In no particular order, here are MediaNama’s top 10 stories of the week ended 15th October 2017
MediaNama would like to thank its sponsors: Info Edge, PhonePe, ESPN, & E2E, for their support.
PhonePe introduces credit card bill payments
Update: In an emailed response, PhonePe CEO Sameer Nigam said that PhonePe will take “few more months to add support for all other card networks.” No definitive date was provided. Read it here
The tug of war between ISPs and welfare associations at residential apartments
To get to their consumers, broadband providers have to deal with a very literal gatekeeper: your apartment’s resident welfare association. Broadband providers can’t just start installing their equipment and lay out cables without approval from the RWA. Read it here
Andhra Pradesh is looking to change its Shop and Establishments Act to go cashless
The government of Andhra Pradesh is looking to amend the AP Shop and Establishment Act to enable digital forms of payments in the state. This follows announcements by global payment companies Visa and Mastercard and it looks like it is first trying out the initiatives in Vishakapatnam. Read it here
Offline vs Online: Now retailers like Aditya Birla and Future seek PMO’s help
On behalf of a clutch of offline retailers in India, The Retailers Association of India (RAI) has sought help from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on the unfair practices of e-commerce players in India, reports Times of India. Read it here
Funding spree on: Ola raises $1.1B from Tencent and others, to raise $1B more
While its rival is in distress, Cab aggregator Ola (ANI Technologies) confirmed it raised $1.1 billion led by Tencent Holdings Limited in the latest round of funding. Ola’s existing investor SoftBank, in addition to other new US-based financial investors also participated in the round. Read it here
Zoomcar launches PEDL to offer bicycle rentals in India
Self-drive car rental company Zoomcar has launched PEDL, a cycle rental service in the country, starting with Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata. The new service will primarily serve last mile commuting purposes like grocery shopping or errand running etc. Read it here
Lowdown: Revised RBI guidelines on wallets which will allow interoperability on UPI
The Reserve bank of India has finally issued revised guidelines on for prepaid payment instruments (PPI) and said that they will be interoperable. Here are some the broad changes in the wallet guidelines.Read it here
Meru seeks CCI interference again vs Ola and Uber, will CCI dismiss it again?
Mumbai-based cab service provider Meru Cabs has again filed complaints against Ola and Uber, alleging that the cab aggregators are misusing their position in the market and prompting anti-competitive practices, said Meru Cabs’ CEO Nilesh Sangoi, while speaking to MediaNama. Read it here
Issues wallets need to consider now that they can be interoperable
The fact that wallets were not allowed to be a part of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has been a bone of contention with players for over a year and a half. Now that wallets are allowed to function on the UPI with the revised guidelines from the RBI, there are some issues that players need to take into consideration. Read it here
Google Domains beta is now live in India
Google has launched its domain registration service, Google Domains in India, albeit in beta. This was first spotted by Labnol. The search giant hasn’t made any noise about this yet, and the same reflects on the Google Domains site as well, where unlike other domain registration services, there are no special offers or discounts. Read it here
