Asia

In the next phase of India’s push to diminish the country’s heavy reliance on cash, the Reserve Bank of India has approved the rollout of a national electronic bill-payment system.

Next month, India Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government will begin amassing a warehouse of virtual information collected not just from traditional sources like banks but also from social media sites, as it looks to match residents’ spending patterns with income declarations, said people familiar with the matter.

At least one winner has emerged from India’s crackdown on so-called black money: the country’s richest banker.

Starbucks has hit a mobile payments milestone, with 30% of all U.S. transactions now coming through mobile, and to smooth operations surrounding its popular Mobile Order & Pay service, the company is introducing digital-ordering specialists at its busiest stores.

Amazon.com Inc. is kicking off in Singapore with its most aggressive service yet, offering the Prime Now two-hour delivery service on everything from chilled Tiger beer to Samsung mobile phones.

Snapdeal’s co-founders are resisting the latest acquisition bid from rival Flipkart Online Services Pvt. and the company’s board plans to let all shareholders vote on the offer to reach a final resolution, according to people familiar with the matter.

Visa is developing its first international transaction processing centers — one in the U.K. and one in Singapore — on the heels of other moves to accelerate digital payments growth globally.

Ant Financial’s Alipay has formed a partnership with a large Malaysian bank, enabling the bank to advance its own mobile payments services using Alipay’s platform.

A recurring challenge for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is how to make them work in the real world. A Singapore-based startup says the answer is its Visa card.

Paytm Ecommerce Pvt., the latest entrant into India’s online retailing market, is taking a hard line with suspect merchants to avoid backer Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s reputation as a haven for fakes.