SBI Divests 13.18% Stake in Yes Bank to Japan’s SMBC in Landmark Cross-Border Deal

State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender, today, announced the successful completion of the divestment of a 13.18% (approx.) stake in Yes Bank Limited (YBL) to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). SMBC is a Japanese multinational financial services company belonging to the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) and is amongst the leading foreign banks in India. SMFG is the second largest Banking Group in Japan with Total Assets of US$ 2.0 trillion (approx.).

Mr. C. S. Setty, Chairman, IBA & SBI

SBI became the largest shareholder of YBL in March 2020 under the Yes Bank Limited Reconstruction Scheme, 2020, as notified by the Central Government. Subsequently, SBI had also acquired additional shares as part of follow-on public offer by YBL in July 2020. Post the aforesaid divestment, SBI will continue to remain a shareholder in YBL with a shareholding of 10.8% (approx.) of YBL shares (Residual shareholding).

The partial stake sale by SBI and other shareholder Banks in YBL to SMBC represents the largest cross-border investment in the Indian banking sector. The transaction has received the necessary regulatory and statutory approvals including from the Reserve Bank of India and the Competition Commission of India.

SBI Chairman, Shri Challa Sreenivasulu Setty said, “Yes Bank restructuring plan by RBI in 2020 was an innovative, first of its kind public sector – private sector partnership that was fully supported and facilitated by Government of India. We are incredibly proud of the journey we have shared with Yes Bank in supporting their transformation since we came onboard as the major shareholder in 2020. This is perhaps the best example of protecting the customer interests of a large bank by collaborative efforts of SBI and other banks under the guidance of Government of India and RBI. We are excited to welcome SMBC, a marquee financial institution, as a strategic partner through the largest cross-border transaction in India’s banking sector. Their global expertise will be a great complement to Yes Bank’s ongoing progress and future ambitions”.

SBI and the other selling Shareholder Banks were advised by SBI Capital Markets Limited as their financial advisor and S&R Associates as their legal advisor.

YES BANK Launches Frictionless Finance Accelerator to Empower Fintech Startups

YES BANK, in collaboration with the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) and S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), has announced the launch of the Frictionless Finance Accelerator Programme. This initiative, unveiled on National Startup Day, aims to support fintech startups in addressing critical challenges, scaling their innovations, and driving financial inclusion.

India’s startup ecosystem is thriving, with over 1.5 lakh Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) registered startups and more than 100 unicorns. Fintech, a key pillar of this growth, is redefining access to financial services and enabling small businesses to thrive. With this accelerator, YES BANK reinforces its role as a catalyst for innovation and collaboration in this dynamic sector.

Key Features of the Frictionless Finance Accelerator, include :

1. Support System for Startups: Startups gain access to expertise from RBIH, academic resources from SPJIMR, and YES BANK’s industry knowledge.
2. Focus on Emerging Technologies: The programme supports solutions in digital lending, AI-powered risk management, blockchain-based payments, and financial inclusion.
3. Regulatory and Business Guidance: Platforms like YES Connect provide startups with tools to navigate regulatory frameworks, optimise business models, and leverage digital infrastructure.
4. Collaborative Ecosystem: The programme builds partnerships between fintechs, industry leaders, and regulators to foster growth and innovation.

Mr. Prashant Kumar, Managing Director & CEO, YES BANK, said,

India has emerged as the third-largest startup ecosystem globally, and fintech startups are at the forefront of this transformation. The world is changing fast, and the future is one of interconnectedness, powered by technologies that once seemed impossible. At YES BANK, we are committed to supporting this growth through initiatives like the Frictionless Finance Accelerator, which helps startups address real-world challenges and build scalable solutions.

YES BANK’s Role in Driving Innovation

YES BANK has consistently supported startups, especially in fintech, through initiatives like YES HeadStartup and digital platforms such as IRIS Biz, YES Connect, and SmartFin. These solutions simplify operations, enabling startups to focus on innovation.

The Bank’s partnerships, such as the recent collaboration with Vegapay to launch Credit Line on UPI, highlight its emphasis on co-creating financial solutions tailored to startups’ needs. Similarly, its association with SPJIMR’s Wise Tech School of Innovation provides startups with mentorship, funding access, and resources to scale efficiently.

“Our focus is on creating a robust ecosystem where startups can thrive. We don’t just offer products or platforms; we offer partnerships that drive real impact,” Mr. Kumar added.

Dr. Varun Nagaraj, Dean, S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, emphasised the value of collaboration for responsible innovation, stating,

We appreciate the support provided by RBIH and YES BANK to launch the first Frictionless Finance Accelerator. At SPJIMR, through our WISE Tech initiative, we champion responsible innovation that blends cutting-edge technology with inclusivity and ethics. This partnership will enable start-ups to address challenges, redefine financial accessibility, and contribute to India's growth. Together, we are shaping a seamless and secure financial culture.

Mr. Rajesh Bansal, CEO, Reserve Bank Innovation Hub, shared his vision and stated,

Our mission of enabling 'Frictionless Finance for a Billion Indians' is deeply rooted in fostering innovation and entrepreneurship. This accelerator programme is a testament to our commitment to empowering entrepreneurs by providing access to world-class mentorship, facilitating connections with banks, and enabling them to create pathways for transformative growth that will shape the future of India’s financial ecosystem.

The Programme’s launch coincides with a time of tremendous opportunity and transformation. With global venture capital investments in 2024 soaring to $314 billion and the global digital economy expected to exceed $20 trillion by 2030, fintech start-ups are poised to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of finance. The Frictionless Finance Accelerator is a movement that symbolises the transformative power of partnerships, bold vision, and relentless action.

YES BANK Collaborates with Zaggle to launch Next-Gen Corporate Credit Card

The Corporate Credit Card aims to redefine corporate payments, expenditure management, and cash flow optimisation

YES BANK announced the launch of an innovative co-branded Corporate Credit Card in collaboration with Zaggle, a leading player in spend management, with a differentiated value proposition and diversified user base.

Christened ‘YES BANK Zaggle Corporate Credit Card’, the proposition marks a significant step in YES BANK’s journey towards ushering in a digital revolution by empowering businesses to reimagine their payment processes, streamline reconciliation, and efficiently manage company expenditures.

The card will empower businesses to bring in greater cost efficiencies by facilitating an integration with Zaggle’s ZatiX, a spend management and analytics platform, thereby allowing corporates to optimise cash outflows.

In an era where India's corporate landscape is rapidly expanding, strategic financial tools play a pivotal role in facilitating growth. A substantial portion of a company's budget is often allocated to travel and entertainment expenses, posing considerable management challenges. The YES BANK Zaggle Corporate Credit Card presents an innovative solution by granting businesses direct authority over company expenses. This includes the ability to set individual spending limits, place merchant category restrictions, and implement various other controls. Moreover, cardholders are entitled to a range of exclusive benefits, spanning from rewards and golf privileges to lounge access and travel insurance.

Speaking on the launch of the corporate credit card, Mr. Rajan Pental, Executive Director, YES BANK said, “We, at YES BANK are constantly looking to bring forth innovative banking solutions for corporate and retail customers. The partnership with Zaggle enables businesses to bring in operational efficiencies by allowing them to undertake banking transactions, manage company expenditures as well as keep track of all business-related overheads on a single platform. The co-branded card is a compelling proposition that offers upfront savings on business spends, along with the privilege of offering rewards on both spends and repayments on a large list of business expense categories. We will continue to explore avenues of co-creating more of such innovative propositions.”

