OMG..!! Posts

Today, most people you know are probably using a smartphone, and mobile wallets have also become quite widespread, even if most people use them for a very specific reason. For some, a mobile wallet is just a way to recharge their phone; for others, it's the app they use to refill the taxi money; and a few people have even started using these to buy a coffee at Cafe Coffee Day. There are dozens of branded wallet solutions on offer today, global and Indian, from tech companies, telecom players, and banks. With mobile Point of Sale service providers like Ezetap  enabling mobile wallet payments , the usability of the wallet is no longer limited to sellers that have tied up with a particular wallet provider. The era of cashless payments is upon us. Its WhatsApp moment in India is somewhat validated by the rise of Paytm, one of the largest funded players in this space, claimed a 100 million strong user base in August, from 12 million users in  November 2014 . The momentum in this...

There is chaos on the street, in the banks, ATMs and petrol pumps. We expect the scene to remain the same for coming days or weeks. But there is an easy way out of this, especially for all those who have a smartphone. Tuesday, November 8, was a usual day till about 8pm in the evening when PM Modi said that  Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes will cease to be legal tenders from the midnight in India. That was the midnight of November 8. What followed that decision, presumably made to fight black money, has been a blurry slideshow of long queues outside ATMs, petrol pumps and just about everywhere. While many smartphone users are aware of mobile wallets and are probably using them, many are not. And even those who are using mobile wallets probably don't know all the uses of these apps at present. If a mobile wallet like Paytm is used to its full potential, you will not even need to carry cash, except for some situations. If you think it is an overstatement, keep on reading...

Mobile payments are a top investment priority for banks. In fact, the world’s biggest banks continue to focus most of their announced IT initiatives on mobile financial services (including payments) and online banking. Mobile wallet providers are emerging as mini banking institutions and it won’t be surprising if they start providing banking solutions in future. E-wallets or M-wallets have been around for some time and their popularity is rising exponentially. A decision to scrap Rs.500 & Rs.1000 denomination notes and a friend of mine who is living ‘cashless’ (in India!) from more than 200 days grabbed my attention towards this topic and I decided to write about it. Cost of Using Cash The median life span of a note across all denominations is about 3.6 years. As a result, roughly one-third of the current currency stock of 83.6 billion pieces gets replaced every year at a huge national cost. In 2014-15, the Reserve Bank spent ₹38.6 billion to print 23 billion pieces n...