Media

(By Apurva Chaudhary & Vikas SN) National Payments Corporation of India‘s (NPCI) payment network RuPay has now started accepting e-commerce payments, reports NextBigWhat. The network was previously limited to ATMs, prepaid cards and point of sale (PoS) terminals. Its currently not clear as to when NPCI enabled this service, since there is no mention of this on the website, however several websites like Coke2home, JustRechargeIt and FutureBazaar have started accepting RuPay payments as a payment option, as indicated by the report. Payment gateway company CCAvenue* also told the publication that it is one among the NPCI authorized companies to process RuPay debit cards. Last month, NPCI Managing Director and Chief Executive A P Hota had told PTI (via The Economic Times) that RuPay network will be e-commerce ready by May 25, following which RuPay will be available on the entire e-payments space. Hota had claimed that it has issued 3 million RuPay debit cards as of March end, up from 200,000 in March 2012 and hopes to cross the the 10 million mark by the end of current fiscal (FY 2014). He also claimed that these cards are now accepted at 1.12 lakh ATMs and around 1.8 lakh merchant terminals in the country. Launched in March 2012, RuPay competes with international payment product facilitators like MasterCard and Visa. At launch, Four public sector banks, State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, and Union Bank of India, had launched debit cards based on the platform and six banks had signed MoUs to launch cards on the the RuPay platform. This seems to have increased to nine banks now including public sector banks like Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Punjab & Sind Bank and private bank like Federal Bank, as indicated by the ET report. RuPay charges about 0.01% transaction fee and claims that it will allow Indian banks to save on foreign currency as the fees to international payment companies will be paid in rupees instead of dollars, as indicated by Livemint report. NPCI has also partnered (pdf) with Discover Financial Services in March 2012, to expand its services globally. Earlier this month, Punjab government initiated a special project to make online payment to the Artiyas through ‘RuPay Debit Card’ within 48 hours of the procurement. RuPay Roadmap: As per NPCI’s website, it plans to roll out RuPay in five different phases – ATM, Debit Cards, Prepaid cards & PoS terminals, e-commerce and virtual cards, EMV and contact less cards and Credit cards. Of this, the organization has now completed e-commerce rollout with virtual cards, contact less cards and credit cards pending. While, the website hasn’t disclosed any specific timeline on this roadmap, remember that RBI has mandated all banks to convert the existing magstripe cards to EMV cards all customers who have used their cards internationally at least once, by June 30, 2013. *Disclosure: CCAvenue is an advertiser with Medianama Download: Structuring Of Investments In eCommerce Businesses In India – A MediaNama and Arkay & Arkay

Officials ask Google how it intends to use the information collected by the high-tech specs, which could seemingly videotape or photograph others without their knowledge.

Heilemann, interface director at Squarespace, takes the new design to task in a few short, punchy and very incisive posts. The first one calls Apple on the fact that iOS 7’s lock screen is not just a usability faux pas, but a huge problem in that it is the gateway to the world’s most popular mobile computing experience. The second article cites an example of the OS’s poor attention to detail. And the third talks about the difficulty of understanding whether the OS is signalling a button or a state. Well worth reading. Update: Wait, there’s a fourth article too. Also well worth reading. To follow me on Twitter click here.

The photographer David Bledsoe found a graveyard of now obsolete pay phone stands underneath Manhattan’s West Side Hideway. To follow me on Twitter click here.

Michael Hastings, the journalist whose reporting led to the ouster of the commander of American forces in Afghanistan in 2010, was killed in a car crash, the news Web site BuzzFeed said.

In resisting calls to ban ads for nutritionally questionable food, Nickelodeon argued that its job was children’s entertainment, not nutrition.

Users trying to visit the social network on the Web are greeted by the message that the page doesn't exist, but smartphone users report being able to access the mobile version.

A dating Web site is teaming up with board game companies to sponsor game nights where singles can meet and get to know each other.

In the fourth of five Mr. Magazine™ Minutes mini-series with top magazine media executives, president of Condé Nast tells Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni why he is bullish about the future and power of print magazines and magazine media. On Thursday, in the last part of this mini-series, Skip Zimbalist, chairman and CEO of Active Interest Media answers Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni’s question about why he is bullish on print magazines and the power and future of the magazine media industry. And watch for a Friday release of Mr. Magazine™ Presents: Bullish on the Printed Magazines, a mini-documentary including all five interviews and an introduction by me, exclusively on the Mr. Magazine™ blog.

King, developer of the popular puzzle game, is in talks with several banks about going public, The Wall Street Journal reports.