Mr. Avinash Godkhindi, MD & CEO, Zaggle said, “The corporate T&E space is ripe for disruption as businesses increasingly demand real-time analytics to better manage spends, an industry need that we believe remains unmet. Zaggle ZatiX, deeply integrated with the YES BANK Zaggle Corporate Credit Card aims to addresses this need, to empowering businesses, and provide CFOs with the certain tools they need for intelligent spend decision making to assist with strategically controlling costs and optimally managing cash flow. Zaggle ZatiX a spend management and analytics platform, which helps businesses to bring in greater cost efficiencies."

This partnership builds upon the long-standing relationship between Zaggle and YES BANK in the prepaid card space, which started in 2016, has consistently aimed to provide ground breaking prepaid card solutions tailored to businesses.

YES BANK's track record in the fin-tech space is characterized by strategic tie-ups and initiatives that have fuelled the growth of start-ups by empowering them to thrive on the back of best-in-class banking solutions. This partnership stands as a testament to YES BANK's digital prowess, and shall contribute to the success of businesses in the digital era.

About YES BANK

YES BANK is a full-service commercial bank providing a complete range of products, services, and technology-driven digital offerings, catering to retail, MSME, and corporate clients. YES BANK operates its investment banking, merchant banking, and brokerage businesses through YES SECURITIES, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bank. Headquartered in Mumbai, it has a Pan-India presence including an IBU at GIFT City and a Representative Office in Abu Dhabi.

About Zaggle Prepaid Ocean Services Limited (Zaggle)

Zaggle is a leading player in spend management, with a differentiated value proposition and diversified user base (Source: Frost & Sullivan Report). Incorporated in 2011, the company operates in the business-to-business-to-customer segment and is amongst a small number of uniquely positioned players with a diversified offering of financial technology products and services. It has one of the largest number of issued prepaid cards in India in partnership with certain of its banking partners (12.7% of the country’s total prepaid transaction value as of March 31, 2022). Zaggle collaborated with three banking partners; i.e., IndusInd Bank Limited, YES BANK Limited and NSDL Payments Bank Limited; and has issued more than 45 million co-branded prepaid cards since inception of its business. It has a diversified portfolio of software as a service, including tax and payroll software, and a wide touchpoint reach. Zaggle is sector-agnostic, and its network of corporate customers covers the banking and finance, technology, healthcare, manufacturing, FMCG, infrastructure and automobile industries, among others, where it has relationships with brands such as TATA Steel, Persistent Systems, Vitech, Inox, Pitney Bowes, Wockhardt, MAZDA, PCBL (RP – Sanjiv Goenka Group), Hiranandani group, Cotiviti and Greenply Industries. Zaggle partnered with and has entered into arrangements with DBS Bank, Fibe (formerly, EarlySalary) and Tata Securities to offer their products and value-added services, including insurance, investment and tax planning, to its Users on their platform.

Disclaimer:

Zaggle Prepaid Ocean Services Limited is proposing, subject to receipt of requisite approvals, market conditions and other considerations, to make an initial public offering of its equity shares and has filed a draft red herring prospectus (“DRHP) ” with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”). The DRHP is available on the website of the SEBI at www.sebi.gov.in, the website of the National Stock Exchange of India Limited at www.nseindia.com and the website of the BSE Limited at www.bseindia.com and the respective websites of the Book Running Lead Managers at www.icicisecurities.com, www.equirus.com, www.iiflsecurities.com and www.jmfl.com.

Investors should note that investment in equity shares involves a high degree of risk. For details, potential investors should refer to the RHP which may be filed with the Registrar of Companies in future, including the section titled “Risk Factors”. Potential investors should not rely on the DRHP filed with the SEBI in making any investment decisions.

YES BANK Partners with BaaS Startup Falcon To Tap into Embedded Finance Market

YES BANK today, announced that it has partnered with Banking-as-a-service (BaaS) start-up, Falcon, to tap into the rapidly growing embedded finance market.

YES BANK is one of the pioneering banks that have embraced the BaaS model, which helps in rationalising technology cost and significantly reduces time-to-market, thereby empowering the bank to launch competitive offerings more frequently.

The partnership with Falcon will enable YES BANK to provide customers with tailor-made financial solutions by leveraging Falcon's wide suite of products, backed by state-of-the-art technological infrastructure.

Commenting on the partnership, Ms. Anita Pai, Chief Operating Officer, YES BANK said, “We, at YES BANK have always been at the forefront of adopting digital initiatives that help us provide customers with a rewarding banking experience. Our partnership with Falcon aligns with this approach as it empowers the Bank to create innovative propositions within shorter time periods without compromising on the quality and convenience that the Bank is known to bring forth across all its offerings. Going forward, we foresee an exponential demand for embedding financial products in newer ways, and with this collaboration, we aim to deliver that experience to our customers.”

Falcon offers a future-proof stack to build bespoke cards, payments, accounts, and lending products at unreal speeds to financial institutions and tech companies. The company’s leadership team packs in former executives from the world’s largest financial players like RBL Bank, HDFC, FIS, Zeta, and Mahindra Comviva. Backed by several marquee investors from the US, India, and the Middle East, Falcon aims to tap into the $30-billion market opportunity.

Speaking on the development, Mr. Prabhtej Bhatia, Co-founder of Falcon said, “Team Falcon has always appreciated YES BANK for being one of India’s digital payments pioneers. We’re already working with the bank on introducing several innovative use cases and product lines, and the initial traction and response from customers have been phenomenal. We look forward to YES BANK being an essential part of our journey to achieving $100B in TPV.”

“Today, we’re proud to count YES BANK as one of our key partners in our ambition to become one of the world’s leading BaaS platforms,” he added.

About Falcon

Founded by accomplished entrepreneurs Priyanka Kanwar and Prabhtej Bhatia, Falcon is a financial technology company that is disrupting the way modern fintech is built.

No matter what their core business, or size of operation – banks, NBFCs, or tech companies – can use Falcon’s future-proof stack to build bespoke payment and lending products at unreal speeds. Falcon’s stack can either be seamlessly embedded via flexible open APIs or launched instantly with no code solutions.

The company is backed by investors like Shamir Karkal (Founder, Sila Money), Abhay Hanjura & Vivek Gupta (Founders, Licious), Jeremy Solomon (Former CFO, Affirm), Ali Moiz (Founder, Stonks), Rangarajan Krishnan (CEO, Five Star Finance), Deepak Shahdadpuri (MD of DSG Consumer Partners), Devesh Sachdeva (MD, Fusion Microfinance), and executives from Softbank, UAE Sovereign Fund, Silicon Valley Bank, Robinhood, & Facebook.

Falcon’s leadership team packs in ex-executives from the world’s largest financial players like RBL Bank, HDFC, FIS, Zeta, and Mahindra Comviva.

About YES BANK

YES BANK is a 'Full Service Commercial 'Bank' providing a complete range of products, services and technology driven digital offerings, catering to Retail, MSME as well as corporate clients. YES BANK operates its Investment banking, Merchant banking & Brokerage businesses through YES SECURITIES, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank. Headquartered in Mumbai, it has a pan-India presence including an IBU at GIFT City, and a Representative Office in Abu Dhabi.

