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We have noted the model of PhonePe, Google Tez and Paytm, whenever there are incentives or cashbacks, the transaction volumes pick up. This is another behavioural change,u201d said a top government official who is aware of the development. The person did not wish to be named. The share of BHIM in total UPI transactions has dropped to 5.75% in February from 40.5% in August last year, according to the latest data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which tracks digital transactions in the country. The official said the move to offer cashbacks and incentives is also to encourage more transactions on the BHIM platform and reduce usage of cash. For this, the incentives for merchants for using BHIM-Aadhaar platform will be significantly increased to 0.5% of the transaction value upto Rs 10,000 against the earlier 0.25% of the transaction value of just Rs 2,000. The government admits that the offtake of the earlier scheme for merchants has been low (just a few lak...

Jobs in the blockchain sector are in high demand in India and Bengaluru leads in terms of opportunities in this sector, says a report. According to data from leading global job site Indeed, Bengaluru is the leading city for those seeking job opportunities in the blockchain sector, with over 36 per cent of all the blockchain job postings in India. It is followed by Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai, making up the top five destinations for blockchain careers in the country. The report further noted that New Delhi and surrounding regions such as Gurugram, Noida, and Mohali also see a share of job postings in the sector. However, the volume does not compare to their southern counterparts, it noted. “Technology hubs like Bengaluru and Hyderabad continue to lead, while the national capital region is also seeing a fair share of interest in the sector. With the global market for blockchain-related products and services is expected to reach USD 7.7 billion in 2022, there are sure...

Cryptocurrency exchanges in India are thinking about challenging the RBI’s order which bans entities under its regulation from providing services related to cryptocurrencies. Startups including Unocoin, Coinsecure and Zebpay have expressed their reservations with the order and are considering to mount a legal challenge in the Supreme Court. Coinsecure said that they were talking about the issue with industry stakeholders like Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Committee of India and the Internet and Mobile Association of India. Jincy Samuel, Chief Operating Officer of Coinsecure said, "We, along with the other industry players are in talks with IAMAI and BACC to see if they could help us in getting a hearing at the Supreme Court to see if stay orders are possible on the current decision of the RBI." However, Samuel accepted that the central bank’s order will affect their services and investors will be left with alternatives to move to an alt-to-alt trading or...

Microsoft has announced it will invest $5 billion in research, products and services for the Internet of Things (IoT) over the next four years. The investment will be made into IoT operating systems, cloud services for managing and controlling those operating systems, analysis tools to make use of the data from IoT, and business applications. In more practical terms, this means making Windows 10 more IoT aware, and developing Azure further.   The announcement of the investment follows a few days after Microsoft announced it was reorganizing internally, splitting the Windows and Devices Group and reshuffling elsewhere to: "focus on the intelligent cloud and the intelligent edge ," according to CEO Satya Nadella. Making Windows 10 more IoT aware is already underway, with Windows 10 IoT Core and Enterprise already available, and work already announced on making it easier to integrate Windows 10 IoT and Azure IoT. Azure IoT is also getting new services and options...

India’s first blockchain network has gone live. After years of announcements and pilot projects, the country has finally implemented a solution for blockchain operations.  The blockchain-based network is developed by three platforms that offer trade Trade Receivables Discounting Systems (TReDS) - Receivables Exchange of India, A.TReDS, and M1xchange. These platforms are using blockchain in enterprise financial segment. Receivable financing is considered as the most efficient trade finance mechanisms for small businesses. Blockchain can help in this sector to provide a common platform that is not controlled by any financial institution. The security and confidentiality promise to reduce frauds around receivable financing. The blockchain network is built on Hyperledger Fabric that does not rely on cryptocurrency to operate. Kalyan Basu, CEO of TReDS said, “Our clients are particularly sensitive about their sourcing inputs, and we absolutely could not broadcast any o...

It might be a while before President Donald Trump gets another chance at creating a new, "merit-based" immigration system, a keystone of his four-part plan that Congress rejected a month ago. Meanwhile, his administration is attempting to make it harder for skilled migrants to come work in the US. The State Department has terminated an Obama-era program which allows foreign entrepreneurs to start companies in the US. It is aggressively scrutinizing visa applications for skilled workers from other countries. In addition, it is considering terminating a provision that permits the spouses of those skilled workers to work in the US. The administration and its supporters claiming that they are trying to mend flaws in the current, employer-centric skilled immigration system while campaigning for a complete revamp of America's immigration system. Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies, which supports reducing immigration said, "The stuff ...

Here is the son of an ex government employee from Shalimar Bagh of Delhi, who currently owns a house in Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, one of the tallest building in the world. However, this is not one of the magnificent stories of a middle-class man becoming very successful. It’s quite something else on the whole. Amit Bhardwaj, a former software developer with Infosys and stock broker, is suspected to have fled to Dubai after conning an estimated amount of Rs 2,000 crore through a Ponzi scheme based on bitcoins, the mostly unregulated digital ‘cryptocurrency’ that has been became popular with its sharp spike in value. Bhardwaj, whose businesses are reported to have a turnover of millions, now faces fraud cases in a number of states, with investigative agencies struggling to get him back to the country. The ‘scam’ As of April 1’s evening, one bitcoin was valued at just over Rs 4.26 lakh. But in 2017, the value exceeded Rs 10 lakh. Under Bhardwaj’s scheme, an investor purchasing o...

At 18, Accenture Strategy makes most offers BCG, Amazon make second highest offers of 14 each 125 firms participated for placements 'Dream job' applications rise from 110 last year to 176 out of over 400 batch As against 7 last year, this year 6 students opted out of placements for own ventures Placements for the 2018 batch of the postgraduate programme in management (PGP) at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) concluded, with consulting and e-commerce majors emerging as top recruiters. Accenture Strategy made 18 offers, followed by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Amazon with 14 each. Last year, Amazon was the top recruiter, with 18 offers. IIM-A now follows a cluster-based placement process. Companies across sectors are invited in 'cohorts', spread into different days during the weeks. This year, entities from multiple domains participated across the three clusters in final placements, with students being placed across 23 cohort...