New Delhi, July 11 (IANS) NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), the international arm of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), on Thursday signed an agreement with QNB, the largest financial institution in the Middle East and Africa, headquartered in Qatar, to launch QR code-based Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payments across the Gulf nation.

This will enable UPI payment acceptance in Qatar through the QNB merchant network, benefiting Indian travellers visiting and transiting through the country.

“We believe that enabling UPI acceptance in Qatar will offer substantial benefits to the large number of Indians visiting the country, simplifying their transactions, and ensuring a hassle-free travel experience abroad,” Anubhav Sharma, Deputy Chief – Partnerships and Business Development, NPCI International, said in a statement.

This partnership will provide Indian tourists the option to use their preferred payment method across retail stores, tourist attractions, leisure sites, duty-free shops, and hotels.

“With this new digital payment solution acceptance, we are revolutionising the way transactions are conducted, enhancing the travel experience like never before,” said Adel Ali Al-Malki, Senior Executive VP, QNB Group Retail Banking.

By adopting UPI payments, merchants in Qatar will also be able to offer a faster and more convenient payment and checkout process.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 11 (IANS) IT spending in India is expected to witness close to 19 per cent growth in 2024, whereas, globally, it is expected to see about 8 per cent growth, a new report said on Thursday.

According to Grant Thornton Bharat, the second quarter (Q2) of the calendar year 2024 (April-June) saw an increase in deal volumes by 9 per cent, from 69 to 75.

“The Indian technology industry is showing promising signs of revival and stabilisation. Generative AI is driving new opportunities for growth and innovation, with CIOs focusing on enhancing customer experience and operational efficiency,” said Raja Lahiri, Partner and Technology Industry Leader at Grant Thornton Bharat.

In Q2, PE (private equity) volumes have increased since Q3 2023, reaching the highest in two years.

Technology startups dominated PE activity with 60 per cent of volumes and 57 per cent of values, whereas, the enterprise software/SaaS segment accounted for 30 per cent of volumes, according to the report. B2B (business-to-business) startups led PE deal activity accounted for 74 per cent of volumes and 51 per cent of values in Q2.

Avail Technologies, a B2B startup, secured $70 million in funding across two rounds to enhance product development and expand globally. Logistics services platform Perfios and Ola’s Krutrim AI achieved unicorn status in 2024. The enterprise software/SaaS segment recorded 20 transactions worth $79 million.

–IANS

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Vienna, July 11 (IANS) Indian companies are keen to explore investment opportunities in Austria across areas such as Research and Development, artificial intelligence (AI) and software in sustainability areas for addressing the European market, industry experts as Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded his historic visit to the country.

Speaking at the India-Austria Business Forum in Vienna, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) with Austrian Federal Economic Chamber and Federation of Austrian Industries in conjunction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Austria, Martin Kocher, Minister of Labour and Economy, Austria stressed that we value the Indian startup ecosystem as one of the most vibrant in the world.

He added that there are cooperation opportunities in renewable energy, smart cities, audio-visual and films, tourism and other sectors.

Sanjiv Puri, President, CII, said we must encourage two-way cooperation in sustainable agriculture, water treatment and food processing.

“In critical areas in sustainability cooperation of circularity, adaptation to weather disruptions and biodiversity, Austrian technology partnerships can help India in these areas through AI, advanced sensors and other new tech instruments,” said Puri.

Talking about India-Austria trade relations, R. K. Singh, Secretary, Department for Promotion of Investments and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry said that the two-way trade between India and Austria is worth about $2 billion which is relatively well balanced.

“Most MNCs who have invested in India, including many European ones who have stayed the course have reaped rich dividends in terms of outshining their parents, both in terms of topline and bottom-line expansion, profitability as well as enterprise value,” said Singh.

–IANS

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Bengaluru, July 11 (IANS) IT services major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) hired 5,452 employees in the first quarter of the ongoing fiscal (FY25), reversing three-quarters of the drop in headcount.

The company’s headcount had fallen for the first time in 19 years during FY24.

The company now employs 6,06,998 people. The attrition rate came further down to 12.1 per cent in the Q1 FY25, said the company.

After presenting the quarterly result (Q1 FY25) where it reported a 9 per cent year-on-year increase in net profit at Rs 12,040 crore, Chief Human Resources Officer Milind Lakkad said he is “delighted to announce the successful completion of our annual increment process”.

“Our continued focus on employee engagement and development led to industry-leading retention and strong business performance, with the net headcount addition being a matter of immense satisfaction,” Lakkad added.

For Q1, TCS clocked revenue of Rs 62,613 crore, up 5.4 per cent from the same quarter last year.

“We are continuing to expand our client relationships, create new capabilities in emerging technologies and invest in innovation, including a new AI-focused TCS PacePort in France, IoT lab in the US and expanding our delivery centres in Latin America, Canada and Europe,” said K Krithivasan, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director.

–IANS

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London, July 11 (IANS) The European Union (EU) on Thursday accepted commitments offered by Apple over how it operates Apple Pay to end a long-running competition investigation.

“The Commission has decided to accept commitments offered by Apple. These commitments address our preliminary concerns that Apple may have illegally restricted competition for mobile wallets on iPhones,” said Commission EVP Margrethe Vestager, who heads up the EU’s competition division.

“Apple has until July 25 to implement their commitments. As of this date, developers will be able to offer a mobile wallet on the iPhone with the same ‘tap and go’ experience that so far has been reserved for Apple Pay,” she added.

In 2020, the EU formally launched an antitrust investigation related to Apple Pay. The investigation looked at the terms and conditions Apple sets for integrating Apple Pay in apps and websites and concerns around the ‘tap and go’ technology and alleged refusals of accessing Apple Pay.

In 2022, the Commission found that Apple Pay could restrict competition as it was the only option for iPhone users.

“Our preliminary finding was therefore that Apple abused its dominant position by refusing to supply the NFC technology to competing mobile wallet developers,” the Commission mentioned.

In Europe, the most widely available technology for mobile payments in stores is called ‘Near Field Communication’ (NFC). This technology enables wireless communication between a mobile phone and a store’s payments terminal. It allows users to ‘tap and go’ with their mobile phone.

NFC technology was not developed by Apple. It is a standardised technology and made available for free.

Apple refused to give access to the NFC technology on the iPhone to rival wallet developers and instead reserved the use of the technology on the iPhone to its own mobile wallet solution, the Commission said.

Now, the Commission has ended the investigation and mentioned that iPhone users will be able to use their preferred mobile wallet for payments in stores.

“They will be able to do so while enjoying all the iPhone’s functionalities, including tap-and-go, Double-Click and FaceID,” it added.

–IANS

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