India Credit Cards Review, Advise & Market Research
In the aftermath of the Demonetisation in India, the payment platform is undergoing a lot of changes. The challenge is that payment business is not a delight from a customer’s perspective. Payment is no longer about isolated products but an integrated experience as offered by Mumbai based Transerv.
Different consumer groups could pick and choose products of their choice available over multiple channels. For example
As experience suggests, it is quite possible to live without cash. However, it is restricted currently to urban markets while in rural India, there has not been much progress to make the transition easier. One of the biggest learning experiments is the discounting methodology adopted by various companies as a tool to change payment behavior of individuals. Studies have shown that this can be successful if implemented across long periods of time.
Digital is showing positive impact on deposits through better payment platforms as well as lending. For example, aggregator models operating in India (Uber, Ola, Urban Clap etc.) have led to the emergence of a new credit class of 4.5-5.0 mn people. This is because banks now have information records of incomes of these people, and can better assess their credit worthiness. Mechanisms which have established key use cases have succeeded. Paytm , for instance,
The Narendra Modi led Government of India is serious on pushing forward Digital Money and Cashless society, albeit in their own way. They have launched the famous BHIM UPI Mobile Payment App which forced every other Mobile banking App to refresh with the UPI Interface for instant mobile money transfer.
Mobile Messaging Platform, WhatsApp has selectively leaked that it is also embracing the NPCI’s Unified Payment Interface to facilitate P2P Money Transfer connected to consumers bank accounts. Thus, the protocol chosen by a giant like WhatsApp could potentially tilt the balance towards a leader. As per this piece Whatsapp’s primary choice
Read moreUPI Apps a Big Blow to Mobile Wallets like Paytm in India
The Indian Internet ecosystem had its challenges in 2016, parts of fintech has seen continued strong momentum. The number and value of transactions through mobile wallets have been growing at over 30% and 100%, respectively, and the mobile banking transactions, in volume and value, have grown at over 150% and 250%, respectively (for the period April-October 2016). The number of wallet users has already surpassed the number online banking users.
The demonetisation exercise has also helped these companies further, notably Paytm (the impact is not reflected in the numbers discussed above). It is yet to be seen
Academic research indicates that digital mediums (credit/debit cards, digital wallets, etc.,) do not have cash outflow vividness, and hence reduce the pain of payment during a transaction in comparison to cash. As pain of payment reduces, spending propensity increases. Also, when using these mediums, people are more likely to underestimate or forget the amount spent on recent purchases; the lack of saliency for these mediums leads buyers to believe that they have more liquidity than they actually do, and this increases the purchasing probability of additional products (even non-essential ones).
Research also indicates that
Read moreWhy Consumers Spend More in Cashless Transactions ?
With the boldest move in the History of India, The Demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, the nation continues to see a gradual shift towards newer payment platforms which should help India move towards a less cash economy. Higher tax compliance as well as lower costs have the potential to accelerate this change, especially post demonetization, but we would watch the pace of change for a few more quarters.
With 200,000 ATMs and 1.4 million POS machines, Indian banks seem to getting an unexpected benefit coming through demonetization as the bulk of 711 million debit cards and
Read moreDemonetization Effect – New Payment Platforms Grows