India


Profit problems worsen for Intellect

Intellect Design Arena’s lack of profit has worsened as it reveals a loss after tax of INR 138 million ($2 million) for the quarter ended 30 September 2016. As Banking Technology reported for its previous quarter results, it had a loss after tax of INR 55.2 million ($826,690) for the quarter ended 30 June 2016. […]

Five-Star for Nucleus Software’s lending solution in the cloud

India-based Five-Star Business Finance is modernising its lending operations with a new platform, FinnOne Neo, provided by local specialist vendor Nucleus Software. The solution will be delivered in the cloud. Five-Star is a non-banking finance company, and provides small business and small housing loans to “underbanked customers”. It chose FinnOne Neo to “help scale [its] […]

Mahindra Finance launches SME fintech challenge

Mahindra Finance has launched a global SME challenge with KPMG and fintech matchmaking service Matchi. Companies are invited to respond with a solution that fits any of the SME-focused categories listed below. Balaji Rangachari, head of SME finance at Mahindra Finance, says the challenge is a “step towards finding existing solutions which we can adapt […]

Nucleus Software revenue nudges up

Nucleus Software’s consolidated revenue has moved up for the second quarter of FY 2017 – standing at IND 956 million ($14.8 million) compared to IND 847 million ($12.6 million) in Q2 of the previous year. For the quarter ended 30 September 2016, EBIDTA was IND 141 million ($2.1 million) in comparison to IND 17 million […]

Millions at risk from India ATM hack

ATMs at some of India’s biggest banks have suffered a malware attack, with around 3.2 million debit cards now at risk. Most of the affected cards belong to HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India (SBI) and Yes Bank. The malware potentially means unauthorised individuals can get access to the data on debit cards […]

Yes Bank goes biometric for payments

Yes Bank, India’s fifth largest in the private sector, has partnered with Lastmile.mobi to introduce the IRIS EMV POS solution. The device allows biometric authentication through iris scanning, and can act as a POS terminal as well as an ATM. Lastmile.mobi provides a cloud-based platform accessible by a biometric enabled mobile device. The solution integrates […]

Aditya Birla picks Infosys Finacle core system for new bank

Indian firm Aditya Birla has chosen the Infosys Finacle core banking system for its upcoming joint venture (JV), Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank. Aditya Birla has got in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India and plans to set up the new payments bank by the end of its financial year (2016-17). Aditya Birla will […]

Standard Chartered customers taken for an Uber ride

This time we have a genuine Uber moment in fintech. Standard Chartered and Uber are partnering to offer the bank’s credit cardholders cashbacks on Uber rides. This is the “first ever multi-market partnership” for both of them. The deal is for six markets – Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, India and the United Arab Emirates – […]

HDFC Bank picks Backbase for digital banking revamp

India-based HDFC Bank has selected Backbase to deliver its new digital omnichannel banking platform, running both its online and mobile banking apps. The mobile banking app, digital banking portal, and web site will run on the Backbase Omnichannel Digital Banking Platform. Backbase will combine HDFC Bank’s existing core banking and back-end applications with its platform. […]

Top ten mobile banking apps in India – August 2016

What were the most popular mobile banking apps (on Android) in India in August 2016? We reveal the stats for the top ten apps in India, ranked taking into account two engagement metrics – current installs and active app users.

Wipro goes with the blockchain flow

IT services integrator Wipro has set up a blockchain research facility at its Bengaluru campus in India to help its engineers build applications. Wipro is working with a number of unnamed start-ups to scale up the business, and with scant regard to detail it says some pilot projects should be completed soon. Being vague is […]

PayU acquires India’s Citrus Pay for $130m

PayU has bought Citrus Pay for $130 million – the “largest ever M&A cash deal” in India’s fintech space. The deal is part of PayU’s growth plans and it claims its number of customers in India will grow to more than 30 million, processing a forecasted 150 million transactions in 2016 worth a combined $4.2 […]

PhonePe and Yes Bank unveil India’s “first” UPI-based payments app

Payments firm PhonePe and Yes Bank have teamed up to launch India’s “first” UPI (Unified Payments Interface) based mobile payments app. UPI was launched in April by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) – with Yes Bank being one of the 21 banks recently going live. UPI offers instant, online bank payments, and is […]