YES BANK Announces Investments in Venture Catalysts Group Funds

Venture Catalysts has also sponsored two platforms – Beams Fintech Fund & 9 Unicorns Accelerator Fund

YES BANK announced today that it has invested with Venture Catalysts Group Funds (Venture Catalysts), which is an integrated incubator that offers funding, mentorship, and network to startup founders from the idea inception stage to the growth stages of the startup journey. The fund has also sponsored two platforms, Beams Fintech Fund that invests in growth Stage companies operating at the intersection of Financial Services and Technology, and 9 Unicorns Accelerator Fund that is an early stage sector agnostic investor.

With these investments, YES BANK aims to further its mission of catering to the ‘Future Tech Businesses of India’, bolster innovation in the technology space including financial sector, and potentially partnering with leading tech startups that Venture Catalysts has invested in — Beams Fintech Fund and 9 Unicorns Accelerator Fund.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Ajay Rajan, Country Head - Transaction Banking , YES BANK said, “We are pleased to partner with Venture Catalysts and the allied platforms – Beams Fintech Fund and 9 Unicorns Accelerator Fund. We believe that this partnership is a step in the direction to becoming the go-to-bank for technology startups. India is at the cusp of a massive growth and the collaboration between banks and tech companies – especially with fintechs - will play a critical role in this journey.”

This partnership aligns with YES BANKs’ long-term growth strategy of strengthening its foothold in India’s growing tech markets by investing in the founders of tomorrow. Collaborating with and supporting tech companies to ideate and experiment on various use cases such as agriculture, healthcare, commerce, education, logistics, open banking, supply chain finance, payments, digital banking, among others has been a key driver of YES BANK’s innovation strategy. YES BANK has been a pioneer in the tech space and was the first Bank in India to open up its APIs to various tech companies in 2015.

Mr. Naveen Surya, Co-founding member, Beams Fintech Fund , said “This partnership is a great beginning for the tech ecosystem. YES BANK has always been a visionary bank and a harbinger of innovation related to anything tech. We hope this will encourage other banks and fintechs in the market to partner with groups like Beams Fintech Fund and 9 Unicorns Accelerator Fund. We are aiming to create a large ecosystem consisting of banks, NBFCs and fintech companies to support the tech ecosystem. We are looking forward to working with YES BANK and bringing positive outcomes for all our portfolio companies and founders.”

Beams Fintech Fund (Beams), a CAT II AIF, was launched at the start of 2022 with a mission to build India’s largest fintech ecosystem. It will be actively investing in innovative technology companies at growth stages in the fintech space in India including in the Embedded Finance, SAAS for Banks & FIs, SAAS for Businesses, Global Enterprise SAAS, Personal Finance Management and Neo Banking space. Beams brings a strong value add approach towards investing as it has been building an ecosystem of fintech players, banks, and NBFCs. Due to its clear vision and ambition, Beams continues to add key strategic investors and leading financial institutions from India and internationally to its roster of investors. Beams is targeting to deploy US$ 180 mn across 10 to 12 investments over the next three years in Series B and C rounds of companies.

9 Unicorns Accelerator Fund (9 Unicorns), a CAT I AIF, launched by the founding members of Venture Catalysts is a sector agnostic VC that aims to disrupt idea stage investing in India. 9 Unicorns has already raised $100 mn and is actively deploying from its maiden fund. It invests seed capital of $300K - $500K in the first round, with larger follow-on capital in fast growing deserving portfolio companies. Along with idea stage investing, the fund participates in a select few growth stage opportunities, generally Series C and beyond.

About YES BANK

YES BANK is a 'Full Service Commercial 'Bank' providing a complete range of products, services and technology driven digital offerings, catering to Retail, MSME as well as corporate clients. YES BANK operates its Investment banking, Merchant banking & Brokerage businesses through YES SECURITIES, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank. Headquartered in Mumbai, it has a pan-India presence including an IBU at GIFT City, and a Representative Office in Abu Dhabi.

Yes Bank Acquires 24% Stake in Dish TV Post Invocation of Pledged Shares

Yes Bank said it has acquired over 24 per cent stake in Dish TV India following invocation of pledged shares due to debt default by the DTH service provider and other group firms.

Yes Bank Limited, pursuant to invocation of pledged shares, has acquired 44,53,48,990 equity shares of Dish TV India Limited constituting approximately 24.19 per cent of the post-issue paid-up share capital as at March 31, 2020, it said in a regulatory filing.

Shares were acquired on invocation of pledge subsequent to default/breach of terms of loan to Dish TV India Limited, it said.

Further, Yes Bank said there was default/breach of terms of credit facilities sanctioned by it to Essel Business Excellence Services, Essel Corporate Resources, Living Entertainment Enterprises, Last Mile Online, Pan India Network Infravest, RPW Projects Private, Mumbai WTR and Pan India Infraprojects.

The companies are part of the Subhash Chandra-led Essel Group.

Dish TV is a direct to home (DTH) entertainment service provider. It had a consolidated total income of Rs 6,218.28 crore as on March 31, 2019. PTI KPM

SBI to Own 49% Shares worth Rs 2,450 Cr in reconstructed Yes Bank

The State Bank of India (SBI) on Saturday said it will be issued 245-crore shares at a price of Rs 10 each for Rs 2,450 crore in Yes Bank.

These shares will translate into a 49 per cent stake into the reconstructed bank.

SBI shall not reduce its holding below 26 per cent before completion of three years from the date of infusion of the capital, the country's largest lender said in a statement.

It further said that the new board of Yes Bank will have CEO and MD, non-executive chairman and non-executive directors.

"All the employees of the reconstructed bank shall continue in its service with the
same remuneration and on the same terms and conditions... at least for a period of one year," SBI said. PTI KPM

YES Bank launches India's 1st E-Marketplace of Innovative Solutions Co-created with Startups

• Marketplace currently hosts 100+ solutions integrated with YES BANK APIs across sectors such as logistics, healthcare, agritech and ed-tech among others


• Creates a ‘one-stop-shop’ for cross sector innovations, co-created with startups enabling MSME and Corporate clients to explore multiple solutions for each use case, identify best fit, request demos of solutions and integrate these


• The Bank will also support customization of solutions and training of personnel, especially in MSME sector


• Platform also gives the opportunity for startups to jointly go to market with the Bank and scale their solution

YES BANK, India’s fourth largest private sector Bank announced the launch of ‘YES SCALE Marketplace’, an industry first online marketplace of innovative solutions, co-created with its APIs and startup partners across sectors. 

The platform eases the process for startups to jointly go-to-market with YES BANK, enabling them to explore ‘live’ use-cases, register their solution and further assist startups in completing their solutions with banking integrations (API Sandbox) to jointly go-to-market  with the Bank to 20K+ corporate & MSME clients. 



While digital solutions for business needs are available across sectors, businesses especially in the MSME segment find it tedious to discover solutions, understand fitment and compare various options. This platform creates a ‘one-stop-shop’ experience enabling businesses to not only view and discover multiple solutions but also explore them in detail through demos and integrate banking seamlessly on their platform. Designed to mimic an online marketplace, the platform completely eases the process of selecting and using solutions through a simple register, explore and ‘add to cart’ process.  

This platform builds on the Bank’s strategy of providing comprehensive technology solutions with integrated banking, thereby addressing the business needs of both Corporate and SME clients. This features 20+ solutions for each use case across five sectors, Supply Chain & Logistics, Clean energy, Agritech, Lifesciences/Healthtech and Ed-tech.  

