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RBI diktat on commercial card payments; Google eyes WhatsApp Business territory
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India’s central bank has asked Visa and Mastercard to stop card-based commercial payments made by corporations. This and more in today’s ETtech Top 5.
Also in this letter:
■ Ronnie Screwvala on edtech sector
■ NCLAT relief for Dream11 parent
■ Infosys unit blamed for Bank of America data breach
![After Mastercard, Visa offers central banks After Mastercard, Visa offers central banks](https://img.etimg.com/photo/msid-107696882/After Mastercard, Visa offers central banks.jpg)
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked card networks like Visa and Mastercard to stop card-based commercial payments made by corporations and small enterprises.
Driving the news: “An instruction has come to the fintechs which operate in this sector to pause business payments made by commercial cards until further notice,” a founder of a fintech startup, who has received the notice, told ET.
He added that rental and tuition payments might also be impacted by the move and some fintechs are looking to stop those transactions, too. Consumers can make rental payments via their cards through apps like Cred, Paytm and NoBroker.
A surprise move: Industry sources indicate that the flow of money through the card route towards merchants who haven't been compliant with the KYC process has irked the regulator. While their bank accounts might be KYC-compliant, they are mostly not authorised to accept card payments as merchants.
Others said it could be related to the payment aggregator guidelines.
Also read | P2P companies go easy on partnership business as RBI sounds alert
![Google Google](https://img.etimg.com/photo/msid-107695278/Google.jpg)
Tech giant Google is pushing an alternate mobile phone messaging system in India that could disrupt the growing use of WhatsApp by enterprises for communicating with customers. This battle for the enterprise messaging market in India has the potential to upend the broader messaging-based communication ecosystem in the country.
Early adopters: Vodafone Idea (Vi) has become the first Indian telecom operator to partner with Google to offer rich communication service (RCS) messaging to enterprise customers in India, with bigger rivals Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel expected to join the bandwagon soon, industry executives said.
![Google Whatsapp GFX Google Whatsapp GFX](https://img.etimg.com/photo/msid-107695303/Google Whatsapp GFX.jpg)
Incoming revenue: The potential adoption by enterprises of Google’s RCS—priced at almost twice traditional enterprise SMSes, but 70-75% lower than WhatsApp’s charges—is expected to give operators a substantial revenue share.
RCS will also help operators counter the increasing move by enterprises away from traditional SMSes to over-the-top (OTT) platforms such as WhatsApp, experts and industry executives said.
Yes, but: There are challenges to the wider adoption of Google's RCS, with India still having nearly 300 million feature phone users and a smaller but significant number of people with iPhones. These, as of now, don't support RCS.
Ronnie Screwvala, cofounder and executive chairman, Upgrad
Upgrad cofounder Ronnie Screwvala believes too much fundraising can be detrimental to the edtech sector, as it needs to focus on “change with frugality”. His comments come at a time when edtech major Byju's is mired in a clutch of troubles that have brought to light corporate governance issues.
Word for word: “I think part of the rotten apples is because it was just too much money being thrown… this sector needs change with frugality. What I mean by frugality is that it forces you to innovate well, well beyond,” Screwvala said at an event in Gurgaon.
He added that the sector is very high on impact and will be very high on value creation. “But we've got to find the right mix. And for that, I don't think we need the money that everyone keeps talking about in this sector.”
Also read | Upgrad in talks for $100 million to close US edtech Udacity buy
IPO plans: Upgrad plans to go for an initial public offering (IPO) in around two years, cofounder and MD Mayank Kumar said on Tuesday. The firm will go for an IPO once it reaches milestones such as achieving $750 million in revenue, maintaining an 80% gross margin and sustaining a 15% net margin.
Spotlight on governance: Deborah Quazzo, managing partner at edtech investor GSV Ventures, told ET in an interview that the recent challenges faced by Byju's have ignited scrutiny on Indian startup governance, echoing global concerns.
“Edtech goes in and out of favour. It’s a really hard sector to get profitable, to maintain growth. It’s also got all sorts of regulatory friction… but the bigger issue we’re hearing is about India…is there (an issue) about transparency or governance,” she said.
Harsh Jain, cofounder and CEO, Dream Sports
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has asked the insolvency resolution professional (IRP) to take no further steps in the dispute involving Sporta Technologies, the parent of sports platform Dream11. The IRP may continue to keep the company as a going concern, but take no further steps, it said.
“The impugned order shall remain… No further steps shall be taken by the IRP,” the tribunal noted, listing the matter for February 23.
An insolvency petition was filed before the NCLT after Sporta had allegedly defaulted on dues of Rs 7.61 crore to Mumbai-based Reward Solutions.
![Dream 11 financial snapshot_ Dream 11 financial snapshot_](https://img.etimg.com/photo/msid-107696396/Dream 11 financial snapshot_.jpg)
Details: Counsel for the cofounder and COO of Dream11, Bhavit Sheth, had requested that no further steps be taken by the IRP, as any action would adversely affect the company which is preparing for the upcoming IPL season.