India’s Unified Payments Interface a live wire

Unified Payments Interface (UPI), launched in April by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), is going live for 21 banks. UPI offers instant, online bank payments, and is seen as a major change to the Indian financial sector. It enables banks to provide real-time payments through QR code enabled addresses and offers device fingerprinting […]

Top ten lending sites in India – July 2016

Who is leading the digital way among the lending companies in India? We have put together some nifty stats for India’s top ten online lending sites for the past month (data courtesy of SimilarWeb). We’ll be publishing regular updates on a monthly basis, to track the changes, developments and trends – to bring you a fuller picture […]

Top ten retail banking sites in India – July 2016

Who is leading the digital way among the retail banks in India? We have put together some nifty stats for India’s top ten online banking sites for the past month (data courtesy of SimilarWeb). We’ll be publishing regular updates on a monthly basis, to track the changes, developments and trends – to bring you a fuller picture of […]

IDFC Bank deploys customer experience and digital banking platforms from Backbase

Digital banking software specialist Backbase is implementing its omnichannel banking platform at IDFC Bank. India-based IDFC Bank will be able to service its customers “through multiple channels synchronously, creating a single multimodal touch point”, according to the vendor. The goal is to “quicken response time and improve efficiencies”. Dr Rajiv Lall, MD and CEO of IDFC Bank, […]

Digital games banks got to play – part 1

Today, most banks want to be digital leaders because that is where the customers are! This has brought in a change in the attitude of many traditional banks. Arun S. Padaki, a seasoned corporate banker, credit risk and business process management consultant, explores what it takes to become a digital leader and who is already ahead in […]

Mobile on the cards for Union Bank of India

Union Bank of India has launched Ucontrol, a solution which lets customers control credit card usage with a mobile application. The solution is powered by payments provider Worldline, and Union Bank cardholders can manage usage of all their Union Bank of India credit cards from a single mobile application. Shri Arun Tiwari, chairman and managing […]

Profit problems linger for Intellect

Intellect Design Arena’s lack of profit continues as it has reported a loss after tax of INR 55.2 million ($826,690) for the quarter ended 30 June 2016. This is an improvement on the previous year’s quarter, when loss after tax was INR 111.1 million ($1.6 million). Arun Jain, chairman and managing director, Intellect Design Arena, […]

Payza partners with NRGT for payments innovation in India

Payments platform Payza has partnered with New RAMPgreen Technologies (NRGT) in India to launch the “first” global online wallet that can be used by Indians in their local currency. Payza says prior to this local payment service Indians were not permitted to hold any rupees in any online ewallet. It says the “only way” they […]

National Stock Exchange of India goes live on ITRS’s Geneos monitoring software

India’s National Stock Exchange (NSE) has implemented ITRS’s real-time monitoring platform, Geneos. ITRS says the rollout is part of the NSE’s objective to “streamline” operations due to the recent regulatory reform in the Asian securities market. G. Shenoy, CTO operations at NSE, says: “ITRS Geneos gives us an early warning system so that we can […]

Top ten retail banking sites in India – June 2016

Who is leading the digital way among the retail banks in India? We have put together some nifty stats for India’s top ten online banking sites for the past month (data courtesy of SimilarWeb). We’ll be publishing regular updates on a monthly basis, to track the changes, developments and trends – to bring you a fuller picture of […]

Axis Bank pilots India’s first RuPay EMV contactless smart card

Axis Bank has partnered with OT (Oberthur Technologies) to pilot the “first” open loop EMV contactless smart cards to be used in public transportation in Bengaluru, India. OT, a provider of security software products and services, says the cards allow people to tap and pay instead of buying a ticket each time they use transportation […]

Shubham Housing Finance opts for Nucleus’ FinnOne lending platform in the cloud

India-based Shubham Housing Development Finance Company has implemented Nucleus Software’s FinnOne Neo, a loan lifecycle management solution in the cloud. Nucleus says Shubham is one of the first dedicated housing finance companies in India to set up their lending platform on cloud infrastructure. Ajay Oak, chief operating officer of Shubham, says Nucleus was chosen “because […]