Marketplace of Cross Sector Innovations with Plug and Play Banking for Clients

Launched in 2018 as a cross sector accelerator program, YES SCALE initially facilitated successful pilots of innovative startup led solutions for Corporate clients such as Mahindra & Mahindra, BigBasket, Schneider Electric, Godrej and ITC among others. Thereafter in early 2019, the program was further extended to the MSME segment with curated, banking integrated plug and play solutions across Ed-tech, Logistics and Clubs. These solutions include an AI enabled platform with integrated payments and collections for school management which has been deployed in 100+ schools, a fleet tracking platform with digital invoicing and collections deployed in 20+ client partners along with a Smart Hospital Management solution with booking, payments and collections among others.

YES SCALE Marketplace launch marks the next phase of the program, bringing together all 100+ solutions co-created by the Bank with startups on a single platform that helps Corporate & MSME businesses to discover solutions for their use cases, explore 20+ solutions for each use case and then finally identify solutions of their choice, all of which come with banking seamlessly integrated through APIs. 

To further build traction and usage of the solution marketplace, the bank is also hosting a series of exclusive showcases across the country. 

The YES SCALE Marketplace can be accessed at www.yesscale.com. YES BANK will continue to work with its customers, the startup ecosystem and ecosystem to continually expand use cases and curated solutions it offers basis feedback.

About YES BANK

YES BANK, India’s fourth largest private sector bank is a high quality, customer centric and service driven Bank. Since inception in 2004, YES BANK has grown into a ‘Full Service Commercial Bank’ providing a complete range of products, services and technology driven digital offerings, catering to corporate, MSME & retail customers. YES BANK operates its Investment banking, Merchant banking & Brokerage businesses through YES SECURITIES and its Mutual Fund business through YES Asset Management (India) Limited, both wholly owned subsidiaries of the Bank. Headquartered in Mumbai, it has a pan-India presence across all 28 states and 9 Union Territories in India including an IBU at GIFT City, and a Representative Office in Abu Dhabi.

Top Image - by Rohan Makhecha

YES BANK bets Big on AI; Partners Microsoft to Strengthen its AI Powered Banking Solutions

YES BANK, India’s fourth largest private sector Bank, has partnered with Microsoft to strengthen its first of its kind, AI enabled chatbot, YES ROBOT, with advanced NLP engine LUIS (Language Understanding Intelligent Service) and other cognitive services, capable of understanding and resolving the evolving banking needs of customers without the need for human intervention.

Built on Microsoft’s modular and customizable AI platform, the all new, reinvigorated YES ROBOT enables users to perform financial and non-financial banking transactions by employing conversational AI equipped with extensive financial knowledge, thereby relieving customers from the hassle of navigating through multiple web pages.

Commenting on the partnership, Ritesh Pai, Chief Digital Officer, YES BANK, said, “YES BANK has been one of the early adopters when it comes to leveraging machine learning and AI. Recognizing that chatbots would be game changers in the industry, providing major competitive advantage to banks, we had started working on automating several processes and service touch points through Bots as early as 2016. The reinvigoration of YES ROBOT in-house, using Microsoft’s cognitive services aims to further enhance customer service by personalizing interactions and reducing the time-of-first-response to just a few seconds”.

“The aim is to make the whole service experience more personalized and instant, so that the chatbot can evolve and operate as a full-fledged banking assistant in future,” adds Ritesh

Anup Purohit, Chief Information Officer, YES BANK, added, “We focused on building a holistic AI ecosystem equipped with NLP components, Machine Learning models and other AI services. YES ROBOT is a round-the-clock banking assistant developed by our in-house technology team using Microsoft Azure cognitive services. While customers can launch the chatbot on social media platforms such as Facebook, in future, we plan to integrate the bot and provide access through other channels.”

Meetul Patel, COO, Microsoft India, said, “YES BANK is taking a big step towards its vision of creating a bank of the future. This innovative solution leverages the latest technologies to help customers interact with the bank in new, more efficient, and scalable ways. Our teams have partnered to integrate Microsoft’s Azure Cognitive Services with existing systems to deliver this intelligent chatbot. It is one of YES BANK’s many innovations, and we are extremely proud to be a part of its journey to bring the best of technology to its customers."

A customer can apply for over 65 banking products, check his/her eligibility for a loan and then get serviced by a Relationship Manager after all the basic checks are done by the Bot. YES ROBOT can provide an indicative loan amount using Machine Learning (ML) and advanced credit scoring algorithms. One of the most pivotal features of this chatbot is the option to book fixed deposits (FDs) and recurring deposits (RDs) by simply conversing with it, without the need of registration or remembering passwords (only OTP based authentication is required). The Bot has been widely accepted by the Bank’s customers, testimony to which is Rs. 5.2 billion worth deposits booked through YES ROBOT since December, 2018. Even with human errors, the chatbot can identify the intent of the user with over 90% accuracy and over 8.3 million customer interactions have already been reported on YES ROBOT since its launch.

YES ROBOT’s additional disruptive industry-first features differentiates it from other Bank bots

• The chatbot allows customers to comprehensively manage their Credit Card, view summary, bill payment, reward points and international card usage


• Intuitive loan eligibility calculators understands customer’s unique requirements and provides them with an indicative loan amount. A lead ID is generated for eligible customers and real-time RM assistance is provided for further processing of loans


• Local deals and other m-commerce services such as hotel and bus ticket booking

Microsoft Azure’s cognitive services have enhanced the stability and capabilities of the YES ROBOT platform which includes efficiency in handling user query variations, accuracy in responding to user queries as well as user goal completion rate for transactions, thereby helping accelerate the speed of adding new features and time-to-market. These have also ensured that the platform is future-ready for integration with other cognitive tools and engines in a seamless plug & play manner.

Going forward, YES BANK plans to integrate the bot with services such as contextual & real-time transfer of chat from bot to the live agent of the Bank;; integration with different platforms and applications such as WhatsApp, Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri to provide the Bank’s services on IoT platforms for customers and other MS cognitive services & tools such as RPA, OCR etc. The Bank also plans to enable cross sell and acquisition services on YES ROBOT as a strategic tool to further empower the sales force.

Microsoft Cognitive Services

Microsoft Cognitive Services is a collection of intelligent APIs that allow systems to see, hear, speak, understand and interpret human needs using natural methods of communication. Developers can use these APIs to make their applications across platforms more intelligent, engaging and discoverable. Available at www.microsoft.com/cognitive, it includes APIs on

• Vision: From faces to feelings, allow apps to understand images and video


• Speech: Hear and speak to users by filtering noise, identifying speakers, and understanding intent


• Language: Process text and learn how to recognize what users want


• Knowledge: Tap into rich knowledge amassed from the web, academia, or your own data


• Search: Locate relevant information among billions of web pages, images, videos, and news with the power of Bing APIs

Yes bank Acquires 18.5% stake in Cox & Kings by Invoking Pledged Shares

Yes Bank on Friday said it has has acquired 18.55 per cent stake in Cox & Kings by invocation of pledged shares.

The bank has invoked pledge on 3.27 crore equity shares having nominal value of Rs 5 per share, constituting 18.55 per cent of the post-issue paid-up share capital, of Cox & Kings, Yes Bank said in a regulatory filing.

