-News18.com In an interview with News18’s Rupashree Nanda, Dreze, who was a member of Sonia Gandhi’s National Advisory Council and an architect of the National Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), says that there have been no major initiatives in the social field in the last four years, with the partial exception of Swachh Bharat. Government data reveal that the Indian economy is growing at a robust rate but noted economist Jean Dreze believes...

-PTI Giving further impetus to digital payments, the government will reimburse charges for transaction up to Rs2,000 on debit cards and BHIM New Delhi: Customers will not have to pay any transaction charges for payments through debit card, BHIM app and other payment made for up to Rs2,000 from Monday onwards. Last month, union cabinet approved a proposal that government will bear the merchant discount rate (MDR) charges on transactions up to Rs2,000...

-Livemint.com Overall, while the government is trying to reform the fertilizer subsidy payment mechanism, the challenge is to make sure the new system works before implementation Union minister for chemicals and fertilizers Ananth Kumar’s ambitious plan to clear the fertilizer subsidy backlog before the implementation of the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme next fiscal year (FY19) has come as surprise to many. The huge subsidy backlog (estimated at Rs35,000 crore as of FY17)...

Paytm's founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma was in the news recently for signing a deal to purchase a Rs. 82 crore worth property in Lutyens’ Delhi. He is credited with the growth of Paytm's mobile wallet services, which is currently being used by over 220 million users across the country. Although Paytm was launched in 2010, the popularity of its mobile wallet services and payment gateway among the ordinary citizens grew...

-The Hindu PoS devices’ demand falls on remonetisation, user charges Cash transactions are beginning to trump almost every form of digital payment alternative with April clocking a decline in volumes as well as value of transactions conducted through cards, mobile banking and the Unified Payment Interface (UPI). The trend assumes significance six months after the Centre announced demonetisation of ?500 and ?1,000 notes on November 8. The near-completion of the remonetisation process and merchants...