T E Narasimhan's journal

Picture source: Inside Telecom Mobile payments continue to gain incremental market share at a faster pace, constituting around 52% of retail digital P2M (People-to-Merchant) payments during 11MFY22. HDFC Securities report stated in 2019 it was 24 % and increased to 50% in CY21 of retail digital P2M payments. The number is expected to touch 56% by CY25, overtaking card spends. This is driving spends-based fee yields lower, although the overall P2M payments fee pool has been growing. Credit card spends have rebounded strongly and are almost at pre-COVID levels, with resumption in physical mobility, ramp-up in card issuances, and increase in commercial card spends. While unit spends crossed pre-COVID levels, unit receivables, particularly revolving loans, are subdued, resulting in lower NII and profitability. BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) volumes have continued to record exponential growth in FY22, with enhanced adoption by customers and increasing use cases.  BNPL volumes havecontinued to...

The global crypto market cap is $2.10 trillion, a 4.05 percent increase over the last day. The total crypto market volume over the last 24 hours is $90.99 billion, which makes a 50.89 percent increase. Bitcoin’s stealth rally over the past two weeks not only pushed it past a key level of $45,000 — it also put the world’s biggest cryptocurrency back in positive territory for the year.(Source: MoneyControl ). The total volume in DeFi (decentralized finance) is currently $10.79 billion, 11.86 percent of the total crypto market 24-hour volume. The volume of all stable coins is now $72.33 billion, which is 79.50 percent of the total crypto market 24-hour volume. Bitcoin's price is currently Rs 35.65 lakh, with a dominance of 42.29 percent. This is a 0.28 percent increase over the day, CoinMarketCap data shows. WazirX data showed, ball other cryptocurrencies have also gone up on Monday, except Tether, which saw 1.11 % dip. Ethereum rose by 3.29 % to Rs 2,51,999.8, Cardano up by 0.67 %, B...

  Over 20 million Indians are holding crypto assets worth about $6.6 billion currently, according to a Nasscom report , and the number is growing. The demand, especially from tier-II and III cities, shows a paradigm shift in sentiment towards the digital medium of exchange. While the Government has taken a ‘calibrated approach’, it is also exploring ways – directly or indirectly – to discourage people on investing in cryptocurrencies, while simultaneously exploring alternatives. It is also attempting to see how this new asset class can integrated into the financial ecosystem, by guaranteeing privacy and ensuring national security is not challenged. Pic source: Google images What are Cryptocurrencies? Unconfirmed reports have said that the first cryptocurrency was introduced by a group of people who were averse to paying a fee or tax in order to send their hard-earned money back home. Besides, the money was also taking time to reach their families. According to Wikipedia , t...

 The surge in crude oil prices would be transferring out an incremental 1.2 per cent of GDP for the same net oil imports. To offset the pressure OMCs have increased the prices of fuel and LPG, while it is unlikely to materially support the marketing margins of oil marketing companies (OMCs), but the impact is expected to be seen in April inflation numbers. Upon commencement of the conflict, crude surged past $100 a barrel, and though there is likely to be an element of overshooting -- there is a growing expectation that, as the conflict gets more entrenched, crude prices could remain elevated for longer. Indian Public Policy Review's latest journal quoted J.P. Morgan stating...."for example expects crude to average about $100/barrel for 2022 (calendar year) as of March 15.  This would constitute a $30/barrel increase from the $70/barrel witnessed in 2021, and thereby constitute a discernible negative term of trade shock for an oil-importing country such as India". The rep...

  Fintech investments have grown at a CAGR of 125% since 2016 PE/VC investments in the month of February recorded investments worth $5.8 billion across 117 deals, including 17 large deals worth $4.4 billion. VC/start-up investments were the highest in terms of value in February 2022 at $2.5 billion across 85 deals, according to IVCA-EY monthly PE/VC roundup. in $ mn Source: IVCA-EY report   PE/VC investments in February 2022 were ~US$5.8 billion, 2.3 times the value recorded in February 2021 (US$2.5 billion) and 24% higher than investments in January 2022 (US$4.6 billion). February 2022 recorded 117 deals, 33% higher than February 2021 (88 deals) and 4% lower than January 2022(122 deals). 88% of the total PE/VC investments in February 2022 were pure-play investments (excluding real estate and infrastructure sectors) compared to 79% in February 2022, showed IVCA-EY data. February 2022 recorded 17 large deals (deals of value greater than or equal to US$100 million) aggregat...

Share of utility vehicles (UVs) in the overall domestic passenger vehicle (PV) segment increased to 48% in the first nine months of fiscal 2022 from 15% about two decades ago (fiscal 2002), about 3,300 basis points (bps) jump, according to Crisil's research. Industry experts said "this generally follows the US pattern of switch over to UV compared to sedans. The UVs have become more sophisticated and have attained a status symbol. India will follow this path".  Crisil's report shows the share of small cars declined from 65% in fiscal 2012 to 45% in the first nine months of fiscal 2022. This shift was felt more so in fiscals 2021 and 2022 as income sentiments of entry level car buyers has been impacted due to Covid-19 which has also led to a spurt in UV sales share. Clearly consumer preference towards UVs, contrary to the long-held view that India is a small cars market. The share of UVs in the PV market has risen steadily over the past decade, riding on new launch...

The global femtech market reached $707.6 million in 2021 and is expected to hit $1.15 billion by 2025, says Frost & Sullivan. The market is expected to driven mainly by the demand from fertility, menopause and geriatric care.  While the older demographic will be the largest market for this segment, the younger population is expected to drive the general health & wellness segment and embrace new technologies more enthusiastically. Frost & Sullivan’s research, The COVID-19 Pandemic and a Rising Focus on Women’s Untapped Healthcare Needs are Transforming the Global Femtech Solutions Industry, provides a comprehensive analysis of the factors impacting women’s healthcare in a post-COVID world. “The push toward personal health and wellness has opened up the market to tech giants such as Apple and Fitbit that introduced menstrual cycle tracking solutions. There will also be a significant market for medtech companies that can offer solutions for under-addressed health issues re...

India’s Chandrayaan-2 has made new observations about the distribution of an important gas in the moon’s upper atmosphere, which can offer new insights into the lunar surroundings. The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) said that the new data from Chandra’s Atmospheric Composition Explorer-2 (CHACE-2) mass spectrometer on Chandrayaan-2 show the distribution of Argon-40 gas in the lunar ‘exosphere’, beyond the areas this was known to exist. Picture courtesy: Isro The Chandra’s Atmospheric Composition Explorer-2 (CHACE-2), a quadrupole mass spectrometer onboard Chandrayaan-2 mission has made the first-of-its-kind observations of the global distribution of Argon-40 in the tenuous lunar exosphere.  These observations provide insight on the dynamics of the lunar exospheric species, as well as on the radiogenic activities in the first few tens of meters below the lunar surface, said the space agency. ‘Exosphere’ is the outermost region of the upper atmosphere of a celestial body w...