In Brief: Ola rejigs driver commission model, New EV charging stations to come up, Future Retail to shop for overseas bond, Flipkart launches VSC

Bengaluru-based ANI Technologies, which owns and operates ride-hailing company Ola, will standardise its driver commissions and remove an incentive-driven model to help the drivers benefit with their earnings, The Economic Times reported. The cab aggregator plans to give its drivers better visibility into their earnings to revive the supply of drivers that took a hit over the past year. In the past few months, Ola has been standardising commissions it charges drivers at 25% nationally to offer a predictability of income to its driver partners, the report said. The company is also foraying into leasing business, it said.

Govt approves over 2,500 new charging stations in 62 cities

Union minister Prakash Javadekar said that the government has approved 2,636 charging stations in 62 cities across 24 states and Union territories under the FAME India (faster adoption and manufacturing of electric vehicles in India) scheme. The move will push OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) to roll out new electric vehicle models, Javadekar said. Out of 2,636 charging stations, 1,633 will be fast-charging stations, whereas the remaining 1,003 will be slow-charging stations. About 14,000 chargers will be installed across the selected cities, the report said.

Future Retail to shop for $500 million overseas bond

Future Retail, which houses a string of retail chain formats, may raise up to $500 million in its maiden overseas bond issue after two informal sale attempts last year, The Economic Times reported. The bonds are likely to be of three-year and five-year maturity, and will open for subscription in the next two weeks, the report said. The company is likely to start roadshows in Hong Kong, Singapore, London, Los Angeles and New York, beginning this week, it said. 

Flipkart rolls out Visa Safe Click

Walmart-owned e-commerce platform Flipkart has launched VSC (Visa Safe Click), powered by payments technology company Visa. The new payments solution will enable the e-commerce platform to deploy India’s first in-app device-based network authentication solution, the company said in a statement. It will eliminate the need for OTPs (one time passwords) for transactions up to Rs. 2,000, while also ensuring a secure payment experience.