across multiple payment gateways to see if they can find one that will accept it Users are probably more likely to update a payment method for something they think is already on the way than they are to try a second credit card after their initial transaction is declined. They probably have 50 engineers working on this space full-time, but with their sales volume, it is worth it.

Payment Processing 101: The Easiest Way to Increase MRR

Decoding Transak's Success: An Exclusive Interview with Co-Founder Yeshu Agarwal

ডিকোডিং ট্রান্সাকের সাফল্য: সহ-প্রতিষ্ঠাতা যিশু আগরওয়ালের সাথে একটি এক্সক্লুসিভ সাক্ষাৎকার

Den Erfolg von Transak entschlüsseln: Ein exklusives Interview mit Mitbegründer Yeshu Agarwal

Decodificando el éxito de Transak: una entrevista exclusiva con el cofundador Yeshu Agarwal

Décoder le succès de Transak : une entrevue exclusive avec le co-fondateur Yeshu Agarwal

ट्रांसक की सफलता को डिकोड करना: सह-संस्थापक येशु अग्रवाल के साथ एक विशेष साक्षात्कार

Transak の成功を読み解く: 共同創設者 Yeshu Agarwal への独占インタビュー

Decoding Transak의 성공: 공동 창립자 Yeshu Agarwal과의 독점 인터뷰

Decodificando o sucesso da Transak: uma entrevista exclusiva com o cofundador Yeshu Agarwal

Расшифровка успеха Transak: эксклюзивное интервью с соучредителем Йешу Агарвалом

Transak'ın Başarısını Çözmek: Kurucu Ortak Yeshu Agarwal ile Özel Bir Röportaj

Giải mã thành công của Transak: Cuộc phỏng vấn độc quyền với Người đồng sáng lập Yeshu Agarwal

解读 Transak 的成功：联合创始人 Yeshu Agarwal 独家专访

The advent of the 21st century brought with it a digital revolution that has transformed the way societies function, communicate, and progress. India, a country known for its rich cultural heritage and diverse population, has not been left untouched by this wave of digitalization. The rise of Digital India is a testament to the nation’s commitment to harnessing the power of technology to drive economic growth, empower its citizens, and bring about positive change in various sectors. The Vision of Digital India The concept of Digital India was introduced by the Indian government in 2015, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The vision was to empower Indian citizens through the extensive use of technology and to make government services more accessible, efficient, and transparent. The initiative aimed to bridge the digital divide and create a digital infrastructure that would serve as the backbone for economic development. Key Pillars of Digital India : The establishment of a robust digital infrastructure was the foundational pillar of Digital India. This involved the expansion of high-speed internet access, building digital literacy, and creating the necessary hardware and software resources to support a digital ecosystem. Digital Infrastructure : E-governance was a critical aspect of the Digital India initiative. The idea was to make government services available to citizens at their doorstep through digital platforms. Initiatives like the Digital Locker and e-Hospital have made it easier for citizens to access documents and healthcare services. Governance and Services on Demand : Digital literacy and digital skills development programs were launched to empower citizens with the knowledge and skills needed to participate in the The Skill India campaign was one such initiative to provide vocational training and bridge the skill gap. Digital Empowerment of Citizens digital world. : The government recognized the importance of digital infrastructure as a utility, just like electricity and water. Initiatives like BharatNet aimed to provide high-speed internet access to even the remotest corners of the country, promoting digital inclusion. Digital Infrastructure as a Utility : The Aadhaar project, which assigns a unique identification number to every Indian citizen, played a pivotal role in ensuring efficient and transparent service delivery, especially in the public distribution system and financial sector. Digital Identity Impact on Various Sectors : The rise of digital payments, mobile banking, and the Jan Dhan Yojana has brought financial services to the unbanked and underbanked population. This has reduced leakages in government welfare programs and promoted a cashless economy. Financial Inclusion : platforms have transformed the way students learn, making quality education more accessible, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The government’s SWAYAM initiative offers free online courses from top institutions. Education Digital education : platforms have improved access to healthcare services, especially in rural areas. Patients can now consult doctors remotely and access medical records digitally. Healthcare Telemedicine and e-health : Digital India has provided farmers with valuable information on weather forecasts, market prices, and farming techniques, improving their yields and income. Agriculture : India has witnessed a burgeoning startup ecosystem, with a focus on technology-driven solutions. Companies like Flipkart, Paytm, and Ola are prime examples of Indian startups that have achieved significant success. Startups and Innovation Challenges and Concerns The rise of Digital India and the relevance of data scientists go hand in hand as India has been experiencing a digital transformation across various sectors. Digital India is an initiative launched by the Indian government to ensure that government services are made available to all citizens electronically, and it also aims to promote digital literacy and access to technology. This initiative has paved the way for significant changes in how various sectors operate, and data scientists play a crucial role in this transformation. Here’s why data scientists are relevant in the context of Digital India: : With the increasing adoption of digital technologies, there’s an explosion of data being generated. Data scientists are essential for managing, analyzing, and extracting valuable insights from this data. They help organizations and the government make data-driven decisions. Data Abundance : The Digital India initiative has led to the development of numerous e-governance platforms and services. Data scientists can help in designing and optimizing these platforms for better user experiences and efficiency, as well as in using data to improve government operations. E-Governance : Digital India aims to provide various public services online. Data scientists can analyze the data collected through these services to assess their effectiveness, detect trends, and improve the quality of services. This can lead to better public service delivery. Public Services : With the expansion of digital financial services, there’s a wealth of data related to financial transactions. Data scientists can play a vital role in developing fraud detection systems, credit scoring models, and risk management strategies for financial inclusion. Financial Inclusion : Data-driven agriculture and rural development are crucial for India’s economy. Data scientists can analyze agricultural data to provide farmers with insights, forecast crop yields, and optimize resource allocation. Agriculture and Rural Development : The healthcare sector is also benefiting from Digital India, with the development of electronic health records and telemedicine. Data scientists can use health data for disease surveillance, predictive analytics, and personalized medicine. Healthcare : Online education and e-learning platforms are on the rise. Data scientists can improve learning outcomes by analyzing student data to tailor educational content and methods to individual needs. Education : India is working on developing smart cities that use digital technologies to enhance performance, well-being, and reduce costs and resource consumption. Data scientists can help analyze data from IoT devices, sensors, and other sources to optimize city operations and services. Smart Cities : The digital ecosystem has given rise to numerous startups in India. Data scientists are instrumental in developing innovative products and services, improving customer experiences, and optimizing business processes. Startups and Innovation : With increased digitization comes the need for enhanced . Data scientists can work on developing and improving security measures and systems to protect data and infrastructure. Cybersecurity cybersecurity , the relevance of data scientists in the context of Digital India is immense. Their expertise in data analysis, machine learning, and artificial intelligence can help the government and businesses make informed decisions, improve services, and drive economic growth in the digital era. The data-driven approach is pivotal to realizing the full potential of the Digital India initiative and ensuring that its benefits reach every corner of the country. In conclusion Guest contributor is the Director, Bachelor of Data Science Program at , one of Asia Pacific’s top-ranked global business schools with state-of-the-art campuses in Dubai, Mumbai, Singapore, and Sydney. Any opinions expressed in this article are strictly those of the author. Dr. Abhijit Dasgupta SP Jain School of Global Management This article was originally published by on Navanwita Bora Sachdev The Tech Panda.

