First came the electric vehicles (EVs). And now, another clean energy alternative is offering itself as an option for two-wheeler owners. Compressed natural gas, known as CNG in common parlance, is being used to power a portfolio of bikes that Bajaj Auto is developing. CNG two-wheelers aren’t entirely unheard of, but this will be the … Read more
Krishna Veni, a 40-year-old homemaker living in the slum near Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, does not use payment apps such as Google Pay, PhonePe or BHIM. Not because she does not want to but because she cannot for a simple reason: her mobile phone number is not linked to her bank account, the vital … Read more
One fine morning in April, three middle-aged men stood in a circle at the lobby of the Radisson Blu in Ghaziabad, chatting. Two of them had distinct NRI accents. The third complained about Delhi’s spring and pollen irritating his nose. Had you overheard their gripes, you could have never guessed that these urbane men were … Read more
In the recent past, Indian banks have successfully reduced the share of non-performing assets (NPAs) in their books of accounts. This is good news for the banks but bad news for Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs), that help banks with debt resolution. Fewer NPAs mean fewer opportunities for ARCs, particularly in corporate loans. There hasn’t been … Read more
When the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) launched the central bank digital currency (CBDC) in December 2022, Tanmoy Khanra, a 29-year-old IT professional from Bengaluru, was fascinated with the fact that it was a digital currency based on blockchain technology. Khanra downloaded the Digital Rupee By ICICI app in March 2023 out of curiosity to … Read more
Thirty-eight-year-old Kalpana Das works as a temporary office assistant at the office of the local body, Deosal Gram Panchayat, in central Assam’s Morigaon district. She is happy because the salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group is coming to Morigaon. Kalpana doesn’t know what exactly the company is planning to do at the defunct project site of the … Read more
India’s banking regulator has launched a widespread crackdown on companies offering financial services. One key norm around which its actions have centred and where many new age fintech companies have been found wanting is Know Your Customer or KYC rules. However, what has gone rather unnoticed is the scrutiny of Know Your Business (KVB), which … Read more