In this era, where the entire world is suffering from COVID-19 pandemic, cash is no longer a king. According to WHO (World health organization), the novel corona virus may spread through cash payments, debit Card and credit card payments. As per a scientific paper published, the virus outbreak found the virus can live on cardboard for up to 24 hours and up to three days on plastic and stainless steel. Banknote avoidance is happening in the U.S., South Korea, Japan and Iran. Germany is the cash loving economy and it has also switch to contactless payment. In India when the corona virus is still in the early phase, this is the right time to adopt the contactless payment as compared to cashless payments. Hence, it becomes essential to promote contactless transaction as compared to currency notes or cashless transactions.

CASHLESS VERSUS CONTACTLESS PAYMENT:

Mostly people take cashless and contactless payment as interchangeable term. But there is lot of difference between cashless payment and contactless payment.

Any type of payment that is made without using cash is considered as Cashless payment methods. The examples are credit card payments, Bank transfers, debit card payments, mobile payments, and digital wallets. To complete the cashless purchase, the customer doesn’t need to have any cash.

Contactless payments are those where debit cards or credit cards that either use near-field communication (NFC) or radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. In contactless payment, no PIN or signature for card is required to make the payment — you can simply tap and go. One needs not to do swiping or inserting your card in any POS machine or ATM, you simply can just wave the card near the reader to complete your payment.

RBI INITIATIVE FOR CONTACTLESS PAYMENT:

In our dream to build a feasible digital world and to come alive, wireless technologies always have a critical role to play. In India, we have reached to the next level of innovation in fintech domain. Any full proved payment method should have following three features:

Accessibility and interoperability: Accepted anywhere and offers multiple uses

Convenience of transaction: Clutter free smooth gesture, like tap and go

Speed of transaction: local secure processing with batch synchronization.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) took the first step in 2019 to promote contactless payment. Now for transactions less than Rs 2,000, the customer can do a payment within a fraction of seconds.

CONTACTLESS CARDS IN INDIA

Mastercard Tap & Go: Mastercard offers Contactless Credit card or Debit Card partnering with almost all Indian Private and PSU banks.
Visa payWave: Visa PayWave also offers Tap & Go contactless payments and the card also globally accepted.
Rupay Contactless Card: Developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), It is an Indian alternative of global card issuing brands such as Visa or Mastercard.
Paytm- Contactless Card: Paytm also offers a Contactless payment card, named as Taptopay. The card can be issued at designated venues at the time of ticket purchase or online tickets on Paytm.
National Common Mobility Card (NCMC): The NCMC card is a Debit or Credit card that can be used to make payment for transport anywhere in the country, like Metro, Bus, sub-urban railways, toll-plaza, parking, etc. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has released Contactless smart card launched on 4 March 2019. NCMC is maintained by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and it is also Rupay Powered. The RFID reader is developed by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and NCMC is also partnering with Indian Banks.

CONTACTLESS PAYMENTS APPS IN INDIA

Contactless Payments Apps work similarly to contactless Debit or Credit card, where you don’t have to carry physical cards, instead your smartphone works as your Contactless Payment Card. Currently, Samsung Pay is technically the only App operates using the near-field communication (NFC) Payment technology. However there are few more Contactless Payments Apps in India you can install on your smartphones.

Samsung Pay
Google Pay
Pockets by ICICI Bank
Ultracash
PhonePe
Mobikwik
Yono by SBI
HDFC PayZapp
BHIM Axis Pay
My FASTag App

Contactless Payments can turn the face of India’s Digital Payment Systems. The question comes that how will you know that your card is supporting Contactless Payments or not. In order to identify, you will find a symbol similar to Wi-Fi at any side of your Debit or Credit Card. Indian are still depending on physical cash for doing Low-Value retail transactions. With the acceptance of several Contactless Payments Apps and Govt. of India’s thrust on the “Digital India” campaign, we definitely expect a low spread of COVID-19 in our nation through currency.

