Business
Navratri, GST cuts spark festive shopping boom: Digital transactions jump to Rs 11 lakh crore; see near 10-fold surge – The Times of India
India witnessed an unprecedented rise in digital transactions as the Navratri festival season coincided with the biggest GST cuts on high-value consumer items. According to RBI data, total electronic payments soared to Rs 11.31 lakh crore on Monday, nearly 10 times the Rs 1.18 lakh crore recorded the previous day.The momentum continued on Tuesday, with digital payments totaling Rs 11.19 lakh crore, signaling optimism for the festive season. Demand is expected to remain strong throughout Navratri and leading up to Diwali.The recent GST reforms, which halved the number of tax slabs and reduced levies on discretionary items such as cars, motorcycles, and home appliances, have significantly boosted consumer spending. Automotive companies are expected to be the biggest beneficiaries, with levies on many cars reduced to 18% from 28%, prompting increased dealer and consumer bookings.“The conclusion of Shraddh period and the onset of Navratri, coupled with recent GST reductions and deep ecommerce discounts, have significantly lifted consumer sentiment,” said Anand Kumar Bajaj, founder and CEO of PayNearby.“We’re seeing a sharp uptick in spending, particularly on apparel and home appliances, signalling strong festive demand and renewed economic momentum,” he added, a quoted by ET.The surge was particularly noticeable on digital platforms such as UPI, credit cards, debit cards, NEFT, IMPS, and RTGS. During Flipkart and Amazon’s annual 10-day festival sales, credit card spending on ecommerce platforms rose six-fold to Rs 10,411 crore, while debit card spending tripled to Rs 814 crore, highlighting strong demand for high-value purchases.“Following the recent GST relief and the positive market sentiment around it, we’ve seen a noticeable surge in customer engagement and spending. In just the past couple of days, demand has grown by nearly 20%,” said Bikram Yadav, head of credit cards at RBL Bank.“With low inflation, GST relief and upbeat consumer sentiment, we anticipate strong festive spending across categories such as ecommerce, travel and electronics,” added Bikram.Among all digital channels, the largest value of transactions occurred via RTGS, the preferred method for high-value payments, which jumped to Rs 8.14 lakh crore from Rs 17,166 crore a day earlier. Large purchases such as cars, typically booked by dealers and end customers, are often routed through RTGS, reported ET.
Business
UPI transactions hit record Rs 29.53 lakh crore in March; volumes cross 22.6 billion – The Times of India
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions touched a record high in March, with both value and volume hitting new peaks, driven by festive spending and financial year-end activity, according to PTI.Data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) showed that UPI transactions totalled Rs 29.53 lakh crore in value during March, up 19 per cent from Rs 24.77 lakh crore in the same month last year.On a month-on-month basis, transaction value rose 10 per cent from Rs 26.84 lakh crore recorded in February.In volume terms, UPI registered 22.64 billion transactions during the month, marking a 24 per cent increase from 18.3 billion transactions a year ago. The volume was 20.39 billion in February.Average daily transactions stood at 730 million, with an average daily value of Rs 95,243 crore, as spending picked up during festivals such as Holi and Eid.“The sustained growth in the digital payment ecosystem in India is an affirmation of the penetration of real-time payment systems in the day-to-day life of the people. UPI processed 22.64 billion transactions worth 29.53 lakh crore in March 2026, marking its emergence as one of the trusted payment systems in the country,” said Anand Kumar Bajaj, MD & CEO of PayNearby.UPI now accounts for around 85 per cent of all digital transactions in India and contributes nearly 50 per cent of global real-time digital payments.The platform is operational in seven countries, including the UAE, Singapore, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, France and Mauritius, with its entry into France marking its first expansion into Europe.NPCI, an initiative of the Reserve Bank of India and the Indian Banks’ Association, operates UPI, enabling real-time peer-to-peer and merchant payments across the country.
Business
Minimum wage rises to £12.71 an hour as firms warn of impact
But Spencer says his business is being squeezed from every angle – as well as minimum wage, he has had increases in business rates, national insurance, and statutory sick pay. He also expects energy bills to go up because of the war in the Middle East.
Business
Visa launches new AI tools to manage the charge dispute process
Visa Inc. signage on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, US, on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Visa is launching six new tools using artificial intelligence to modernize the process of disputing credit card charges, the company told CNBC exclusively.
The digital payments company said the tools are designed to reduce the costs and frustration of “outdated” dispute processes for multiple entities involved in the payments process: merchants, issuers and acquirers.
“Some of the challenges are these back-office systems are still largely manual,” Andrew Torre, Visa’s president of value-added services, told CNBC. “We really had to think differently about how we approach this at scale.”
In 2025, Torre said, Visa processed more than 103 million charge disputes globally, marking a 35% increase since 2019.
“Our goal is to streamline this as much as possible,” Torre said. “We’d love to be able to see that growth rate come down.”
Visa’s new tools are part of a larger push by major banks and financial institutions to incorporate AI into their businesses — both internally and in consumer-facing applications. JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs have both said they’re already using AI to hire fewer people. BNY spent $3.8 billion on technology in 2025, or about 19% of its revenue.
Visa said three of its six new tools focus on merchants, allowing them to address potential disputes before they escalate, managing disputes with generative AI responses and providing a deeper level of detail on order insights to manage confusion over unfamiliar charges.
For example, Torre said, many disputes are borne out of cardholders not recognizing a specific charge on their statements. With the new tool, Visa will be able to provide further details to financial institutions to show cardholders that data at a deeper level, according to the company.
The other three tools are built for issuers and acquirers, using predictive AI models to aid in case-by-case analysis, analyzing documents for summaries and auto fill and establishing an AI-powered dispute platform to manage the entire process in one location, Visa said.
“We’ll be able to get them insights and data so they can move from being reactive to proactive,” Torre said.
Torre said Visa’s new AI tools are part of a broader host of solutions for consumers, including a subscription manager announced last week that allows cardholders to cancel unnecessary subscriptions directly on the manager.
The automation will save time, money and unnecessary confusion for both parties, he added. Most of the tools will be generally available later this year, the company said.
“We really believe that disputes in this solution makes it much easier to manage and resolve,” Torre said. “We think it has better outcomes for everyone.”
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