The battle lines are drawn
Ever since demonetization announcement of 08 Nov , the
all-consuming debate is :
"
In the end , who will win ? Credit-Debit cards or Mobile Wallets ? "
In the past few days , following reports / statements /
statistics , have appeared in News papers / Social Media / TV channels :
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* BILL GATES (
TOI / 19 Nov 2016 )
" The US is not as digitized as Kenya is or Tanzania . I
use credit card sometime. I use the cell phone quite a bit now but it's still a
mixed thing and you know it is expected that the plastic
card will go away in US in
the next 4-5 years and
then it will be just your cell phone "
According to sources privy to the meeting, Gates told Minister
of IT , Ravi Shankar Prasad that smart phones are better
instruments than plastic cards and payment banks are more sustainable approach for
financial transactions
* AMITABH KANT (
CEO - NITI Aayog ) [ ET / 11 Jan 2017 ]
" Cards would lose their relevance
as Indians will make transactions using just their thumbs through
Aadhar-enabled apps on merchant phones connected to biometric readers "
* SHARAD SHARMA (
co-founder , iSPIRT ) [ ET / 11 Jan 2017 ]
" UPI transactions will exceed
debit card transactions in a matter of months
BHIM is one of 30 such apps available today . It is one of the MOST
LIMITED apps in terms of functionality . In terms of smoothness , it is well
designed . But it is meant to be a REFERENCE app
Even as millions throng the mobile app and feature phone function, competitors
( including traditional banks ), have to exceed this THRESHOLD or BENCHMARK.
Even if some banks don't, they and their customers are not losing out because
they are on the UPI platform
By April , I expect almost 150
apps, including those by traditional banks
In India, digital companies complain about TWO FACTOR authentication . But
with every added layer of authentication, the system reduces security risks.
This is India-first by accident because elsewhere , the incumbents are very
strong : VISA and MasterCard in the US, or Alipay in China
UPI is the SMTP of payments , and BHIM is only the shape of things to come
"
* DEWANG NARELLA (
CEO , Atom ) [ ET / 11 Jan 2017 ]
"
One of the reasons for for the faster adoption of cards is the better
user-experience
PoS terminals can complete a transaction
within 8 seconds and give customers a frictionless experience . Unless the new
forms of technology can offer faster check-out experience, I do not see mass
adoption of emerging payment solutions
Banks are in the process of installing 1
million terminals by March "
* T R RAMCHANDRAN (
Group Country Manager, VISA ) [ ET / 11 Jan 2017 ]
" Much of India still needs to
be convinced about digital payments
Digital payments make only 5 % of the current personal consumption
expenditure in India . This is not a zero-sum market, where if someone does one
transaction more, someone else will do one transaction less . We should be
focused on displacing cash "
* ABHIJIT BOSE (
CEO , Ezetap )
"
It should be left to the consumers to choose their mode of transaction .
It's the consumer who will decide which solution to use . When we in the public
and the private sector start making pronouncements, we don't have knowledge of
what consumers want "
* SAKET MODI (
Co-founder , Lucideus Tech )
" If a mobile wallet has ONE
FACTOR authentication ( you need to login and transact and just key in the
password ),
and , credit card has TWO FACTOR ( swipe plus password ),
BHIM has THREE FACTOR authentication
What made WhatsApp so popular was that the user ID was the phne number.
Similarly, the user ID is the basis to authenticate with the bank
The THIRD FACTOR is the four digit UPI PIN, which only the user knows.
Even if it is possible to replicate the SIM card or a phone gets lost,
transactions cannot be done unless the PIN is known "
* A P HOTA (
MD and CEO , NPCI )
" In our country of a billion mobile
phone connections ( active connections could be around 800 million ) , nearly
two-thirds of mobile phones are simply feature phones without data connectivity
. We have built USSD-based mobile payment system with 51 participating banks.
BHIM integrated USSD infrastructure with UPI "
* BUSINESS LINE (
13 Jan 2017 )
After initial response, demand for EESL's PoS machines turns tepid .
Procurement tender may be scrapped if entities that evinced interest do not
respond
This is the largest tender for PoS machines in the world ( 10 lakh ) and
EESL's success in this tender would mean virtually doubling the number of PoS
machines in the country.
India , at present, has 14 lakh PoS machines , of which only 50,000 are
mobile
* HINDUSTAN TIMES ( 16 Jan 2017 )
@ PoS transactions as a % of total Card transactions......
22 %
@ No of PoS terminals per million people ( 2015
)............ 693 ( 45000 in Australia )
* ARUNA SUNDARARAJAN (
Secretary , MeiT ) [ Hindustan Times / 16 Jan 2017 ]
" We are looking at a lot of
new technologies that enable cashless transactions with less investment on
infrastructure
We are also looking at enabling digital payments with the use of VOICE BASED and NFC-based
technology.
The Centre is in talks with technology providers that can enable a
mobile phone to become a MOBILE
POINT-OF-SALE ( mPoS )
We are in talks with new companies like mPayGo , ToneTag and other start
ups "
* NEERAJ TANDON (
Co-founder and CEO, mPayGo )
"
All that merchants need to have is a smart phone and a Net connection to
process card payments "
* KUMAR ABHISHEK (
Founder , ToneTag )
"
The major concern for the Government is that only 20 % of the entire
cell phone-using population in India has smart phones
With ToneTag, in case of smart phones,
the transfer is done by a single touch using SOUND
WAVES
In feature phones, users need to dial a
toll-free number, and the payment instruction is carried out through
interactive VOICE RESPONSE
"
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As
to , " WHO WILL
WIN
? " , find my own assessment at :
{ http://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2016/11/rip-credit-card.html }
