Xaults pilots fractional shares in India | TWIF - 14th Aug, 2025

Paytmreceived Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in-principle approval for online payment aggregator operations.

ICICI Bankreduced Minimum Average Balance (MAB) for savings accounts from INR 50,000 to INR 15,000 across metro, urban, semi-urban, and rural locations following customer backlash.

BlackSoil Group, an Indian alternative credit firm, launched Southeast Asia-focused credit fund named BlackSoil Global Credit Opportunities Fund (The SEA Fund).

Perplexity Financecustomised its financial data platform for the Indian market and offered premium data services at no cost.

National Stock Exchange (NSE) reported 1.3M new investor registrations in June 2025, a 15% MoM increase led by Western India, though registrations remained below June 2024 levels.

State Bank of India (SBI) reported 15% YoY home loan growth to INR 8.5 lakh crore ($97bn) in Q1 2025, capturing 35% of banking sector's mortgage lending.

Growwretained market leadership with 27% share and 12.4M active clients, while Indian stock market's active user base declined 4% to 46M in July 2025.

CashKaro, a cashback and affiliate commerce platform, grew revenue to INR 350 Cr ($41M) in FY25, driving over INR 6,000 Cr ($685M) GMV across 1,500 partner brands.

Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) partnered withGujarat Technological University (GTU) to develop specialised fintech courses, training programs, and establish a centre of excellence for financial technology education.

Mahindra Financereported INR 529 crore ($60M) net profit in Q1 2026.

Morgan Stanleyreported unsecured consumer loan growth in India dropped from 31% to 8% YoY in FY23-FY25, with early-stage delinquencies rising across public sector banks and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs).

Public Sector Banks (PSBs) wrote off INR 5.82 lakh crore ($67bn) in bad loans during FY2020-2025, with recovery rate of approximately 28%.

Life Insurance Corporation and private insurers grew premium income by 22.4% to INR 39K cr ($4.5bn) in July 2025, with individual single premiums growing 19% YoY.

State-run banks will hold a majority stake in the newly establishedDigital Payments Intelligence Platform (DPIP) to enhance payment fraud risk management through advanced technologies and real-time intelligence sharing.

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Google Pay, PhonePe, and Amazon Pay requested exemption from Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act provisions requiring user consent for transactions.

Growwlaunched a customisable trading terminal with unique dashboards for professional traders.

Jio Financial Servicespartnered withTaxBuddy to introduce tax filing and planning features on JioFinance app, offering services from INR 24 to INR 999.

IndusInd Banklaunched 'Indus StartUp Banking' to provide comprehensive financial services for startups under 10 years old, offering current accounts, API access, and beyond-banking support.

HDFC ERGOpartnered withPhonePe to launch affordable health insurance products priced at INR 12 ($ 0.14) per day with INR 3 lakhs ($3.5K) coverage.

Pine Labslaunched Online MCP Server, enabling developers to build complete payment workflows using natural language prompts.

Equirus GrouplaunchedEquirus Finance as a Non-Deposit Taking Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC), targeting high-net-worth individuals with specialised lending solutions.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced continuous cheque clearing system starting October to enhance transaction efficiency and reduce settlement delays.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued circular permitting investment advisers and research analysts to use liquid and overnight mutual funds for meeting deposit requirements.

RBIpermitted foreign account holders to invest entire surplus balance in special rupee vostro accounts into central government securities without portfolio investor registration.

National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) discontinued recipient-initiated UPI pull transactions, which constituted 3% of UPI activity, to prevent digital payment scams.

RBIreleased Responsible and Ethical Enablement of Artificial Intelligence (FREE-AI) framework, recommending 26 actionable recommendations across six strategic pillars.

Xaultsreceived regulatory approval from SEBI to conduct a pilot test for direct depository model of fractional stock ownership, marking first significant industry exploration.

Shivalik Small Finance Bank, a small business focussed small finance bank, raised INR 100 cr ($11.6M).

Seeds Fincap, a SME finance startup, raised INR 50cr ($6M).

Elever, a Bengaluru-based portfolio management firm, raised INR 9.5cr ($1.1M).

JM Financial Credit Solutionssold 2.1% stake in home loans subsidiary to Bajaj Allianz Life for INR 65cr ($ 7.4M).

Niyo, a travel fintech platform, acquiredKanji Forex, a forex solutions company, for undisclosed amount.

Visareported digital remittance adoption rates of 74-76% in India, Philippines, and Singapore, with speed, security, and convenience driving digital transfer preference across Asia Pacific.

Korean banksinitiated QR payment expansion strategies targeting Southeast Asian digital payments market.

SoftBankselected Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Mizuho Financial Group, and Morgan Stanley to prepare PayPay's potential US Initial Public Offering (IPO), targeting over $2bn in Q4 of 2025.

Singaporereported 65% of retail transactions conducted via mobile devices in 2025, representing a 42% increase since 2022, with highest mobile payment adoption across demographics.

DBSpartnered withTikTok and Samsung Electronics Singapore to launch 60-hour livestream selling event, generating 15M impressions and helping 60 local businesses build social commerce capabilities.

Ant Internationalpartnered withAbu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) and received In-Principle Approval (IPA) from Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) for digital payment licenses.

CIMB SingaporelaunchedFX Online, a digital foreign exchange (FX) solution, enabling cross-border trade payments needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) at every stage of growth.

Niumpartnered withiPiD to expand account validation service in Europe, enabling real-time payee verification across 41 SEPA countries to reduce fraud and meet regulatory requirements.

Philippine government partnered withGCash to implement automated fare collection system with multiple digital payment modes at MRT-3.

CommBank in Australia added generative AI-powered Scam Checker to Truyu identity protection app, helping reduce customer scam losses by 76% since first half of 2023.

Payoneerpartnered withCiti to launch real-time, blockchain-enabled treasury transfers via Citi Token Services, enabling 24/7 cross-border payments across multiple markets.

HBL Microfinance Bank in Pakistan partnered withSUPARCO to launch satellite-based agricultural lending pilot in Okara District, Punjab, using remote satellite imagery for loan assessments.

NTT Datapartnered withFinastra to expand cloud lending service capabilities.

Krungthai Bank, Advanced Info Service, and PTT Oil and Retail Business received virtual bank approval and established Thai Trinity Holding Co., Ltd. to launch digital bank by June 2026.

Airwallexreceived Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) license from Dutch Authority for Financial Markets, enabling launch of Yield product for European businesses to earn returns on multi-currency balances.

Japanprovided technical support to Pakistan for developing its central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiative.

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) rescinded export payment lien policy, removing penalties for delayed export proceeds and providing immediate full payment to exporters.