Peers Back Paytm In Fight Against Telcos, Trai Over Financial Frauds

Homegrown digital payments providers, including PhonePe and Mobikwik, have sought to join Paytm in a legal battle against the telecom regulator and mobile service providers over financial frauds where customers are targeted through calls and SMSes.

These companies, through industry body Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), have submitted a writ intervention appeal in the Delhi High Court to become party in a case by Paytm’s parent One97 Communications against the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and telcos including Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) for failing to provide adequate safeguards to curb frauds.

IAMAI blamed Trai for not heeding their complaints of fraudsters duping users via fake SMS headers and phishing calls. It said digital wallet providers have suffered “considerable damage” to their brand reputations and public trust due to lax implementation of regulations by telecom industry participants.

The chief justice is yet to give his nod to IAMAI’s plea to become party to the case that had its fifth hearing on Tuesday.

“Like the petitioners (Paytm), the applicant’s members, who are payment system operators (PSOs), have also suffered considerable damage to their reputation, goodwill and the public’s trust in them due to the proliferation of unsolicited and fraudulent commercial communication over phone calls and SMS,” IAMAI said in the document filed on September 18. ET has seen a copy of the intervention application.

An email sent to IAMAI for comments didn’t elicit a response as of press time Tuesday.

The association’s intervention plea comes days after Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma accused industry bodies including IAMAI and Nasscom of being “silent” against alleged arm-twisting of Indian startups by American technology companies.

The next hearing is scheduled for November 25.

IAMAI represents some 90 wallet and digital payments companies. In the cited application, IAMAI shared numerous instances where payment companies and its customers suffered due to alleged negligence by telcos.

The court, in Tuesday's hearing, pulled up Trai for its inaction and directed the regulator to submit in writing within eight weeks what action, if any, has been taken against telecom companies.

Meanwhile, payments industry executives told ET that the matter is a serious one for the entire ecosystem, and not just for Paytm, as increased instances of frauds is causing reputational risks.

Sandip Ginodia , CEO

ALTIUS INVESTECH PVT LTD

We deal in over 60 unlisted companies with 15 years of experience

For latest prices visit : www.abhisheksecurities.com/unlisted.htm / call : 09830271248 .

Email : ginodiasandip1@gmail.com

Reliance's JioMart is averaging half a million orders per day; WhatsApp driving growth

JioMart , Reliance's online-to-offline commerce platform that launched in May , has scaled up rapidly, riding on the pandemic-fuelled digital acceleration. The service, which went live in 200 cities across India, is currently processing an average of 500,000 orders per day. " We can go even higher on peak days", Jio Platforms CEO Kiran Thomas revealed at the Facebook for Fuel India 2020 event. He said, "JioMart is empowering millions of kiranas and small merchants through the simple and secure platform of WhatsApp, and linking them to Reliance Retail's pan-India supply chain. We expect to grow manifold in future, and are optimistic about enabling new cohorts of users and making it easier for them to shop for daily essentials." "Customers are transacting seamlessly on JioMart and the conversational nature of the service enabled by WhatsApp has made people adapt to it intuitively," he added. Reliance also stated that it will continue t

Stock broker SMC Global files for IPO

F inancial services company SMC Global Securities has filed draft red herring prospectus with SEBI for public issue of 1,58,67,380 equity shares of face value of Rs 2 each. The issue comprises a fresh issue of 79,33,690 equity shares by the company and an offer for sale of 79,33,690 shares by Millennium India Acquisition Company Inc. As of September 30, 2012, "We service our broking clients through a network of 43 branches and 2,521 registered sub-brokers and authorized persons spread in more than 500 cities and towns. We have also established an office in Dubai for brokerage and trading activities in that region," the company said. SMC has reported a loss of Rs 0.42 crore and total revenues of Rs 292.24 crore in the year ended March 31, 2012. "The proceeds of the fresh issue shall be utilised for margin maintenance with stock exchanges; part repayment of term loan; investments into subsidiary, SMC Comtrade; and general corporate purposes," according to p

TCS merger with TCS e serve

The board of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in its meeting on 18 October 2012 has approved the composite scheme of arrangement between TCS, TCS e-Serve (e-Serve) and TCS e-Serve International (TEIL). The composite scheme of arrangement provides for merger of e-Serve into TCS and demerger of TEIL's special economic zone (SEZ) undertaking(s) to TCS. The appointed date proposed for this scheme is 01 April 2013. TCS holds 96.26% of the paid up equity share capital of e-Serve. TEIL is a wholly owned subsidiary of e-Serve. As per the terms of the scheme of arrangement, shareholders of e-Serve (other than TCS) will receive 13 equity shares of Re 1 each of TCS for every 4 equity shares of Rs 10 each of e-Serve held by them. The board has approved the scheme of merger of Computational Research Laboratories (CRL) and Retail FullServe (RFL) with TCS. The proposed appointed date for the merger of CRL is 01 October 2012 and for the merger of RFL is 01 April 2012. Computational Res

Abhishek Securities

Search This Blog