In no particular order, here are MediaNama’s top 10 stories of the week ended 9th July 2017
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Fino launches Payments Bank has commenced operations, says RBI
Fino, which was among the initial entities to get a Payments Bank license in India, has “commenced operations” on the 30th of June 2017, the Reserve Bank of India said in a statement. The Reserve Bank has issued a licence to the bank under Section 22 (1) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 to carry on the business of payments bank in India. Read it here
E-commerce marketplaces will have to mention MRP, expiry dates from Jan 1, 2018
The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has amended the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 to make it mandatory for e-commerce companies to mention maximum retail price (MRP), expiry dates and country of origin of products available on the platforms. Read it here
Airtel Payments Bank reports deposits of Rs 68.33 crore at end of FY17
Airtel Payments Bank reported deposits of Rs 68.33 crore at the end of the financial year ended 31st March 2017, which was its first year of operation, according to its annual report. Its top 20 depositors account for around Rs 20.45 lakh (around 0.3% of total deposits), which is probably a function the Reserve Bank of India limiting deposits in Payments Banks to Rs 1 lakh. Read it here
Byju’s acquires Pearson’s Tutorvista and Edurite to expand internationally
Education technology startup Byju’s Learning has acquired global education company Pearson Plc’s online tutoring provider Tutorvista and e-learning content company Edurite for an undisclosed amount, reports Livemint. Founder Byju Raveendran told the publication that the acquisition will allow them to expand product offerings and provide access to new markets when they launch international products. Read it here
Netflix starts complying with RBI’s two-factor authentication rules; testing Paytm?
Netflix has started complying with the RBI’s 2-factor-authentication norms for authenticating credit and debit cards issued in India. While cards issued by Visa and MasterCard are being authenticated through an Indian payment gateway service, American Express cards, even those issued in India, don’t go through similar authentication. Read it here
Ministry of Finance appeals to people to not spread misinformation related to GST
The Ministry of Finance issued an appeal to citizens to not circulate “wrong messages” on social media: it appears that messages were circulating falsely suggesting that temples are subject to Goods and Services Tax (GST), while Churches and Mosques are exempt. Read it here
Streaming services censor themselves in India, even though they don’t need to
At 2am on March 29, film producer Gaurav Dhingra got an email and a missed call. They were from Netflix. Angry Indian Goddesses, a film Dhingra produced, was due to release on Netflix in a day. It had released in the rest of the world a couple weeks earlier. In 2015, when Netflix bought the film, Dhingra asked for assurance from them that they would release it uncensored everywhere, including India. Netflix agreed. Read it here
No, the Law Commission has not recommended mandatory linking of Aadhaar to marriage registration
Over the past 24 hours a number of media outlets (here, here and here) have reported that the latest Law Commission report addressing the Centre’s proposed amendments to the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 to include compulsory marriage registration has recommended mandatory linking of Aadhaar with marriage registration records. However, these reports are incorrect and do not provide the entire context of the Law Commission’s recommendations. Read it here
Why the RBI wants a Public Credit Registry with Aadhaar and CIN linkage
In a speech at the RBI’s 11th Statistics Day Conference, RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya made the case for a Public Credit Registry (PCR), incorporating unique identifiers for borrowers: Aadhaar for individuals, and Corporate Identification Number for companies. Read it here
The Lowdown: RBI’s new guidelines for dealing with fraud digital transactions
The Reserve Bank of India has said that customers will have zero liability if a fraudulent or unauthorised transaction takes place, in case of negligence or deficiency from the bank, or a third party breach takes place and the customer notifies the bank in three working days, after receiving communication from the bank of the unauthorised transaction. Read it here