Bitcoin & Litecoin: A contentious bid

Faculty, IILM Institute for Higher Education30 AprilDr. Shraddha Mishraall about bitcoin, Bitcoin, BITCOIN - HOW DOES IT WORK, Bitcoin & Litecoin, BITCOIN PRICE HISTORY, Litecoin, VIRTUAL CURRENCY, WHAT IS CRYPTOCURRENCY, WHAT IS CRYPTOCURRENCY OR VIRTUAL CURRENCY

INTRODUCTION
Bitcoin has been in news for a couple of years now.If you are fascinated by virtual reality or virtual gaming, you will be excited to know about virtual currency. What is virtual currency? Can one feel this currency? Where do you get this type currency? Let’s find out more about this novel technology by reading this article on Bitcoin & Litecoin: A Contentious Bid.

“Virtual currencies, perhaps most notably Bitcoin, have captured the imagination of some, struck fear among others, and confused the heck out of the rest of us.” – Thomas Carper, US-Senator

WHAT IS CRYPTOCURRENCY OR VIRTUAL CURRENCY?
In layman terms, cryptocurrency or virtual currency is digital or electronic currency that is revolutionizing the way people do transact. There are many different versions of cryptocurrency, but most experts would point at the Netherlands as the origin of cryptocurrency. Most cryptocurrencies in the world are not regulated by any national governments as they are considered to be as an alternative currency. Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency that caught the imagination of thousands of people. Other Virtual /Crypto currencies are:
• Litecoin
• Dash
• Ripple
• Monero
• Ethereum
• Zcash

BITCOIN – HOW DOES IT WORK?
Bitcoin is a virtual currency, based on the peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central bank or governing authority. The network carries out all the maintenance of transactions and the issuing of bitcoins. Bitcoin is an open source technology and nobody either controls or owns it. All people who are interested can be a part of this kind of money. Bitcoins run on the blockchain technology, which is a decentralized ledger. This ledger is kept updated every time and held by all users of the network. If you want to create a bitcoins, you need to generate the blocks on this network. Each block is created cryptographically by using the computing and coding power of its users and then it appended to the blockchain. So users earn by keeping the network running all the time.

Bitcoin can be defined as “decentralized means of tracking and assigning wealth or economy, it is a software protocol”. It was invented by a group of programmers, or an unidentified programmer, under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto.It was introduced on October 31st, 2008 to a cryptography mailing list and thereafter released as open-source software in 2009.

Bitcoin is the largest in terms of total market value. Bitcoin uses two cryptographic keys, first is one public (username) and other is one private (password) are generated, no IP addresses, name, or phone number is recorded.

Just like 1Rupee=100 paisa, 1Bitcoin= 100,000,000 Satoshi. Each bitcoin (BTC) is divisible to the 8th decimal place, so each BTC can be split into 100,000,000 units. Each unit of bitcoin, or 0.00000001 bitcoin, is called a satoshi. A Satoshi is the smallest unit of Bitcoin. (Source: http://satoshitobitcoin.co/bitcoin-to-satoshi/).

BITCOIN – WHO INVENTED & WHY?
Satoshi Nakamoto is an avid and cryptic internet user. He invented Bitcoin and introduced it to the world in 2009. Why did Satoshi Nakamoto invent this currency? This is million dollar question that still needs some clear answering from the maverick. One good reason of this can be the fact that people always want to transact without any hefty bank charges and the intervention of government. Thus, Bitcoin is seen as the best tool for anonymous and private transactions

“Bitcoin will become the new gold and re-align the playing field of central bankers and commercial bankers.”
– Jon Matonis, Vice-President at nChain

BITCOIN PRICE HISTORY Source:https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/#charts

ADVANTAGES OF BITCOIN	DISADVANTAGES OF BITCOIN
> No Tracking	> No central bank has authorised Bitcoin
> Safes from duplication, (i.e. cannot be copied) by frequently checking code at an interval of 10 minutes.	> No trade through BSE, NSE, commodity exchange (SEBI, FMC)
> No Transaction costs	> No Forex dealer under FEMA converting $$=Rs=Bitcoin illegals
> Bitcoin cannot be stolen	> Bitcoin Exchange website = legal status unclear
> No risk of charge backs
> It can easy be converted into Dollar from MT.GOX

THREE WAYS TO EARN BITCOIN
o Exchange currency (i.e. exchange your fiat currency for Bitcoin and vice versa).
o Solving data blocks (Mining Software)
o Goods and service Exchange.