Cox & Kings Limited has a consolidated turnover revenue of Rs 5,693.5 crore as on March 31.

Besides, the bank invoked pledge on 34,080 equity shares having nominal value of Rs 10 per share, constituting 30 per cent of an unlisted company Ezeego One Travel & Tours Limited.

In another filing it said, the bank in ordinary course of its business continues to explore various means of raising capital or funds through issuance of securities to diverse set of investors in order to meet its business or regulatory requirements.

The statement was with regard to clarification on reports that TPG Capital, Advent International were in talks to infuse USD 350 million each in Yes Bank.

Asia's 1st Blockchain Digital Commercial Paper Issuance by Yes Bank, Vedanta and MonetaGo

Financial technology solutions provider MonetaGo has today announced that a commercial paper has been digitally issued in Asia for the first time using blockchain technology. MonetaGo completed this transaction through a partnership with banking services provided by YES Bank and the issuer Vedanta, a natural resources conglomerate.

India’s highly-regulated commercial paper market involves huge amount of paperwork to be prepared by the Issuer for every transaction.

Issuances are on the increase as more businesses manage their short term cash needs through this products however absence of a streamlined digital process makes this entire process cumbersome resulting in many man hours being wasted.

The transaction was delivered using Corda Enterprise technology from R3, along with a robust set of standardized workflows to deliver a solution that will rapidly scale across markets and geographies.

MonetaGo moved to Corda Enterprise in February 2019, joining R3’s growing ecosystem of over 300 diverse companies utilising Corda to build applications for a range of uses across different industries.

Speaking on the implementation, Asit Oberoi, Senior Group President and Global Head Transaction Banking Group and Chief Experience Officer, YES BANK, said,” YES BANK is proud to implement Asia’s first Commercial Paper issuance over Blockchain technology for the Vedanta Limited. This solution is a yet another milestone in YES BANK’s endeavor to remain ahead of the innovation curve & enhance end client experience. Apart from reducing operational risk and costs, this technology solution lays the foundation for a more transparent and efficient process to cater to India’s growing Commercial Paper market.”

GR Arun Kumar, Group CFO, Vedanta, notes that “Vedanta will benefit from the digitized and simplified workflow which shortens the laborious process running into hours to just few minutes and complete transparency that this platform offers to all stakeholders.”

MonetaGo CEO Jesse Chenard, said: “This is a real milestone for our company, for the technology, and for the Indian Banking Community.”

“We’ve been working with YES BANK and Vedanta very closely and have been continuously impressed with their ability to leverage technology to bring about large scale change. These are big corporations with the ability to move like start-ups, something very rare indeed especially when dealing with a market this size.”

David E. Rutter, CEO of R3, comments: “The issuance of these instruments is a complex process and current models have long been recognized as being inefficient. Enabling parties to collaborate and maintain accurate shared records of the underlying agreements is precisely what Corda is great at doing. This marks a big step forward for the industry and demonstrates clear advantages of over existing processes.”

MonetaGo provides enterprise solutions for financial operations. The MonetaGo product suite is compliant with existing regulations and designed to improve the efficiency and security of financial products.

Built to support multiple technologies and interoperate seamlessly with existing financial infrastructure, institutions can integrate MonetaGo's products with minimal disruption and cost. MonetaGo is involved in a number of distributed ledger technology consortia and alliances including the R3 Partnership Network and the Hyperledger project.

Yes Bank Launches New Accelerator Programme for Startups in Smart City, Cleantech, Agritech, Lifesciences Tech and EdTech

After tasting success with its fintech accelerator, Yes Bank is now set to launch multi sector accelerator program.
YES SCALE will offer a 15 week program for startups in the areas of smart city, clean tech, Agritech, Lifesciences tech and education tech.

The bank will invest close to Rs 4.5 crore towards this program which includes the grants for pilots.

“The success of 2 cohorts of YES Fintech have demonstrated our strengths in partnering with fintechs to co-create industry changing banking solutions. Now, with YES SCALE, we will replicate this model across our focus sectors to build deep interventions jointly with our corporate clients. This is fully in line with the Bank’s vision since inception — which was to cater to the sunrise sectors of India's economy using knowledge banking to deliver impactful ecosystem solutions,” said Rana Kapoor, founder & CEO, Yes Bank. The bank will partner with global accelerator partners and corporates to run the accelerator like ITC, Amul, MTR Foods, Artha Venture Partners and Omnivore Partners.

“YES SCALE: AGRITECH - will help us align digital technology solutions to address key business challenges in our business model and also scale up the startup ecosystem,” said Sanjay Sharma, CEO, MTR Foods.

The bank is in discussion with anchor partners across identified sectors. “Our partners will create use cases and help understand what part of their business can be improvised using tech. They will also dedicate leaders to handhold and be mentors besides creating a sandbox environment for testing. Many are willing to coinvest as well,” said Amit Shah, head, strategy and fintech, Yes Bank. Shah adds that while several companies are open to and keen on working with startups, not all have the wherewithal to run a full fledged program. “We are happy to allocate financial and managerial resources to create such a platform. We believe tech can impact these sectors with immediate effect and have strong social impact,” said Shah.

Rs 2.5-3 crore has been carved out of the bank’s CSR funds which will be allocated towards funding for proof of concepts. The bank will not take an equity stake in lieu of the grants.

As per the bank’s research report IFOR 2018 over 80% tech startups in India do not receive funding for pilots and this is a major deterrent for innovation. YES SCALE will provide a pilot grant of upto Rs 20 lakh.

Startups will also get access to over $1 million support through cloud credits, cloud telephony, SaaS invoice discounting etc.

While Agritech has been soft-launched last Friday, other sectors will be rolled out in the next 3-4 weeks. The program will combine physical and virtual presence to work with startups.

In January 2017, Yes Bank had launched business accelerator program for fintech startups in collaboration with T-Hub - India’s fastest growing start-up engine catalyzing innovation, scale and deal flow and Anthill and LetsTalkPayments, a global platform for financial technology (Fintech) insights is the Knowledge partner.

Source - Times of India

Yes Bank Launches New Accelerator Programme for Startups in Smart City, Cleantech, Agritech, Lifesciences Tech and EdTech

After tasting success with its fintech accelerator, Yes Bank is now set to launch multi sector accelerator program.
YES SCALE will offer a 15 week program for startups in the areas of smart city, clean tech, Agritech, Lifesciences tech and education tech.

The bank will invest close to Rs 4.5 crore towards this program which includes the grants for pilots.

“The success of 2 cohorts of YES Fintech have demonstrated our strengths in partnering with fintechs to co-create industry changing banking solutions. Now, with YES SCALE, we will replicate this model across our focus sectors to build deep interventions jointly with our corporate clients. This is fully in line with the Bank’s vision since inception — which was to cater to the sunrise sectors of India's economy using knowledge banking to deliver impactful ecosystem solutions,” said Rana Kapoor, founder & CEO, Yes Bank. The bank will partner with global accelerator partners and corporates to run the accelerator like ITC, Amul, MTR Foods, Artha Venture Partners and Omnivore Partners.

“YES SCALE: AGRITECH - will help us align digital technology solutions to address key business challenges in our business model and also scale up the startup ecosystem,” said Sanjay Sharma, CEO, MTR Foods.

