Phonepe partners with extreme ix to reduce latency during transactions

Phonepe partners with extreme ix to reduce latency during transactions

What is the news :

• Extreme IX and PhonePe have announced a partnership that will enable a faster digital payments experience for over 370 million PhonePe users.
• PhonePe has become the first digital payments platform to participate in an Internet Exchange in India.
• This industry first partnership will help decrease latency for PhonePe users irrespective of their location or ISP in India.
• The partnership will allow PhonePe customers across India to swiftly administer their day-to-day financial transactions.
• Extreme IX has 30 points of presence in 5 cities in India. It provides access to content by operating a neutral and faster interconnection platform in the country.
• More than 450 networks which includes Internet Service Providers and prominent Content Delivery Networks like Netflix, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Akamai to name a few, are connected to Extreme IX fabric.
• Latency is the delay between a user’s action and a web application’s response to that action, often referred to in networking terms as the total round trip time it takes for a data packet to travel.

About Phonepe :

• PhonePe is an Indian digital payments and financial technology company.
• Headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
• PhonePe was founded in December 2015, by Sameer Nigam(CEO), Rahul Chari and Burzin Engineer.

Recent news about Phonepe :

• NITI Aayog, in collaboration with PhonePe, AWS and EY, has organized a three-week-long virtual summit, ‘Fintech Open’, from 7–28 February. The summit was inaugurated by Union Minister for Railways, Communications, and Electronics and IT, Ashwini Vaishnaw in the presence of NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar

• PhonePe, a digital payments and financial services company, has acquired GigIndia, a network for independent micro-entrepreneurs based in Pune. PhonePe will be able to integrate 1.5 million entrepreneurs and over 100 businesses as customers, in addition to its own employees, as a result of the acquisition. PhonePe will use GigIndia’s network of freelancing microentrepreneurs to assist corporations and businesses in expanding their customer bases and distribution channels.

• Max Life Insurance Co. Ltd has announced the debut of the Max Life Smart Secure Plus Plan via the PhonePe app, a non-linked non-participating individual pure risk premium life insurance plan aimed at digitally savvy customers. With this, PhonePe customers can avail comprehensive financial coverage for their families with premiums starting as low as ₹4,426 annually. Through a simplified digital customer journey, the term plan can be purchased on the PhonePe app without any hassle or excessive paperwork, said a MaxLife press release.

RECENT TIE UPS/ PARTNERSHIPS/ MOU.

• United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) in India, has partnered with The Akshaya Patra Foundation (TAPF), a not-for-profit organization, to enhance the effectiveness of the Pradhan Mantri – Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) scheme (earlier known as National Programme for Mid-Day Meal in Schools). The partnership aims to enhance food safety and hygiene projects, capacity building of cooks-cum-helpers and nutritional quality of school meals.

• AIC STPINEXT Initiatives (STPINEXT), a special purpose vehicle of Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), has signed two memorandums of understanding (MoUs), one with HDFC Bank and another with Excel point Systems India Pvt Ltd, a niche technology player, for fostering entrepreneurship and nurturing tech startups in the country.

• Airtel Payments Bank and Park+ have collaborated to offer FASTag-based smart parking solutions to marquee commercial and residential properties across India. This partnership will utilize the reach of Airtel Payments Bank to digitize the parking ecosystem using FASTag associated with the vehicle. Park+ is backed by Sequoia Capital and Matrix Partners and is engaged in automating parking spaces through FASTag.
• Adani Group and South Korea’s largest steelmaker POSCO have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore business opportunities in India. This includes the establishment of a green, environment-friendly integrated steel mill at Mundra, Gujarat. The estimated investment of the project is up to $5 billion (approx. Rs 37,000 crore).

• LazyPay, a Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) solution by PayU Finance, announced its partnership with SBM Bank India to launch LazyCard, a prepaid payment instrument backed by a credit line that works on the Visa payment network. To empower financially underserved Indians with easy access to credit as their card has limited credit options.

• Axis Bank has tied up with MinkasuPay to offer a biometric authentication solution for net banking payments in merchant apps using Fingerprint or Face ID, without the need for usernames, passwords, and One-Time Passwords (OTPs). This Solution will reduce the time of payment from 50-60 seconds to just 2-3 seconds and also increase the transaction success rate.

• Small businesses-focused online lending platform Indifi Technologies has collaborated with Google Pay to provide instant loans to eligible medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs) merchants through the Google Pay platform.

• The United Nations World Food Programme and the Odisha Government joined hands to improve the
• food security of small and marginal farmers in India by strengthening their resilience to climate change.

• Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode’s (IIMK) Business incubator Laboratory for Innovation Venturing and Entrepreneurship (LIVE) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Bank to financially support early-stage startups. Under the MoU, a startup funding scheme, ‘IndSpring Board’ has been launched. Under this scheme loans up to Rs, 50 Crore will be disbursed to the startups.
• Jio Platforms (JPL) has signed a pact with the University of Oulu, Finland, to accelerate research and standardization in 6G technology. JPL and the University of Oulu will collaborate in Research and Development (R&D) of aerial and space communication, holographic beamforming, 3D-connected intelligence in cybersecurity, microelectronics, and photonics.

• Bharti Airtel and Google have announced a long-term partnership agreement, to accelerate the growth of India’s digital ecosystem. Under the deal, Google will invest USD 1 billion in Airtel. From the total investment, Google will invest USD 700 million to acquire a 1.28 per cent stake in Bharti Airtel Ltd. The remaining USD 300 million will go toward multi-year commercial agreements with Airtel, including devices built together by the two tech giants.

• TerraPay has signed MoU with NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) to allow Indian customers with an active UPI ID to receive real-time, international payments into their bank accounts via TerraPay’s secure payments technology. It will enable a seamless and convenient cross-border remittances experience. NIPL is an international arm of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

• Social media giant Meta has partnered with industry body the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) to support five lakh women-led small businesses across India. Meta will undertake this initiative under its #SheMeansBusiness programme, in partnership with FICCI’s ‘Empowering the Greater 50%’
• The Government of India has joined hands with the Government of Israel to create 150 ‘Villages of Excellence’ in 12 States of the country, to help farmers to adopt the latest technology in the farm sector. Israel would provide Technical assistance and other expertise to make agriculture a more profitable business

• Social media giant Meta has partnered with industry body the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) to support five lakh women-led small businesses across India. Meta will undertake this initiative under its #SheMeansBusiness programme, in partnership with FICCI’s ‘Empowering the Greater 50%’ The initiative will create a supportive ecosystem for women and inspire them to become contributors to the overall development of the country.

• The Government of India has joined hands with the Government of Israel to create 150 ‘Villages of Excellence’ in 12 States of the country, to help farmers to adopt the latest technology in the farm sector. Israel would provide Technical assistance and other expertise to make agriculture a more profitable business.

• State Bank of India (SBI) has launched a dedicated centralized processing cell named ‘Surya Shakti Cell’ with the objective of strengthening the existing financing arrangement for solar power projects. SBI has collaborated with Tata Power Solar Systems Ltd. (a Tata Power Company) for financing solar power projects.

• Vedanta Ltd has tied up a facility of Rs 8,000 crores (replacement facility) with Union Bank of India at 75% to take over the majority of the syndicated facility after discussions with lenders. During 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Vedanta Ltd had tied up a syndicated facility of ₹10K crores with the State Bank of India as the lead bank at a running cost of 10.5 per cent.

• The State Bank of India (SBI) has signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indira Gandhi Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) and National Culture Fund (NCF) of the Ministry of Culture, for Development of Atmanirbhar Bharat Centre for Design (ABCD) at L1 Barrack, Red Fort, in Delhi. The main objective of Project ABCD is to highlight, promote and celebrate the products that have the Geographical Indication sign to give a boost to Economic Value Addition to GI products from India.

• Kotak Mahindra General Insurance Company has signed an agreement with Cars24 Financial Services Private Limited (CARS24 Financial Services) to provide motor insurance services to used car buyers. Under the partnership, used car buyers from Cars24 will be directly provided with Kotak General Insurance’s comprehensive motor insurance plans.

• Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has tied up with Policybazaar to digitally offer a wide range of Life Insurance and investment products to its customers across India. This is LIC’s first association with a private insurance aggregator, which has mainly relied on its 1.33 million agents for distributing products. To facilitate seamless digital distribution of life insurance products and boost financial inclusion across India.
• Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have announced a new partnership under the Sustainable Access to Markets and Resources for Innovative Delivery of Healthcare (SAMRIDH)

• A global IT Services, and Technology Solutions Company, Sonata Software has announced its partnership with Microsoft for its launch of ‘Microsoft Cloud for Retail’. The company has been a partner with Microsoft for over three decades. The ‘Microsoft Cloud for Retail’ collaboration is expected to further strengthen the relationship.

• Amazon India signed an MoU with Karnataka State Rural Livelihood Promotion Society (KSRLPS) to support the growth of women entrepreneurs. Amazon India will launch ‘Sanjeevini-KSRLPS’ in its platform and extend benefits of the ‘Saheli’ Programme to train and empower thousands of rural women entrepreneurs and also provide online access to a wider market for their products. The Saheli Programme offers training and skill development workshops to help women entrepreneurs.

• Reliance Jio has tied up with Luxembourg-based satellite and telecom services provider SES to provide satellite-based broadband communication services in India. Under the agreement, Jio Platforms has formed a joint venture with SES, named as Jio Space Technology Ltd.