SBI NETBANKING VERSES BITCOIN

RTGS: Real Time Gross Settlement	NEFT: National Electronic Fund Transfer	Bitcoin
Retail 2-5 Corporate:>5	50k at a time	No ceiling
Processing fees 25-55 Rupees	2.50-25 Rupees	None
Instant	1 hour cycles	Up-to 10 minutes
Bank account needed	Bank account needed	Not even ID is needed only Bitcoin wallet

WHAT IS LITECOIN?
Litecoin is another Cryptocurrency or decentralised digital currency, similar to Bitcoin. This was created by Charlie Lee. The main difference between Bitcoin and Litecoin is that Litecoin has a more number of coins that can be created. It also has faster transaction rates. Litecoin’s algorithm allows for a total of 84 million Litecoins to be created. Bitcoin lags behind due to this algorithm as Litecoin’s capacity 4x larger than Bitcoin. This helps with 4 time’s faster transaction rate confirmation. Confirming transactions help create new coins via a process known as ‘Mining’.The inventor of Litecoin, Charlie Lee was a previous employee of Google. He also worked as an Ex-Director of Engineering with Coinbase. He calls himself @SatoshiLite on Twitter (Satoshi Nakamoto is the founder of Bitcoin!)

LITECOIN PRICE HISTORY Source:https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/litecoin/#charts

LATEST UPDATES ON BITCOIN & LITECOIN
• Bitcoin’s price skyrocketed from approximately $900 to close to $20,000 in the span of just 12 months
• The hackers of WannaCry Ransomeware had asked ransom as Bitcoin!
• In recent news, Litecoin has overtaken the fourth place in the Cryptocurrency business by beating IOTA & Ripple.
• The top three virtual currencies are Bitcoin, Ethereum & Bitcoin cash.
• Litecoin is stepping up its game with the market capitalisation of Rs 0.88 lakh crore recently.

RISKS INVOLVED IN BITCOIN
• It can be Hacked, phished, damaged by malware, password lost. In all case, money will be lost.
• Same with all other crypto-currency lite coin, bbq coins, dogecoin etc. Even in India Laxmicoin.com is founder by Mitts Daki (US) and Raj Dangi (Bangalore) and promises to give 30% of profit to NGO but RBI denied their proposal in 2013 as they stand “Examining the issues in Digital currency”.
• BuySellBitco.in is now Zebpay; this is India’s oldest exchange to buy and sell bitcoins. BuySellBitco.in is serving Indian bitcoiners since 2013.Consumer courts cannot help them as these bodies follow fiat currency.
• Mere digital code, no intrinsic value, not backed by Gold Silver or crude oil.
• Reserve Bank of India and People Bank of China denied it as legal tender.
• As we Indians have Income Tax Department, USA has IRS (Internal Revenue Service), IRS stand for Bitcoin.
• Bitcoin exchange in India; founded by Mahim Gupta from Bhopal. It was closed by RBI in 2013. They provide around Rs 14,400 for 1 Bitcoin and sell 1 Bitcoin for around Rs 14,800.