The bank is in discussion with anchor partners across identified sectors. “Our partners will create use cases and help understand what part of their business can be improvised using tech. They will also dedicate leaders to handhold and be mentors besides creating a sandbox environment for testing. Many are willing to coinvest as well,” said Amit Shah, head, strategy and fintech, Yes Bank. Shah adds that while several companies are open to and keen on working with startups, not all have the wherewithal to run a full fledged program. “We are happy to allocate financial and managerial resources to create such a platform. We believe tech can impact these sectors with immediate effect and have strong social impact,” said Shah.

Rs 2.5-3 crore has been carved out of the bank’s CSR funds which will be allocated towards funding for proof of concepts. The bank will not take an equity stake in lieu of the grants.

As per the bank’s research report IFOR 2018 over 80% tech startups in India do not receive funding for pilots and this is a major deterrent for innovation. YES SCALE will provide a pilot grant of upto Rs 20 lakh.

Startups will also get access to over $1 million support through cloud credits, cloud telephony, SaaS invoice discounting etc.

While Agritech has been soft-launched last Friday, other sectors will be rolled out in the next 3-4 weeks. The program will combine physical and virtual presence to work with startups.

In January 2017, Yes Bank had launched business accelerator program for fintech startups in collaboration with T-Hub - India’s fastest growing start-up engine catalyzing innovation, scale and deal flow and Anthill and LetsTalkPayments, a global platform for financial technology (Fintech) insights is the Knowledge partner.

Source - Times of India

Lendingkart Finance Raises Rs 50 Cr from Yes Bank

Lendingkart Finance Limited, today announced that it has raised fresh debt funding from YES BANK, India’s 4th largest private sector bank. The funds will be utilized to further build the loan book as the company expands their reach to SMEs operating in tier 3 and below cities facing lack of formal credit facilities.

With the vision of driving inclusiveness and financial sustainability across India, YES BANK is actively engaging the unbanked and under-banked population in India. It uses sophisticated financial tools and has adopted advanced technologies that are traditionally available only to big businesses, to develop offerings for the marginalized poor.

Speaking on the latest development, Harshvardhan Lunia, CEO and Co-founder, Lendingkart Technologies said “At Lendingkart Finance, as we expand our reach to meet the growing needs of millions of small businesses in the country, we are extremely pleased to have YES BANK on-board supporting our vision. YES BANK is a dynamic and innovative institution with sound knowledge of the Indian financial sector while also undertaking substantial work towards promoting FinTech in the country. We firmly believe that our relationship will prove to be mutually advantageous, complementing each other’s strength as we drive true financial inclusion.”

Aligned with the Government of India’s agenda towards building financial inclusion, Lendingkart Finance is working towards ensuring seamless availability of working capital financing for small and medium businesses across the country that do not have access to traditional credit avenues. Till date, more than 11,000 loans have been disbursed by Lendingkart Finance to over 7500+ SMEs present across India.

Lendingkart Finance uses a robust in-house technology tools based on big data analytics and machine learning algorithm to evaluate its client’s business. Over 4,000 data variables are assessed to determine the financial health, comparative market performance, social reliability & compliance to statutory requirements for determining the credit worthiness of borrowers. Once the evaluation process is completed, loan amount is disbursed to the deserving borrower within 72 hours from the time of application.

Lendingkart Finance has expanded its operations pan India and is present in over 650 cities across 29 states and 7 UTs, offering quick and easy collateral-free loans with minimal paperwork. Till date, over 200,000 SMEs have reached out to Lendingkart Finance for their credit requirement.

YES Bank Invests Rs 50 Lakh In Antimicrobial Lingerie Startup; To Fund More Startups At EDII

Yes Bank, which has been recognised amongst the Top and Fastest Growing Banks in various Indian Banking League Tables by prestigious media houses and Global Advisory Firms, has recently entered into a tie-up with Entrepreneurship education and incubator, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII) so as to provide financial aid to startups being supported by the institution.

In addition to announcing the tie-up, the two parties have also announced the name of the first startup that is being supported by Yes Bank under the initiative. The bank, which has a mission of “Building the Finest Quality Bank of the World in India” by 2020, has decided to provide a whopping Rs 50 lakh loan to EDII supported startup, Green Ideology, under the Credit Guaratee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) programme.

Started four years in 2013, Green Ideology by Abhishek Lodha and Neerja Lakhani has gained fame in the startup market by introducing India to its first ever premium organic antimicrobial lingerie brand ‘Inner Sense’.

The founders were inspired to start 'Inner Sense’ seeing the whole organic movement spreading through India where everyone wanted to live with organically prepared items in order to avoid getting in contact with any harmful chemicals. With Inner Sense, every Indian woman can wear lingerie that is organic, anti-odour andanti-microbial. The lingerie brand also carries a special Inner Sense-Maternity line that resolves to provide fresh colors, prints and styles in super soft nursing bras to relieve moms from boring ones and celebrate motherhood with them.

Gujarat-based Green Ideology had previously been provided a grant of Rs 5 lakh from the Gujarat government to start its operations and launch its product range in the market. This was achieved by the startup by acting through its nodal institute EDII. Now with the Rs 50-lakh debt funding from YES Bank in hand, the startup aspires to scale its business to new heights by increasing its width and depth in products and categories. The lingerie brand, which currently has around 60 styles is selling its products on its own e-commerce portal as well as on all major e-commerce sites in India. It is also selling products in the US, UK, and Malaysia.

Speaking on the association with Yes Bank, Dr. Sunil Shukla, Director, EDII said, "For many years, EDII has been mentoring and supporting start-ups, especially those founded by alumni of our institute. But, our ability to lend to these start-ups was minuscule as we are an educational institute. Now, in association with YES Bank, EDII is in a position to provide debt to more start-ups whom we support in various ways."

Yes Bank, on the other hand, had also recognised the importance of startups for the growth of the Indian economy long ago and started its own YES Head-Startup programme. Speaking on the tie-up with EDII, Rana Kapoor, Managing Director and CEO, YES Bank said, "As an extension of our YES Head-Startup programme, we are pleased to collaborate with EDII to help start-ups scale up and grow rapidly, thereby, creating a multiplier effect on the Indian economy."

Meet 12 Blockchain Startups Selected for Yes Bank’s First Fintech Accelerator

Earlier in the year, we broke you the news about how YES BANK has launched YES FINTECH – a unique business accelerator program in collaboration with T-Hub and LetsTalkPayments (Read Here). And now, within just two months of being live, the accelerator has announced the names of the 12 selected startups that are all set to join its inaugural cohort.

The accelerator received 753 Applications from 18 countries around the world and after a two month long application and screening process, it selected its Top 35 startups. These startups were then invited for an in-person demo, selection process to the YES FINTECH Accelerator Management Team. After this, the number was brought down to Top 12.

The 15 week Cohort, which launched on March 20, 2017, will include 3 onsite weeks in Mumbai and Hyderabad and the 12 offsite weeks where the startup can continue to work from its home location.

The selected startups are from fintech domains like cyber security, payments, lending and alternative scoring models, insta-credit, risk intelligence, capital markets and enterprise software and cutting across technologies like blockchain, big data and analytics, biometric and alternative authentication, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, API based SaaS solutions, chatbots etc.

Over the 15 weeks cohort, the start-ups will receive:

• Mentorship and guidance from industry experts on how to create a scalable business from their products and deploy their innovative technologies within a collaborative framework.

