Category: Excerpts

The Reserve Bank of India has dismissed as “figments of imagination” rumours that a new series of Rs 2,000 will come with a GPS-chip that will help government track illegal money transactions.

“Such a technology does not exist at the moment in the world, then how can we introduce such a feature?” RBI spokesperson Aplana Killawala told News18.

Reports of a chip-enabled series of new currency notes had surfaced immediately after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Tuesday that the government was scrapping the existing denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes.-from News18

Paytm Payments Bank is going to have a million points from where cash can be withdrawn. The entire banking system—all the bank branches and ATMs cumulatively—currently offers only a third of that. Sharma’s bank will basically turn any merchant and corner store into a cash withdrawal point called ‘Paytm ka ATM’.

How does the authentication work?

It will be a combination of several things. It will utilize the Aadhaar backbone, which means the devices with merchants could be equipped with fingerprint or iris scanners, or both.

Paytm Payments Bank is going to authenticate transactions using voice as a unique biometric signature. In effect, this means you can walk into any establishment that is a ‘Paytm ka ATM’ and ask for money. And when it asks for authentication, the customer will get a call on their phone, and they just have to say a pre-set pass phrase, like “My name is Meena.”

“Your voice is as unique a signature as iris or fingerprints,” says Sharma, adding that the technology works even if you have a cough or cold. It works in any language.

A bank where authentication is as easy as speaking to a teller, with one million touch points. What it can do to universalize banking and expand the reach of the formal economy is tremendous.-from HP

Is there a television on nearby turned to CNBC, Bloomberg TV, or any other financial news channel? If so, please get up and switch it off. Now. Don’t worry, I will wait here for you . . .

Let me explain why you shouldn’t watch what I call “Bubble TV.”

The people working at Bubble TV and their counterparts at financial newspapers, investment newsletters, etc., are not in the business of providing good advice. They are in the business of selling airtime, newspapers, and newsletters. And the best way to attract attention is to appeal to the emotions and instincts of their viewers and readers.

“If it bleeds, it leads” is an old saying in the news business. Spectacular earnings surprises and cratering stock markets generate more viewers and readers than stories about meeting earnings expectations and stock markets grinding their way up.

“Experts” who want to be mainstays on Bubble TV have to entertain. And it is much easier to accomplish that by stoking people’s fears of a crash or their desire to get in early on the next superstar investment. As a result, Bubble TV is full of “news alerts,” “breaking news,” and pundits predicting imminent doom or eternal bliss — often both at the same time.

But studies have shown that TV experts make bad investment advisers. So keep your TV switched off and focus on what really matters in investing: having a thorough understanding of each investment and how they interact in a diversified portfolio.-wrote Joachim

Source: Debashis Basu