ICICI and Axis first Indian banks to join Swift payments initiative

ICICI Bank and Axis Bank are the first Indian banks to sign up for Swift’s global payments innovation initiative. Swift says both of them will be joining forces with more than 70 other banks globally. The initiative aims to “enhance” cross-border payments by using its messaging platform. In its first phase, the initiative will focus […]

Mainstream fintech in India: a bird’s eye view

Soumik Roy, Banking Technology’s editorial contributor based in India, explores India’s digital banking landscape, examines innovative players like DBS digibank, and ponders what’s next for the nation’s fast-paced fintech sector. Electronic banking and payments are rapidly picking up pace in India; citizens love the convenience, the government hopes it will drive transparency and reduce the […]

Yes Bank says yes to Gemalto’s mobile payments for UPI

Yes Bank has deployed Gemalto’s SafeNet Network HSM to secure mobile payment transactions for its customers under India’s recently implemented Unified Payments Interface (UPI). UPI was launched in April by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), and will go live by the end of this month with 15 participating banks. It offers instant, online […]

Infosys quarterly profit dips

Financial systems vendor Infosys has reported a fall in profit for Q1 2016 due to slower than expected project ramp-ups on deals it had won in previous quarters. For the quarter ended 30 June 2016, net profit was $511 million – a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) decline of 4.1%, but a year-on-year (YoY) growth of 7.4%. Operating […]

India’s Unified Payments Interface gets more banks onboard

Unified Payments Interface (UPI), launched in April by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), will go live by the end of this month with 15 participating banks. UPI offers instant, online bank payments, and is seen as a major change to the Indian financial sector. It enables banks to provide real-time payments through QR […]

Reserve Bank of India to tackle fintech regulations

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has put together an inter-regulatory working group (WG) to study the entire gamut of regulatory issues relating to fintech and digital banking in India. The move is designed to help facilitate their development and is the latest in a long list of technological advances in the country. Aside from […]

Maybank live with One Treasury in India; launches mobile app in Cambodia

Maybank Indonesia has gone live with Intellect’s integrated treasury management system, One Treasury, for its Indian operations. Intellect says the solution has enabled the overseas branch to “eliminate dependence on intensive manual operations”. The firm says the deployment, user acceptance testing (UAT) and data migration were completed in seven months. Intellect says One Treasury is […]

Axis Bank first in India to launch innovation lab, Thought Factory

India’s third largest private sector bank, Axis Bank, has launched a new innovation lab, becoming the first domestic bank to do so in India. Dubbed “Thought Factory”, the lab is aimed at accelerating the development of innovative technology solutions for the banking sector and is expected to work closely with the start-up community. Thought Factory […]

State Bank of India merges with associate banks

India’s government has given the green light to the State Bank of India (SBI) to merge with its five associate banks. SBI is already among the largest an India and a sizeable international player, with the total assets of $400 billion and a network of 16,500+ branches (including over 190 international locations across 36 countries). […]

Reserve Bank of India pushes for ATM revamp

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) plans an overhaul of the country’s ATMs to enable the processing of EMV chip and PIN cards by 2017. The RBI says while India’s POS infrastructure accepts and processes EMV chip and PIN cards, the ATM infrastructure, “on the whole”, continues to process card transactions based on data from […]

HSBC India halves branch network

HSBC India is closing 24 branches across the country due to the rise in digital banking. Following a “strategic review” of its retail banking and wealth management business in India, it says it will move from 50 branches across 29 cities to 26 branches across 14 cities. HSBC India says: “This change reflects changes in […]

IDBI Capital goes live with new trading platform, TCS Bancs

IDBI Capital, a subsidiary of India-based IDBI Bank, has gone live on a new securities trading and processing system, Bancs. The system is supplied by TCS Financial Solutions. Bancs supports online brokerage operations at IDBI Capital. It provides front-to-back office functionality and replaced IDBI Capital’s multiple trading and trade processing platforms. According to TCS, IDBI […]

IDBI Bank in major tech upgrade and business process re-engineering

IDBI Bank (formerly Industrial Development Bank of India), a state-owned bank in India, is going through a major core banking platform refresh. The bank is currently running on an old version of Infosys’ Finacle, version 7.x. Furthermore, the system was deployed in separate installations for domestic operations (retail and corporate), commercial lending (corporate finance), Dubai […]