“We will deposit the money here; the reason payment stopped was because disputes arose as to who the payment has to be made,” the counsel said.
Also read | Dream11's parent company challenges insolvency petition in NCLAT appeal
Background: In 2019, Sporta entered into a five-year lease agreement with Reward Solutions for its office space at a monthly payment of Rs 49.8 lakh for the initial three years and Rs 57.3 lakh for two years, with a three-year lock-in. Sporta said there was a lack of clarity on who the payment was to be made, and that Reward could not be treated as an operational creditor to initiate proceedings.
Also read | Rario reversal: Dream Sports-backed NFT marketplace abandons shutdown plan
![user personal data expose-cyber attacks-data breach-cybersecurity_THUMB IMAGE_ETTECH user personal data expose-cyber attacks-data breach-cybersecurity_THUMB IMAGE_ETTECH](https://img.etimg.com/photo/msid-107695633/user personal data expose-cyber attacks-data breach-cybersecurity_THUMB IMAGE_ETTECH.jpg)
Bank of America has named Infosys McCamish Systems (IMS), the US subsidiary of Indian software services giant Infosys, as the source of a data leak owing to a ransomware attack suffered by over 57,000 of its users in November, according to documents reviewed by ET.
Details: The notification by Bank of America described the incident as an “external system breach (hacking)" that illegally accessed information of 57,028 persons stealing data such as “Name or other personal identifier in combination with: Social Security Number”.
Bank of America’s systems were not compromised, it added. The breach is said to have occurred on October 29, 2023 and discovered the next day. Consumers were notified on February 1.
Also read | Infosys under fire for failing to create jobs in Karnataka
Background: In November, Infosys disclosed the breach in a stock exchange filing. The company later said that it had suffered a hit of 60 basis points (bps) on its operating margins from the McCamish cyber incident, which had an impact on both revenues and costs.
Impact: In December, Infosys suffered termination of a $1.5 billion deal with an undisclosed global company, focused on artificial intelligence solutions.
ET had reported on December 23 citing HFS Research CEO Phil Fersht that the contract could most probably be Manulife (Manulife Financial Corp) - headquartered in Toronto. Fersht had indicated the termination of the deal could be linked to the cyber security breach at Infosys McCamish Systems.
Today's ETtech Top 5 newsletter was curated by Gaurab Dasgupta and Erick Massey in New Delhi.
Also in this letter:
■ Ronnie Screwvala on edtech sector
■ NCLAT relief for Dream11 parent
■ Infosys unit blamed for Bank of America data breach
Visa, Mastercard stop business payments via cards post RBI instructions
![After Mastercard, Visa offers central banks After Mastercard, Visa offers central banks](https://img.etimg.com/photo/msid-107696882/After Mastercard, Visa offers central banks.jpg)
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked card networks like Visa and Mastercard to stop card-based commercial payments made by corporations and small enterprises.
Driving the news: “An instruction has come to the fintechs which operate in this sector to pause business payments made by commercial cards until further notice,” a founder of a fintech startup, who has received the notice, told ET.
He added that rental and tuition payments might also be impacted by the move and some fintechs are looking to stop those transactions, too. Consumers can make rental payments via their cards through apps like Cred, Paytm and NoBroker.
A surprise move: Industry sources indicate that the flow of money through the card route towards merchants who haven't been compliant with the KYC process has irked the regulator. While their bank accounts might be KYC-compliant, they are mostly not authorised to accept card payments as merchants.
Others said it could be related to the payment aggregator guidelines.
Also read | P2P companies go easy on partnership business as RBI sounds alert
Google pushing an alternative to WhatsApp enterprise messaging
![Google Google](https://img.etimg.com/photo/msid-107695278/Google.jpg)
Tech giant Google is pushing an alternate mobile phone messaging system in India that could disrupt the growing use of WhatsApp by enterprises for communicating with customers. This battle for the enterprise messaging market in India has the potential to upend the broader messaging-based communication ecosystem in the country.
Early adopters: Vodafone Idea (Vi) has become the first Indian telecom operator to partner with Google to offer rich communication service (RCS) messaging to enterprise customers in India, with bigger rivals Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel expected to join the bandwagon soon, industry executives said.
![Google Whatsapp GFX Google Whatsapp GFX](https://img.etimg.com/photo/msid-107695303/Google Whatsapp GFX.jpg)
Incoming revenue: The potential adoption by enterprises of Google’s RCS—priced at almost twice traditional enterprise SMSes, but 70-75% lower than WhatsApp’s charges—is expected to give operators a substantial revenue share.
RCS will also help operators counter the increasing move by enterprises away from traditional SMSes to over-the-top (OTT) platforms such as WhatsApp, experts and industry executives said.
Yes, but: There are challenges to the wider adoption of Google's RCS, with India still having nearly 300 million feature phone users and a smaller but significant number of people with iPhones. These, as of now, don't support RCS.
Too much funding detrimental for edtech sector: Ronnie Screwvala
![Ronnie Screwvala Ronnie Screwvala](https://img.etimg.com/photo/msid-107695387/Ronnie Screwvala.jpg)
Upgrad cofounder Ronnie Screwvala believes too much fundraising can be detrimental to the edtech sector, as it needs to focus on “change with frugality”. His comments come at a time when edtech major Byju's is mired in a clutch of troubles that have brought to light corporate governance issues.
