Boarding passes may soon be passé; Ola, Uber slash driver pay

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You may not need a boarding pass the next time you fly. After doing away with hand baggage tags at about 12 airports — and all airports by year’s end — the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) is now mulling to replace the issuance of boarding pass with a biometric-based “express check-in” system. “The Hyderabad airport is the only airport in the country that is totally biometric. We are trying to explore this system for all airports," CISF Director General OP Singh told Press Trust of India. The new system may eventually be deployed to all 59 airports guarded by the CISF.

The Ola-Uber duopoly is hitting drivers where it hurts the most. The drivers’ take-home pay has slid by a third in the last year as the two companies are on a cost-cutting spree, according to research by consultancy firm Red Seer. Average driver income, including incentives, stood at ?21,000 per month in Q2, when it was ?31,000 to ?32,000 in the comparable year-ago period. Many drivers were lured to work for the two cab aggregators by their once-handsome incentive structure. But with the funding environment becoming tight, the two companies are now focusing on improving margins.

Small businesses have an extra two weeks to sign up to pay GST at a flat rate. The simpler ‘composition scheme’, which the GST Network said will remain open until Sept 30, applies to traders with annual revenue up to ?75 lakh. Under it, traders pay a rate of 0.5%, manufacturers 1% and restaurant 2.5%. They can also file returns quarterly, and not monthly. It’s not only advantageous to small businesses; the lesser requirements will relieve the underlying GST infrastructure. The government has admitted that glitches in the GSTN have delayed payments and filing of returns. Infosys, the GSTN contractor, has been given a month to fix various drawbacks plaguing the system.

India can pass Germany and Japan to become the world’s third-largest economy in nominal GDP by 2028, an HSBC report predicts. But to get there, it needs to be consistent in reforms, focus more on the social sector and up the ease of doing business. For the prediction to come true, India’s GDP would have to rise to $7 trillion from $2.3 trillion last year. Remember, India is already the world’s third-largest economy in purchasing power parity terms. The prediction comes even as India lost the “fastest-growing economy” tag to China and has been lagging in GDP terms for two consecutive quarters. Although the introduction of GST this year will hurt the country’s GDP growth, the brokerage says sustainable recovery will start next year.

Google’s mystery product is out and it’s indeed a payments app. Google Tez links to a user’s bank account and allows them to transfer money, receive payments and pay for shopping. Tez supports local languages such as Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil and Telugu, besides English. It will compete with apps such as Paytm and Mobikwik, but unlike them won’t require users to pre-load their e-wallets with money. The emergence of new payment apps is in line with the government’s drive to push digital transactions, a move that started with last-year’s demonetization experiment.

Idea of the Day: For employees to feel comfortable making mistakes and taking risks in the workplace, managers have to create the right environment, says leadership expert Britt Andreatta.

“An employee is a lot like a tree—it needs healthy soil in which to grow. And it’s the manager’s daily words and actions that are the soil from which the tree will thrive or wither.”

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— Nirajita Banerjee / Share this using #DailyRundownIndia