TelecomLive January-2019

www.telecomlive.com [ News Bytes ] 57 Telecom LIVE January 2019 standing that its continu- ation may be in violation of the recent Supreme Court judgment. UIDAI said the matter h a s b e e n c a r e f u l l y examined and the apex court has upheld the constitutionality of the Aadhaar programme, specifically Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act. "Therefore any action t o d i s c on t i nue s u c h payment/receipt mecha- n i sm (AEPS , BHIM, Aadhaar Pay) or bank accounts by banks, on the ground that it is not possible to distinguish their use for delivery of welfare benefits or other purposes may be held contrary to Section 7 of A a d h a a r A c t a n d ments fintech firm that processes more than 15 cr transactions worth $10 b n a c r o s s 1 . 5 l a k h merchants. The transac- tion marks the Japanese company's entry into the growing Indian payments market. NTT Data is one of the largest IT companies globally with revenues of $19 bn. It has a presence across 50 countries and employs 1.2 lakh people. Tokyo-headquartered IT g i a n t h a s a l r e a d y a c q u i r e d p a yme n t s companies in Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Thailand. This is the second big acquisition in the payments sector by a Japanese company. In 2013, tech giant Hitachi h a d a c qu i r e d P r i zm Payments Services in a Rs 1,540 cr deal. Atom Technologies was started in 2005 as part of the Financial T e c hn o l o g i e s g r o up promoted by Jignesh Shah. UIDAI asks banks not to discontinue Aadhaar payment system, cites SC order UIDAI has asked banks not to discontinue the A a d h a a r E n a b l e d Payment System (AEPS) a s i t m a y o b s t r u c t d e l i v e r y o f w e l f a r e benefits. The clarification came after the UIDAI took note of a letter from the State Bank of India (SBI) to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). The SBI, in a letter, da t ed Nov 19 , 2018 , informed NPCI of its intention to discontinue A a d h a a r - e n a b l e d payment system purport- edly based on the under- Puttaswamy-II judgment as it will result in creating obstruction in delivery of benefits and may cause denial indeserving cases,"UIDAI said in a circular. The Supreme Court had in a landmark verdict in Sep 2018 restricted the use of Aadhaar authentication by private entities in the absence of a legal provision, but allowed its mandatory use for welfare schemes, filing of Income Tax (IT) returns and allotment of Perma- nent Account Number (PAN). Swiggy raises $1 bn funding led by Naspers Swiggy has executed definitive agreements for a $1 bn round of funding led by Naspers and saw new investors - Tencent, Hillhouse Capital and Wellington Management Company. The series H round also saw participation from other existing investors including DST Global, Meituan Dianping and Coatue Manage- ment. The latest fund-raising round takes the total funding raised by the Bengaluru-based company to $1.26 bn. The fresh capital infusion will provide more ammunition to Swiggy as it battles Ant Financial- backed Zomato, Ola-owned Foodpanda and UberEats in the growing food delivery space in the country. The fresh capital will also be used to hire talent, especially