• Integrating their technologies into YES Bank’s ecosystem through- digital infrastructure support (API Banking, BIN Sponsorship, etc.), access to funding (through the Bank/ its network of Investors, across PE/ VCs) and advisory on Go-To-Market strategies and market penetration.

• Access to funding of upto USD 1 million through VC partners without any equity commitment.

• Access to YES BANK Network of 2 million + retail, 10,000 + SME and 5000 + corporate customers.

The 12 fintech startups, selected to the inaugural cohort are:

RedCarpet: Founded in the year 2015, the startup lends to customers to finance their online purchases - ecommerce, groceries, travel, etc. In India, credit and finance companies are able to service less than 3% of the customer base because there is no data, no widespread credit bureaus to profile and score customers. The Y Combinator summer 2015 graduate claims to have an access to much more data which it puts to use to service customers who never had any access to credit before.

Numberz: The startup is working towards simplifying the process of running businesses by seamlessly integrating business workflows with banking services. The startup claims that it offers business owners a common-sense approach to cash flow management.

Morph.Ai: Morph.ai is an end-to-end solution that aims to empower companies to make their services available over websites, apps and messengers by making use of natural language understanding and artificial intelligence (AI) powered chatbots. A part of Nasscom 10000 startups, Morph.ai helps businesses in making, deploying and training their own chatbots so as to better engage with their customers. In what could be considered as a big achievement, the startup is currently powering Manchester City chatbot.

Anytime Loan: An alternate lending platform, which offers its consumer loans and MSME business loans using Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Predictive Science tools in order to create Alternative Scoring and KYC models.

Click & Pay: As the name suggests, the startups enables its users to make payments across offline stores, at restaurants and for all transportation means by offering them deals before they make the payment. It provides users easy payment options by making transactions cashless, secure and flexible.

Authme: The startup is making an innovative use of Artificial Intelligence to replace passwords with unique pattern technology and bring security and UX together.

Signzy: The startup makes use of a unique combination of Artificial Intelligence and advanced cryptography to provide a digital on-boarding solution for banks, NBFCs and several other financial institutions. The startup aims to make digital regulatory processes secure, simpler and more compliant than ever.

The year 2016 was an extremely successful one for the startup as it won several laurels and awards. It won the Payment System Innovation Contest 2016 IDRBT competition, which was sponsored by RBI and also became one of the 400 startups recognized by DIPP.

SoCash: A cash management platform for banks, it creates small network of merchants in order to make cash accessible beyond ATMs.

R1mo: The startup claims to be the first FX B2B marketplace in India that is making use of blockchain technology to offer its clients a customised distributed financial technology solution that interfaces with existing systems/processes for cross-border payments

FRS Labs: A Bengaluru-based startup, FRS Labs is working on fraud detection, cyber security and identity verification using Artificial Intelligence and biometrics.

Rupeeseed: The 2011 born startups provides capital market solutions for retail and institutional trading using robo advisory and analytics engine.

Paykey: An Israel-based startup, Paykey is working towards making banking as simple and frictionless as possible through an integrated in-app keyboard which gives users an option to make payments while using any app.

Meet 12 Blockchain Startups Selected for Yes Bank’s First Fintech Accelerator

Earlier in the year, we broke you the news about how YES BANK has launched YES FINTECH – a unique business accelerator program in collaboration with T-Hub and LetsTalkPayments (Read Here). And now, within just two months of being live, the accelerator has announced the names of the 12 selected startups that are all set to join its inaugural cohort.

The accelerator received 753 Applications from 18 countries around the world and after a two month long application and screening process, it selected its Top 35 startups. These startups were then invited for an in-person demo, selection process to the YES FINTECH Accelerator Management Team. After this, the number was brought down to Top 12.

The 15 week Cohort, which launched on March 20, 2017, will include 3 onsite weeks in Mumbai and Hyderabad and the 12 offsite weeks where the startup can continue to work from its home location.

The selected startups are from fintech domains like cyber security, payments, lending and alternative scoring models, insta-credit, risk intelligence, capital markets and enterprise software and cutting across technologies like blockchain, big data and analytics, biometric and alternative authentication, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, API based SaaS solutions, chatbots etc.

Over the 15 weeks cohort, the start-ups will receive:

• Mentorship and guidance from industry experts on how to create a scalable business from their products and deploy their innovative technologies within a collaborative framework.

• Integrating their technologies into YES Bank’s ecosystem through- digital infrastructure support (API Banking, BIN Sponsorship, etc.), access to funding (through the Bank/ its network of Investors, across PE/ VCs) and advisory on Go-To-Market strategies and market penetration.

• Access to funding of upto USD 1 million through VC partners without any equity commitment.

• Access to YES BANK Network of 2 million + retail, 10,000 + SME and 5000 + corporate customers.

The 12 fintech startups, selected to the inaugural cohort are:

RedCarpet: Founded in the year 2015, the startup lends to customers to finance their online purchases - ecommerce, groceries, travel, etc. In India, credit and finance companies are able to service less than 3% of the customer base because there is no data, no widespread credit bureaus to profile and score customers. The Y Combinator summer 2015 graduate claims to have an access to much more data which it puts to use to service customers who never had any access to credit before.

Numberz: The startup is working towards simplifying the process of running businesses by seamlessly integrating business workflows with banking services. The startup claims that it offers business owners a common-sense approach to cash flow management.

Morph.Ai: Morph.ai is an end-to-end solution that aims to empower companies to make their services available over websites, apps and messengers by making use of natural language understanding and artificial intelligence (AI) powered chatbots. A part of Nasscom 10000 startups, Morph.ai helps businesses in making, deploying and training their own chatbots so as to better engage with their customers. In what could be considered as a big achievement, the startup is currently powering Manchester City chatbot.

Anytime Loan: An alternate lending platform, which offers its consumer loans and MSME business loans using Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Predictive Science tools in order to create Alternative Scoring and KYC models.

Click & Pay: As the name suggests, the startups enables its users to make payments across offline stores, at restaurants and for all transportation means by offering them deals before they make the payment. It provides users easy payment options by making transactions cashless, secure and flexible.

Authme: The startup is making an innovative use of Artificial Intelligence to replace passwords with unique pattern technology and bring security and UX together.

Signzy: The startup makes use of a unique combination of Artificial Intelligence and advanced cryptography to provide a digital on-boarding solution for banks, NBFCs and several other financial institutions. The startup aims to make digital regulatory processes secure, simpler and more compliant than ever.

The year 2016 was an extremely successful one for the startup as it won several laurels and awards. It won the Payment System Innovation Contest 2016 IDRBT competition, which was sponsored by RBI and also became one of the 400 startups recognized by DIPP.

SoCash: A cash management platform for banks, it creates small network of merchants in order to make cash accessible beyond ATMs.

R1mo: The startup claims to be the first FX B2B marketplace in India that is making use of blockchain technology to offer its clients a customised distributed financial technology solution that interfaces with existing systems/processes for cross-border payments

FRS Labs: A Bengaluru-based startup, FRS Labs is working on fraud detection, cyber security and identity verification using Artificial Intelligence and biometrics.

Rupeeseed: The 2011 born startups provides capital market solutions for retail and institutional trading using robo advisory and analytics engine.

Paykey: An Israel-based startup, Paykey is working towards making banking as simple and frictionless as possible through an integrated in-app keyboard which gives users an option to make payments while using any app.

