SpiceJet launches EMI payment scheme to book tickets

Budget passenger carrier SpiceJet on Thursday launched a unique ticket purchase scheme through which passengers can pay through equated monthly installments (EMIs). 

"We are confident that this scheme will make air travel more economically-viable than ever before for those customers who want to travel now, but pay later," Debojo Maharshi, chief marketing officer of SpiceJet was quoted in a statement. 

According to the company, the 'Book Now, Pay Later' scheme allows passengers to pay as per their own schedule. 

Passengers holding credit cards issued by Axis, HSBC, Kotak, and Standard Chartered can pay through EMIs between three and 12 months. 

The interest rates charged through the scheme will range between 12 and 14 per cent, compared to a typical credit card interest rates in excess of 36 per cent.

Top 10 Best Companies to Work For in India

Delhi-based IT firm RMSI is the best company to work for in India, according to the latest report published by the Great Place to Work Institute. Google India has slipped to the second spot after topping the list last year, the report said.

In the last year rankings, RMSI was ranked at fourth position while Intel Technologies and Marriott Hotels India stood at second and third respectively.

Microsoft India is at 20 in the new list, with an employee count of 6,931 people.

Among state-owned companies, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) emerged as the best public sector firm to work for in India, overthrowing oil refiner Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).

Here is the List of Top 10 Best Companies to Work For in India:

1. RMSI

RMSI provides IT services for various domains such as utilities, wireless telecommunications, information management, agriculture & natural resources, risk and insurance.

RMSI has a total employee count of 842, with offices in US, Canada and UK apart from India.

2. Google India

Google's employee base in India is nearly double of RMSI's global workforce. It currently employs 1,678 people. Google Inc. plans to set up its biggest development centre outside the US in Hyderabad, with an outlay of Rs 1,000 crore. Expected to be ready by 2019, the facility will be the first company-owned campus in Asia.

3. Marriott Hotels India

Marriott Hotels currently employs 6,500 people in its hotels across several Indian cities. The International hotel chain opened its first hotel in Goa in December 1999 and later expanded its operations to several other cities.

4. American Express India

New York-based American Express, also called as Amex, has an employee count of 9,036 people in India at its two centres in Gurgaon and New Delhi. Its operations include back office services and credit card business.

5. SAP Labs India

German multinational software firm SAP Labs currently has 4,844 employees at its offices in Bangalore, Pune and Gurgaon.

6. Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL)

Mumbai-based GCPL is a consumer goods major in the country with a product portfolio of soaps, hair colourants, toiletries and liquid detergents. It has 2,228 employees in its manufacturing, sales and distribution divisions. GCPL has seven manufacturing facilities in India.

7. Intuit Technology Services

Intuit India, a subsidiary of US-based Intuit Inc, currently has 806 employees at its office in Bangalore. Intuit started the Indian office in April 2005 and it is one of its two development centers outside the US.

8. Accor Hotels India

Paris-headquartered Accor Hotels employs 3,690 people at its hotels in India. Accor is a French hotel group, with operations in 92 countries.

9. Forbes Marshall

Pune-based Forbes Marshall is an engineering and energy conservation solutions provider employing 1,417 people. The company had established its first factory in 1958 in Pune. It currently has four manufacturing plants in the country.

10. Lifestyle International

Domestic fashion retailing chain Lifestyle International employs 10,820 people across its retail outlets in 26 cities in the country.

CitiBank India numbers for FY 2014-15

Citi India, the Indian unit of global banking giant Citibank, said its pre-tax profit rose 15.8 percent in the year ended March to Rs 5,923 crores from INR 5,113 crores in the previous financial year.

Citibank is not obligated to report its results publicly as it is not listed in India.

Profit After Tax rose 18.3 percent to INR 3,423 crores from INR 2,893 crores.

As on March 31, 2015, Citibank India’s total assets were INR 138,776 crores, with advances growing by 7.7 percent to INR 60,896 crores.

The Bank’s deposits grew 13.5 percent during the same period, and the CASA ratio stood at 49 percent.

As on March 31, 2015, the Bank’s capital adequacy ratio stood at 15.3 percent and the net NPA ratio improved to 0.4 percent from 1.24 percent.

Operating Expense to Net income ratio stood at 34.3 percent for the period ended March 31, 2015. For Citi India as a whole, total assets including credit extended to Indian corporate clients from offshore branches stood at INR 180,028 crores as on March 31, 2015.

Citi India added 2,244 employees over the past year, bringing the total number of employees to 12,044. Of the total employee base, Citi Service Centers housed under Citicorp Services India Private Limited (CSIPL), engages around 5,700 professionals across 5 locations in India.

Citibank India said it had extended loans of INR 6,208 crore to agriculture, weaker sections and micro and small enterprises as well as INR 10,572 crore towards export credit as on March 31, 2015

Citi India was the No.1 investment bank in both, announced and completed M & A , and concluded deals worth approximately INR 71,800 crore during this period.

Citi India also helped raise approximately INR 103,000 crore of equity and debt capital for its clients, preserving its status as the preferred investment banker in the country during this period.

In this space, Citibank competes with the likes of Kotak Mahindra Bank and Edelweiss.

Citibank India held a 5.7 percent market share of India’s domestic payment flows and 7.00 3 percent of India’s merchandise and software services trade flows and holds a 15.5 percent market share in Foreign Exchange merchant flows as on March 31, 2015, a growth of 2.9 percent over the same period last year.

“Citibank India is a leading custodian serving around 44 percent of Indian asset managers and managing approximately 30 percent of Foreign Portfolio Investor flows in India as on March 31, 2015,” the US-based bank said.

