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India’s Central Bank Hosts Hackathon for Digital Payment Solutions

The country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has announced its first global hackathon on digital payments, aiming to make them safer by fostering solutions to overcome the present limitations of mobile phones and one-time passwords (OTPs). This is the first edition of the hackathon, titled HaRBInger 2021- Innovation for Transformation. It is themed ‘Smarter Digital Payments’. It will identify and develop solutions that have the potential to make digital payments accessible to the under-served, enhance the ease of payments and user experiences, strengthen security, and promote customer protection.

Participants in the challenge, which is open to all over 18 years, have an opportunity to earn IN₹4 million (US$53,742) if they win and IN₹2 million (US$26,871) if they come in second. The contestants can provide the following solutions:

  • Innovative, easy-to-use, non-mobile digital payment solutions for converting small-ticket cash transactions to a digital mode
  • Context-based retail payments to remove the physical act of payment while transacting in-store
  • Alternative solutions to OTP and PIN to authenticate digital payments
  • A social media analysis monitoring tool for the detection of digital payment fraud and disruption

According to a press release by RBI, the hackathon will be hosted on the Application Programming Interface Exchange (APIX) platform. Participants can register online through the link provided on the RBI’s website, the last date to apply is 15 November. The bank explained that it aims to sustain the growth in online payments and ensure a shift in customer behaviour towards a less cash-dependent society by creating a robust, convenient, accessible, low-cost, and secure digital payment and settlement ecosystem.

For an inclusive environment, non-mobile, swift, and easy-to-use innovative solutions to convert small value cash payments of less than IN₹100 (US$1.34) to digital mode, needs to be explored. This will enhance the reach of digital payments and enable greater inclusion. The release added that context-based retail payments are aimed at removing the physical act of payment from the payment experience. They would require no direct interaction between the customer and the merchant. This is generally contingent on the completion of an underlying activity and could include automatic payments at grocery stores once a customer leaves.

The solutions may also focus on consent mechanisms, fraud prevention, and security features. The search for alternatives to PIN and OTPs is driven by the fact that these are received by the remitter over their mobile phone, while the SMS through which the OTP is received is not an encrypted secure messaging system. There have been instances of digital payment frauds where customers are tricked into sharing the OTP. As such, an alternate, smart authentication mechanism may result in more secure digital transactions. Given that customers are now voicing their concerns, largely on social media, the analysis of consumer complaints and concerns could enable digital payment operators and regulators to take prompt action to protect consumers and reduce fraud.

A hackathon is an event organised to bring together people and entities to develop innovative solutions for existing challenges in the specified areas through problem statements. The problem statements are worked upon by the participants, who include but are not limited to, individuals, teams, and members of hardware, software, and coding communities. During the event, participants submit ideas, create solutions, and exhibit prototypes, which is then judged by a panel.

PARTNER

Qlik’s vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems. A private company, Qlik offers real-time data integration and analytics solutions, powered by Qlik Cloud, to close the gaps between data, insights and action. By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik serves more than 38,000 active customers in over 100 countries.

PARTNER

CTC Global Singapore, a premier end-to-end IT solutions provider, is a fully owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and ITOCHU Corporation.

Since 1972, CTC has established itself as one of the country’s top IT solutions providers. With 50 years of experience, headed by an experienced management team and staffed by over 200 qualified IT professionals, we support organizations with integrated IT solutions expertise in Autonomous IT, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure, Workplace Modernization and Professional Services.

Well-known for our strengths in system integration and consultation, CTC Global proves to be the preferred IT outsourcing destination for organizations all over Singapore today.

PARTNER

Planview has one mission: to build the future of connected work. Our solutions enable organizations to connect the business from ideas to impact, empowering companies to accelerate the achievement of what matters most. Planview’s full spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions creates an organizational focus on the strategic outcomes that matter and empowers teams to deliver their best work, no matter how they work. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model enables customers to deliver innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with locations around the world, Planview has more than 1,300 employees supporting 4,500 customers and 2.6 million users worldwide. For more information, visit www.planview.com.

SUPPORTING ORGANISATION

SIRIM is a premier industrial research and technology organisation in Malaysia, wholly-owned by the Minister​ of Finance Incorporated. With over forty years of experience and expertise, SIRIM is mandated as the machinery for research and technology development, and the national champion of quality. SIRIM has always played a major role in the development of the country’s private sector. By tapping into our expertise and knowledge base, we focus on developing new technologies and improvements in the manufacturing, technology and services sectors. We nurture Small Medium Enterprises (SME) growth with solutions for technology penetration and upgrading, making it an ideal technology partner for SMEs.

PARTNER

HashiCorp provides infrastructure automation software for multi-cloud environments, enabling enterprises to unlock a common cloud operating model to provision, secure, connect, and run any application on any infrastructure. HashiCorp tools allow organizations to deliver applications faster by helping enterprises transition from manual processes and ITIL practices to self-service automation and DevOps practices. 

PARTNER

IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

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