Crownit Partners with YES Bank to Introduce Unique Digitised Meal Voucher System

YES BANK has partnered with Crownit, the leading merchant discovery and privileges platform, to contribute towards making the vision of a digitally-driven Indian Economy a tangible reality. An innovative, digitised system for companies has been devised to distribute meal vouchers to employees and leverage the ubiquity of smartphones. Now employers can get rid of the shortcomings of traditional paper-based coupons, instead sending out vouchers to all staff, with just one click distribution.

The revolutionary system by Crownit also includes an app-based digital meal wallet linked with a Meal Debit MasterCard which enables employees to avail unlimited food, beverage & grocery redemption options, both online and offline.

While eliminating the hassle of managing and distribution of paper currency for the employer, there is an integrated dashboard which allows them to update employee details and distribute meal vouchers with a single command. For employees, the solution promises ease of access and use, along with tax savings ranging up to INR 10,000 per employee per year.

The secured pre-paid instruments with security features and app-based digital meal wallet are accepted at the largest merchant base of 2 lakh plus retail establishments pan India. Cashbacks and Weekly Rush tickets on meal voucher are an additional layer of benefits bundled in for employees. Adding further advantages to the program, Crownit offers weekly prizes like iPhones, Amazon Kindles, branded gift vouchers, international trips and much more on meal expenses.

Commenting on the tie-up, Sameer Grover, Founder & CEO, Crownit, said, “At Crownit, we aim to make all lifestyle spending by users absolutely seamless, in addition to making expenses rewarding by means of cashback points. Voucher distribution by employers is a largely neglected sector of expenditure despite the fact that almost all large companies give out meal coupons to employees. Not only does our program make this process much smoother, but the meal vouchers are all RBI and income tax compliant, fulfilling all regulatory norms. All funds deposited for Crownit meal vouchers will be directly deposited to YES BANK.”

Ritesh Pai, Senior President and Country Head – Digital Banking said, “YES BANK has always been at the forefront of digital payments for which we have partnered with Crownit enabling us to focus on contributing towards digitally driven economy whilst driving delightful customer experiences. This system is a step towards paperless transactions thus being environment friendly along with simplifying the complicated process of distribution and maintenance for employers while delivering multiple benefits for their employees.”

This digitised, app-based program cuts through the hassle of distributing meal coupons by enabling one-click disbursement of corporate vouchers. While employers can instantaneously transfer vouchers to all employees; who in turn benefit by having the coupons secured on their app and Meal Debit card along with the additional advantages which the program provides. The launch of this new system is thus a win-win for all.

YES BANK Partners With ToneTag for Sound Based Payments on YES PAY Digital Wallet

YES BANK, India’s fifth largest private sector bank has tied up with ToneTag, a proximity communication company to integrate and deploy ToneTag sound based contactless payments on their mobile wallet YES PAY. The technology will allow YES PAY wallet users to make ‘cardless’ payments at merchant outlets through their mobile phone. The live demonstration of Yes Pay app using ToneTag Sound wave technology , was showcased at Nasscom Product Conclave 2016 in Bengaluru yesterday.

YES PAY wallet is YES BANK’s digital wallet that enables social media and smartphone users to send and receive money, split bills, budget, recharge mobile or DTH subscriptions, make utility bill payments and shop online. Any smartphone user can download the wallet app and register seamlessly ToneTag is a technology that enables sound based communication. The Software Development Kit (SDK) only requires a speaker and a microphone to work. It can utilize the in-built mic or speaker of any device to enable data transfer through soundwaves and hence it supports most existing devices such as PCs, POS, EDC devices and mobile phones including feature phones and wearables.

Since the ToneTag patented Software Development Kit (SDK) supports any hardware, the only prerequisite is the integration of the ToneTag SDK at both merchant (POS or Mobile devices) and customer interaction points (Mobile apps). The SDK contains features such as patented noise filters, three levels of encryption, tokenization, white box cryptography and multifactor authentication to ensure security and reliability.

Payments through ToneTag allow businesses to streamline their checkout process by providing a seamless transaction experience for both the customer and the retailers. ToneTag delivers unparalleled convenience to the customer as one can pay in-app at any physical location with just a click of a button.
Since the technology is software only, and can be deployed very easily as an app download or update.It further advances ToneTag drive to reduce cash usage and promote a better payment experience for all.

Ritesh Pai, Senior President & Country Head– Digital Banking at YES BANK, said – “Contactless payments based on sound tones is something we haven’t seen before and is a very interesting concept brought forth by ToneTag. As IoT sees greater investment, consumers will become increasingly reliant on contactless payments , ToneTag is our bet at making YES PAY Wallet future-ready. We are bullish about our alliance with them as we continue to strive in making payments seamless for end users.”

He further added, “YES PAY Wallet is an innovative product for smartphone users with features such as social media integration pushing the digital divide. ToneTag is thrilled about the partnership with YES BANK to provide their users with our payment technology.”

“With ToneTag, YES Pay Wallet users can enjoy an NFC like payments experience without the associated hardware dependencies, which is a significant improvement over current technologies such as QR codes that are being used in the market for in-store payments,” said Kumar Abhishek, CEO, ToneTag, in a statement.

Yes Bank To Setup CoE For FinTech Startups At T-Hub, Hyderabad

T-Hub, India’s largest incubator for startups, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with YES Bank, India’s fifth largest private sector bank, here on Monday on setting up a world-class centre of excellence (CoE) for FinTech startups at T-Hub located in Hyderabad.

The MoU signed is a first of its kind in nature which will enable the Indian startups across segments, with primary focus on financial technology (FinTech) space.

YES BANK - @THubHyd MoU will create a conducive business environment & support system for #FinTech #startups. pic.twitter.com/t44P83yoxn

— YES BANK (@YESBANK) April 4, 2016

T-Hub's association with Yes Bank will also help create a conducive business environment and support system for a large number of fin-tech startups. In addition, YES Bank will offer its various products, payment gateways and open APIs to the startup community.

Yes Bank, CISCO and ParadigmIT were among different companies which signed MoUs with the Telangana government, and its arms T-Hub and Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK) at the launch of state's new Information and Communication Technology policy and four other subsidiary policies.

Ritesh Pai, senior president and country head (digital banking) of YES Bank, said, “YES Bank has been in the forefront of revolutionising the Indian fin-tech startup segment. Currently, our nation holds a range of innovative fin-tech startups that are working in areas such as payment processing to reduce frauds, create newer channels for savings and investments, financial planning and analytics, which are superior enablers of the large Indian banking industry.

We are also happy to mentor the fin-tech startups by offering subject matter expertise, intelligence and knowledge driven financial solutions. Apart from fin-tech, YES BANK will also work closely with startups in segments such as agri-tech, health care, e-commerce, etc."

"At T-Hub, we encourage not only startups to innovate but also aim to create an environment for them to further fuel their innovative minds. With these partnerships, we hope there will be more research going on at T-Hub that paves the way for ideas and innovations that will spark a change," Jay Krishnan, CEO of T-Hub, said.

Under another MoU, Microsoft India will offer Microsoft office Specialist certification programmes to educators and students at registered colleges of TASK.

CISCO and ParadigmIT will also set up smart cities centre of excellence at T-Hub. They will set up a Proof of Concept (PoC) of smart parking and smart lighting solutions. The two companies will work with companies and startups in developing innovative solutions using Internet of Things.

HPE will set up its innovation centre/lab infrastructure to develop, test and pilot innovative technology enabled ideas at T-Hub.