Word for word: “I think part of the rotten apples is because it was just too much money being thrown… this sector needs change with frugality. What I mean by frugality is that it forces you to innovate well, well beyond,” Screwvala said at an event in Gurgaon.
He added that the sector is very high on impact and will be very high on value creation. “But we've got to find the right mix. And for that, I don't think we need the money that everyone keeps talking about in this sector.”
Also read | Upgrad in talks for $100 million to close US edtech Udacity buy
IPO plans: Upgrad plans to go for an initial public offering (IPO) in around two years, cofounder and MD Mayank Kumar said on Tuesday. The firm will go for an IPO once it reaches milestones such as achieving $750 million in revenue, maintaining an 80% gross margin and sustaining a 15% net margin.
Spotlight on governance: Deborah Quazzo, managing partner at edtech investor GSV Ventures, told ET in an interview that the recent challenges faced by Byju's have ignited scrutiny on Indian startup governance, echoing global concerns.
“Edtech goes in and out of favour. It’s a really hard sector to get profitable, to maintain growth. It’s also got all sorts of regulatory friction… but the bigger issue we’re hearing is about India…is there (an issue) about transparency or governance,” she said.
NCLAT tells IRP to take no further steps in Dream11 insolvency
![Harsh Jain Harsh Jain](https://img.etimg.com/photo/msid-107695525/Harsh Jain.jpg)
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has asked the insolvency resolution professional (IRP) to take no further steps in the dispute involving Sporta Technologies, the parent of sports platform Dream11. The IRP may continue to keep the company as a going concern, but take no further steps, it said.
“The impugned order shall remain… No further steps shall be taken by the IRP,” the tribunal noted, listing the matter for February 23.
An insolvency petition was filed before the NCLT after Sporta had allegedly defaulted on dues of Rs 7.61 crore to Mumbai-based Reward Solutions.
![Dream 11 financial snapshot_ Dream 11 financial snapshot_](https://img.etimg.com/photo/msid-107696396/Dream 11 financial snapshot_.jpg)
Details: Counsel for the cofounder and COO of Dream11, Bhavit Sheth, had requested that no further steps be taken by the IRP, as any action would adversely affect the company which is preparing for the upcoming IPL season.
“We will deposit the money here; the reason payment stopped was because disputes arose as to who the payment has to be made,” the counsel said.
Also read | Dream11's parent company challenges insolvency petition in NCLAT appeal
Background: In 2019, Sporta entered into a five-year lease agreement with Reward Solutions for its office space at a monthly payment of Rs 49.8 lakh for the initial three years and Rs 57.3 lakh for two years, with a three-year lock-in. Sporta said there was a lack of clarity on who the payment was to be made, and that Reward could not be treated as an operational creditor to initiate proceedings.
Also read | Rario reversal: Dream Sports-backed NFT marketplace abandons shutdown plan
Bank of America names Infosys US unit for over 57,000 users data leak
![user personal data expose-cyber attacks-data breach-cybersecurity_THUMB IMAGE_ETTECH user personal data expose-cyber attacks-data breach-cybersecurity_THUMB IMAGE_ETTECH](https://img.etimg.com/photo/msid-107695633/user personal data expose-cyber attacks-data breach-cybersecurity_THUMB IMAGE_ETTECH.jpg)
Bank of America has named Infosys McCamish Systems (IMS), the US subsidiary of Indian software services giant Infosys, as the source of a data leak owing to a ransomware attack suffered by over 57,000 of its users in November, according to documents reviewed by ET.
Details: The notification by Bank of America described the incident as an “external system breach (hacking)" that illegally accessed information of 57,028 persons stealing data such as “Name or other personal identifier in combination with: Social Security Number”.
Bank of America’s systems were not compromised, it added. The breach is said to have occurred on October 29, 2023 and discovered the next day. Consumers were notified on February 1.
Also read | Infosys under fire for failing to create jobs in Karnataka
Background: In November, Infosys disclosed the breach in a stock exchange filing. The company later said that it had suffered a hit of 60 basis points (bps) on its operating margins from the McCamish cyber incident, which had an impact on both revenues and costs.
Impact: In December, Infosys suffered termination of a $1.5 billion deal with an undisclosed global company, focused on artificial intelligence solutions.
ET had reported on December 23 citing HFS Research CEO Phil Fersht that the contract could most probably be Manulife (Manulife Financial Corp) - headquartered in Toronto. Fersht had indicated the termination of the deal could be linked to the cyber security breach at Infosys McCamish Systems.
Today's ETtech Top 5 newsletter was curated by Gaurab Dasgupta and Erick Massey in New Delhi.
Want this newsletter delivered to your inbox?
I agree to receive newsletters and marketing communications via e-mail
![](https://img.etimg.com/photo/msid-81268931,quality-100/et-logo.jpg)
Thank you for subscribing to Daily Top 5
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