CONCLUSION
Bitcoin disciples argue its price will raise further, viewing volatility as a necessary bump on the path to even higher valuations. Fans even coined a term to describe their tactic of holding on for dear life – Hodl.
There are some rational reasons to keep calm and carrying on hodling. Serious investors are just getting interested in a market that has so far been dominated by crypto nerds and retail investors. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) is introducing Bitcoin derivatives – a form of bet on the future value of the currency – which will let hedge funds into the market before Christmas.(Source:http://www.cmegroup.com/media-room/press-releases/2017/12/01/cme_group_self-certifiesbitcoinfuturestolaunchdec18.html).
The absence of government intervention or bank standing behind the currency also fuels its appeal to those unhappy with the financial system after the credit crunch.Bubbles are driven by investor’s sentiment and stories, and bitcoins has a great story with a lot of mystery involved and spectacle to it.

Book Review- “The Anatomy of Success” by Dr Rakesh Sinha

Campus Life, General Blog, Uncategorized07 SeptemberDr. Shraddha MishraBook Review The Anatomy of Success, IILM Blog, The Anatomy of Success, The Anatomy of Success Book, The Anatomy of Success by Dr Rakesh Sinha

The world record winning, Dr. Rakesh Sinha is a gynecological endoscopic surgeon based in Mumbai. He has written his first book entitled; “The Anatomy of success – Management lessons from a surgeon”. Drawing two Guinness World Record from his surgical experiences, Doctor motivates people to achieve excellence in their own professional goals by deconstructing success into easy components. He has focused on higher potential of human being and further suggested that irrespective of the biological components, the success is something which we all are deserving.

His first book is based on management lessons from his own surgical experiences. This book is divided into fifteen chapters and all were sub-divided on the basis of three components; i.e. Biological component; Learning Component and cognitive component. Dr. Rakesh has utilized his education of neurophysiological and neurolinguistics programming for elaborating his experiences of real life. The visualization of dreams can be easily seen through GPS (i.e. Goal, process and success) and further expounded that heredity has to do nothing with the success. The more redefined signature skill will allow us to get the job done in the lesser time and efficiently. Will power is generally based on the thoughts, emotions, performance and impulse. The author has put forward the concept of how to unlearn the things and pursuit the mastery in our fields.

The reading is first of its kind which recommend a person about what to do or what not to do in order to attain the success. As the examples cited in the book is linked with human neurological system, medical terms and surgery. Hence, it become very stimulating for any reader to learn, to become very optimistic.

Self-control, decision making biases and learning through observation or deliberate practice are the most interesting aspects which are covered in the book. Its human nature that if any endorsements or recommendations are given by any layman then we may not accept or acknowledge it but if the lessons or suggestions are given by doctor or professional then we usually not only accept it but also foreword it to others.

This manuscript will enlighten you with the tips of attaining the success in very short span of time and the most beautiful thing proposed in the book is that to err is human and to learn is divine.

The book highlights the few commonalities between management and medicine. Betting the odds and being better than what we could be are the best learning we can gain from this book. Dr. Rakesh has elaborated each inspiring point through the medicinal and motivational theories. His lessons would be meaningful for the patients, doctors, mangers and trainers. He has segregated the entire learning lessons of the book into three sub-parts :

Suggestions for Doctors : The anatomy of success is an entire treatise on the essential path towards success, the anatomy of the mind, the psyche, the carving and passion for success. The book teaches that how success is generated, nurtured and reaches fruition.

Suggestions for Patients : Stress is the worst thing for any patient and it will find a way to infiltrate our immunity. Dr. Rakesh has suggested that Success at just any cost will leave you poorer in end. The art of maintaining a fine balance in work and world is also the hardest lesson that even the author have ever had to learn and it is one that he keep learning every day of his life.

Suggestions for Mangers & Trainers : Dr. Rakesh has asked a question from the mangers and professional that can work alone provide the satisfaction? The response is negative. The success evolve only with the perfect balance of Personal, professional, spiritual and family life.

Dr. Rakesh inspires, motivates and educate us to take a firm control of our future and live up to our potential. The reader will find as if the book is talking about their life journey which is communicated back to you with powerful stories and practical tools. Whether you are a student, a young manager or an accomplished professional in search for further success, this self-believed and thought provoking book will be worth reading ever.