Payments & Banking Infrastructure

The rails underneath money: payments, UPI, OCEN, account aggregation, API and connected banking, and how banks and fintechs actually work together.

Varying rates of digital adoption across send and receive-sides impact payment-flows

Very simplistically put, payment is the movement of money from A to B. And the world is becoming increasingly comfortable with money flow going digital. Whether its a…

Feb 2020
A tale of two cards

“Building a visionary company requires one percent vision and 99 percent alignment.” —Jim Collins and Jerry Porras, Built to Last And I believe the alignment needs to show not in…

Oct 2019
Quest for Friction Less Experiences

Yesterday, I got to experience the WhatsApp payment flows. It surely felt like a neat friction-less experience both for adding/mapping bank accounts and for in-chat payments. And in…

Feb 2018
Cash is not the enemy – Stickiness of Cash Part 1

Why is cash so sticky in our society? Many of us have argued for the need to build convenience, security and ubiquity for digital payments. And then cash…

Apr 2017
Immediate reactions to the banning of Rs 500 & 1000 notes

As Anshul & I sat listening to the PMs announcement and then all the experts on CNBC, we couldnt help discussing what all must be happening around the…

Nov 2016
Payments are a critical piece – Digital Banking ToolKit

In India, digital and mobile Payments is a really HOT space right now. HDFC Bank introduced PayZapp which intends to be the gateway for all m-commerce transactions, with…

Feb 2016
Thin Mobile App or a Fat one – Digital banking toolkit

Mobile is the new frontier and banks know this well. Amongst the various choices to make as part of the bank’s overall mobile initiative, is the decision around…

Oct 2015
Embrace APIs – Digital Banking Toolkit

Digital is the latest buzzword in banking. Not only are the bank boardrooms echoing with digital keywords, its what seems to be driving the pitches at most IT…

Sep 2015
Digital India – its already here

Today’s the launch of the Digital India initiative and quite a coincidence that I had an experience which makes me believe that Digital India is already here. Here’s…

Jul 2015
Play to your strengths – Digital Banking Toolkit

Nadal is the king of clay. Given a choice of surface, I guess he would choose clay 9 out of 10. We all get it – one should…

May 2015
Why is Financial Inclusion important?

Financial Inclusion is a common theme across multiple initiatives both by governments and private sectors across economies. Especially in the developing world, it would be safe to say…

Feb 2015
Digital success needs a matured partnership mindset

I believe that smart matured digital players will need to develop deep partnerships. Let me explain why. With the growing consumption of digital media, there is considerable noise…

Dec 2014
Why mobile payments must arrive soon

I try to go walking on most weekdays. And I prefer to do so light – carry just the minimal stuff. On my way out for a walk…

May 2014
Why I use Paytm for all bill payments except Airtel

Consumer behavior used to be a course that marketing folks took in 2nd year of Bschool. I stayed away , like most other marketing courses. But over the years,…

Feb 2014
Basics of Mobile Payments

Understanding the basics of Mobile Payments required me to find answers to these questions. What is a mobile payment What are the formats/models of mobile payment What is…

Oct 2013
Mobile Payments Security – concerns, issues, threats, models and measures

One of the biggest reason why cash has still reigned supreme for purchases is the percieved safety it brings. It limits the potential damage to the hard currency…

Oct 2013
M PESA story

What are the things M PESA did right? Clean and focused campaign – “Send Money Home” – focused only on national remittances – something that was done in…

Aug 2013
Mobile Money Facts and Figures

Opportunity Scale 1.8 billion people globally have mobile phones but no bank acocunts (World Bank) Success Stories/Adoption Figures 20% of Kenya’s GDP moves on mPESA (2013) 20…

Aug 2013