The Weekly Wrap: all you need to know by Friday COB | April 19th

By Puja Sharma

The Weekly Wrap is published every Friday and recaps the week’s main stories and deals, as well as upcoming events and announcements. For Prime subscribers only.

The Big Story

NPCI Bharat BillPay Limited (NBBL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), in collaboration with the State Bank of India (SBI), has onboarded SBI NCMC cards on its Bharat BillPay platform.

The category is already live with SBI NCMC cards for Noida Metro, Nagpur Metro, MMRDA Line 2A & 7, Chennai Metro, Kanpur Metro, and Parliament Canteen via the bank’s Bharat BillPay-enabled application, SBI Unipay, and more frontend platforms will go live with the service soon.

The introduction of the National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) Recharge as a biller category will enable customers to recharge/top-up their cards conveniently online, avoiding long queues and ensuring a hassle-free experience. Customers can easily top-up their NCMC cards with up to INR 10,000 online through Bharat BillPay-enabled platforms, supporting various methods such as prepaid, debit, and credit cards. After a successful recharge, customers simply need to tap their NCMC card on the terminal to update their balance.

Noopur Chaturvedi, CEO, NPCI Bharat BillPay, said, “We would like to extend our gratitude to SBI for co-creating and launching this new category with us, which will ease the lives of daily transit users of NCMC cards. NCMC customers, across locations, can now enjoy a seamless experience while recharging, at the platform of their choice. This is one more step to ease digital payments, backed by the certainty, reliability, and safety of our Bharat BillPay platform.”

Deals of the week

• Lemon secures £500K to help SMBs track their SaaS expense
• UAE’s FinTech Fortis secures $20m in a Series A round
• Pliant raises $19m in extended Series A led by PayPal Ventures
• WorldFirst launches WorldTrade to secure B2B trade payments in China
• RupeeRedee’s captive NBFC FincFriends raises $7.8m in funding
• Smartpay raises $7m in Pre-Series A funding round
• FinTech finmid emerges from stealth with €35m equity funding
• India’s Veefin expands Supply Chain Finance & Digital Lending in Africa with Computech Limited
• NatWest partners with StoneX to enhance cross-border FX service

Be on the lookout for

Get ready for the Global FinTech Summit 2024, happening from May 15th to May 17th at the World Trade Center in Singapore. With a jam-packed agenda featuring keynote addresses from industry titans, thought-provoking panel discussions on cutting-edge topics like blockchain, digital banking, and AI, and ample networking opportunities, this summit is set to be the highlight of the fintech calendar. Don’t miss the chance to explore the latest innovations in the exhibition area, participate in startup pitch sessions, and connect with fellow innovators, investors, and policymakers shaping the future of finance.