India has launched the country’s first domestic payment card network, RuPay, to compete with multinational Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. The new development will not only help banks reduce cost of issuing a debit card but also lead to expansion of payment network in rural areas. National Payments Corp of India Ltd (NPCI), the nodal agency to manage and promote RuPay, has stated that 200,000 RuPay cards have already been issued and the target is to have 10 million debit cards under the brand by March 2013.
Stating India as ‘extraordinarily attractive investment
destination’, PE firm Bain Capital LLC has announced that it will infuse about
US$ 800 million in appropriate proposals across four investment
deals during 2012-16.
L&T Finance has decided to buy Fidelity Worldwide Investment’s
Indian mutual fund business. The deal would boost L&T’s assets to Rs 13,500
crore (US$ 2.63 billion), making it the 13th biggest fund house and the 10th
largest on the basis of equity.
In a recent announcement, the RBI has granted FIIs to invest in
primary issuances of companies’ non-convertible debentures (NCDs), provided
these papers are scheduled to be listed on the stock exchanges within 15 days
of being issued. If the instrument, that is the NCD, does not get listed within
15 days, the foreign investor concerned would have to sell the securities to a
domestic investor.