Digital India Soars: Transforming a Nation Through Technology and Innovation

82 Stories To Learn About Digital Payments

My team & I was working on an &VR project — around mid-2017, the most difficult problem that we faced was integrating custom payment gateways to our app that’s built on Unity. To date, many developers used to email me to help them with their payment gateway integration so decided to share it here. AR We had a use case where we have to collect payment from customers and update it in our backend e-commerce store. There were two options for us one was to use available payment solutions with Unity or to build our own integration with other payment gateways. Readymade solutions weren’t suitable because it was accepting payments in USD and even if some in-app purchase solutions were working in our regional currency (INR) it was expensive. so we found a workaround to integrate a custom payment gateway with any Unity app. Below are the steps I used for my app but it should be similar to your use case and for any other payment gateways. I personally feel Razorpay is very comfortable because have very good tech support and they have a feature that other payment gateways don’t have, I will come to that later. So this is how it works. Mostly every payment gateway has some sort of web-based checkout that works just with a browser. we decided to use that. since all we needed was a browser it was easy to open a webview. you can open a website directly from Unity using inbuilt functions but it was easy for me to use this asset — “UniWebView” It’s very easy and straightforward. ( ) Razorpay Standard Web Integration https://razorpay.com/docs/payment-gateway/web-integration/standard/ ( ) UniWebView https://uniwebview.com/ The concept is straightforward, I hosted a PHP page in my server with the standard checkout code and accessed that page from Unity webview. All values like name, price and other dynamic portions are passed as parameters. So we will have a pay now button or checkout button on our hosted page if you feel it as redundant or an extra step you can set auto-trigger whenever that page is loaded. Tada! Now you can collect payment from your customer. The remaining flow depends upon your use case. If you are from India, you might face this problem. we have multi-factor authentication where you have to type One time password or some kind of pin. payment gateways like Stripe, and Paytm rather than redirecting our existing page, open a popup or a new window. this will work in ordinary browsers but since we are using the Unity web view it’s impossible for a popup. This is where Razorpay is awesome. you can set whether you wanted to redirect or open a new window in their standard checkout code. you can read about this on this link ( ) in case if the link is outdated, you can feel free to check with Razorpay’s tech support they will assist you. https://razorpay.com/docs/payment-gateway/callback-url/ Let me know if there is something else that I have missed to mention here. Thank you :)

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