India

Future Retail Ltd., India’s biggest department store chain that gained from the government’s surprise currency clampdown, still has room to extend the rally that’s more than doubled its market value this year.

Companies that allow merchants to quickly set up card acceptance through mobile technology are rushing to fill a void in the Indian market following the country's dramatic shift in cash policy.

Wells Fargo & Co. is expanding its ExpressSend remittance payout network in India to include Axis Bank and, beginning next month, expanding a free-transfer promotion previously available only for those sending at least $500.

The next phase of India’s national digital payments initiative begins next month when 20 banks launch Aadhaar Pay, an app enabling merchants to accept payments on smartphones from consumers using biometric authentication.

Swedish startup Truecaller has become the newest entrant in India’s busy digital payments space, via a tie-up with ICICI Bank Ltd. to offer a local mobile-payments service.

Mastercard and Samsung India have partnered to roll out Samsung Pay to millions of customers of Indian banks.

Chillr, one of India’s growing number of mobile payment apps enabling person-to-person payments between customers of different banks, is expanding to 45 banks in the country.

Flipkart Online Services Pvt has completed a $1 billion fundraising and aims to raise as much as $1 billion more over the next few months, according to people familiar with the matter, giving India’s largest e-commerce company capital to battle back against rising competition.

By now most of the world knows of the disruption India's monetary system has undergone as its government discourages paper cash and pushes digital alternatives, stopping short of outright forcing the issue. But there's another challenge within the market.

The Indian government's major change in cash policy and push for digital payments attracted the Chinese company to increase its stake in India's Paytm.

Digital payments can make travel payments easier and boost financial services in emerging markets. In some cases, it's doing both.

India's latest government-supported payments initiative, Bharat QR, officially launched on Monday, aiming to provide an interoperable mobile payments platform linking small merchants and consumers across channels via several major card payment networks.

OMA Emirates, a UAE-based payments provider, has acquired India-based MobiSwipe Technologies, a mobile payments provider launched in Mumbai in 2012.

Little-noticed during India’s cash-crunch late last year — triggered by the government’s demonetization of about 80% of its currency — was Samsung Pay quietly testing the waters in India with an eye to opening up vital new digital payment options in a nation that relies heavily on cash for everyday transactions.

Hong Kong and Singapore have long been economic crossroads. China and India are economies with vast populations. And Shenzhen is bursting with innovative creativity. All of these contribute to the Asian fintech market being far ahead in adoption and ecosystem creation.

India's sudden shake-up of its currency system last fall was an early holiday for digital payment companies, and Visa was no exception.

Axis Bank, one of India’s largest private-sector financial institutions, has reportedly become the first bank in the country to partner with Ripple for a blockchain-powered approach to cross-border payment.

India’s latest efforts to shift to digital payments and reduce the nation’s tight grip on cash are in the spotlight, following the government’s recent cash recall and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) giving its blessing to about a dozen digital payments startups. The newest, BHIM, is controlled by India’s government and is off to a fast start after its first week.

On the heels of India’s move last month to discourage cash-hoarding by demonetizing certain bills, Prime Minister Narenda Modi on Dec. 30 announced the rollout of a government-managed mobile payments app.

Payments software provider Ezetap says an agreement with Pax Global Technology Ltd. will bring "hundreds of thousands" of mobile and mini point-of-sale terminals to India as the country lessens its use of cash.