Citibank India has 1.2 million retail customers and has 2.4 million cards in force through a network of 45 branches across 28 locations, with the addition of three new branches in Nagpur, Thane and Serilingampally during last fiscal year.

Citibank India also claims to have card-spend of 1.5 times of industry average and a 15 percent market share of overall credit card spends in the country.

Citibank India has 8 percent market share (in value terms) of IMPS transactions amongst banks for the period ended March 31, 2015 with just 0.5 percent share of the total banking accounts in 8 India.

“Citibank India is the first bank in India to leverage IMPS on ATMs to enable ATM funds transfer to any bank account in the country and is amongst the first banks to enable transfers through SMS in India during this fiscal period,” it said.

Online Payment In India Accounted For 14% Of Total Transaction Amount In FY 2015

During the dawn of eCommerce industry in India, people were not comfortable using their credit/debit card data online for payments and were often shying away from purchasing online. However, with better security measures and multiple online payment channels today, cashless transactions have seen an ultimate leap surpassing the paper-based transactions in India in FY 2015.

As reported by The Economic Times, paper-based transactions cleared through cheques in FY 2015 (April 2014 – March 2015)  summed up to INR 85 lakh crore (US$1.33 Trillion) whereas cashless transactions through credit card, debit card, NEFT, and online wallets comprised of INR 92 lakh crore (US$1.43 Trillion). The total transaction amount in India – exclusive of cash transactions – reached $2.76 Trillion in FY15.

The main reason behind this spike in cashless transactions is the growth of eCommerce industry in India, which allowed consumers to purchase products at discounted rates at the realm of their homes. Also, the new generation is shifting towards hi-tech gadgets and technology to make funds transfer as it’s easier, hassle-free and instant transaction compared to paying by cash or cheque. With online funds transfer or virtual payment system, people can send or receive payments instantly at the touch of a button rather than visiting banks to withdraw or deposit money.

Distribution of Cashless Transactions in FY 2015:

The majority of cashless payments comes from retail electronic clearing which contributes more than 71% of the overall cashless transactions in FY 2015 whereas prepaid instruments contribute only Rs. 21,342 crore (US$3.3 billion) which is not even 1% of the total cashless payments. Payments by cards was also favored by many in FY 2015 which contributed more than 27% of the overall cashless transactions.

Deputy Managing Director (corporate strategy and new businesses) at State Bank of India, Sunil Srivastava informed that,

“At SBI, about 69% of daily transactions happen through alternative channels, including internet, ATM and mobile banking. We see it rising every year with more young people becoming our customers.”, says Sunil Srivastava, Deputy Managing Director (corporate strategy and new businesses) – State Bank of India.

On the other hand, mobile banking is slowly picking up among the consumers with the rise in number of Smartphone users in India. In FY 2015, cashless transactions through mobile banking amounted to Rs. 1 lakh crore which is not that great but still it’s the fastest growing payment option. These low numbers are quite expected as only 1 million customers are transacting using mobile wallets. However, the numbers will improve as it is expected to reach 100 million customers using mobile wallet in the country during the span of next 5 years as Smartphone users in India will grow with time using better connectivity options.

Major Contributors of Cashless Payments:

People in India have realized the benefits of opting for cashless payments as it is easy, secure and fast. The introduction of reward points and discounts have also encouraged a majority of Indians to try cashless payments.

Here are some of the channels that contributes hugely towards cashless transactions:

Retail Purchases Through ECS:

With the evolution of mall culture, consumers are able to locate everything they need for their household at one place. As these malls are equipped with state-of-the-art POS machines, consumers prefer making cashless payments using ECS rather than using cash to avoid the troubles of finding change. With cashless payment system, the exact bill amount is debited without any extra cost making it easier and quicker for the consumers. Retail Electronic transactions have contributed a whopping Rs. 65 lakh crore in total cashless payments of FY 2015.

ECommerce Industry

Given the fact that, the eCommerce portals in the country registered retail sale worth of $5.30 billion in 2014, the eCommerce industry of India contributes highly towards cashless or virtual payments. Offering quality products at the most feasible rates and delivering them right at your doorstep as per your convenience. Although, COD was the most favored payment mode for these sales, large number of sales were registered through cashless transactions as well.

Online Payment of Utility Bills, Recharge etc.

With the introduction of online services like PayTM and FreeCharge, payments of utility bills, as well as recharge for Mobile or DTH service, have become a lot easier. Consumers are often attracted towards these services as they are being offered free coupons and discount of a same value as you pay for bills or recharge.

Remittances

Since its introduction, mobile wallet usage in India is growing rapidly registering transactions worth Rs. 1 lakh crore in FY 2015. Almost 50% of transactions using mobile wallet were made for remittances while the rest contributed to bill payments, recharge for Mobile or DTH service or to book movie or travel tickets online. A part of these remittances were also contribute by the booming freelance industry of India.

The Road Ahead…

All the major Banks in India are trying to promote online transactions in the country including the rural parts of the country. Being a huge fan of e-Governance, Indian Prime Minister – Mr. Narendra Modi has initiated a project estimated at INR 20,000 crores to build a broadband highway connecting 2.5 lakh panchayats across the country. Once fully set up, this infrastructure would help the rural India connect with the urban India while boosting the rate of online transactions in the country.

Apart from the infrastructure to connect every corner of India through the internet, it is also important to improve the average connectivity speed in the country. To offer better and faster internet access to a larger audience in the country, Reliance Jio is all set to launch its 4G services across 800 major cities in India in order. As the majority of Smartphone users are equipped with better and faster internet connection, cashless transactions in India will surely experience a tremendous leap in the coming years.