Monthly digital transactions crossed 1 billion mark in July

Monthly electronic transaction volumes crossed the 1 billion mark in July, National Payments Corp. of India (NPCI) said in a statement on Friday.

The 1 billion transactions comprise all types of payments handled by NPCI—ATM clearing to Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM), RuPay, pointof-sale, e-commerce and also Aadhaar-based payments.

NPCI operates 12 payment systems.

“Highest growth has been seen in the mobile payments and Aadhaar-based payments. This change was achieved by way of adding new products to NPCI’s portfolio and widening the membership of all products. The next logical target can be a billion transactions a day may be in three years,” said AP Hota, managing director and chief executive officer, NPCI.

On Wednesday, NPCI said in a statement that the transactions using UPI alone rose by over 10% to 11.63 million in July from 10.35 million in the previous month. Volume (in mn)

UPI is a payment system launched by NPCI that facilitates instant fund transfer between two bank accounts on the mobile platform.

The November 8 demonetisation of high-value banknotes led to a proliferation of cashless transactions.

“It gives us a great deal of satisfaction that NPCI has truly emerged as the powerhouse of all financial transactions in India. It is a great achievement to join the leagues of reputed payment institutions which process billions of transactions every month globally,” Hota said.

Dabur India Ltd on Friday reported a 9.8% decline in consolidated net profit in the quarter ended June 30, blaming “massive de-stocking by trade channels” ahead of the July 1 roll-out of the GST.

Net profit in the quarter fell to ₹264.86 crore from ₹293.64 crore in the year-ago period. the New Delhi-based company said. Sales dipped 8.3% to ₹1,790.1 crore from ₹1,952.2 crore.

On a stand-alone basis, Dabur India’s business suffered more. Stand-alone net profit in the June quarter declined 14.5% to ₹169.59 crore as sales dropped by 5% to ₹1,233.74 crore.

“The quarter began on a positive note with a strong revival in domestic demand in April and May. However, consumer demand remained strong, helping us improve our market share across key product categories during the first quarter of 2017-18,” said Sunil Duggal, CEO, Dabur India, in a statement.

potentially 15,000 Khadi and Village Industries Commission outlets. The Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy committee on Wednesday cut the repo rate— the rate at which it lends money to commercial banks—by 0.25%, after consumer price inflation slowed to a record-low 1.54% in June this year. The MPC noted that inflation can only be expected to rise from here on.

The inflation reading was below the central bank’s forecast of 2.0-3.5% for the April-September period.

State Bank of India, the country’s biggest lender, on Monday cut the interest rate on savings accounts with a balance of up to ₹1 crore by 0.5% to 3.5%—the first time the key rate has been cut since being de-regulated in 2011. India’s largest online retailer Flipkart plans to rebrand and revamp its large appliances category, launch a new private label for some of its home appliances and open several new warehouses for high-priced products and appliances.

This category will be renamed “Big Home Appliances” including televisions and large appliances, head of appliances Sandeep Karwa said. Car and two-wheeler sales rose in July as car makers dispatched more vehicles to their dealers ahead of the festive season. Maruti Suzuki sales rose 22.4% in July, led by the Swift, Ritz, Baleno and Brezza. Demand for gold in India rose 37% to 167.4 tonnes in the AprilJune period, according to the World Gold Council.

This was primarily because companies increased their gold buying before the Goods and Services Tax was rolled out on 1 July this year.

India’s gold imports had hit a record high of 104.6 tonnes in May as the market stockpiled gold ahead of the June GST rate announcement. Reliance Jio Infocomm is allowing individuals and companies to “register interest” in buying its JioPhone, the hybrid smart-feature phone which is set to go on sale later this month.

To do the same, customers have go to log on to the company’s website and share their name, email address, phone number, and PIN code, then click ‘keep me posted’.

Companies will also have to share their PAN or GST Network number and how many devices they want to buy. Customers will get the phone for a ₹1,500 deposit, which is returnable in three years.