Chit Funds are indigenous financial institutions in India. It is a mechanism that combines credit and savings in a single scheme. In a chit fund scheme, a group of individuals come together for a predetermined time period and contribute to a common pool at regular intervals. Every month, up until the end of the tenure of the scheme, the collected pool of money is loaned out internally through a...
A phenomenon that has been pretty popular recently in the news goes by the name of UPI (Unified Payments Interface). However, most people have not been able to experience the revolution and the magic moment that comes along when paying via it. Part of that stems from the myths that keep floating around, regarding how it might not be that secure and worthwhile. Well, allow me to put all of these...
The November 8th announcement of demonetization of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes by Prime Minister Modi caught everyone by surprise. That was the intent. It is, however, widely expected that bank accounts, plastic cards and digital money usage will increase dramatically in the next 12 months. In other words, India will be pushed towards a cashless economy. The purpose of this piece however isn’t...
iSPIRT invited select companies to leverage the IndiaStack API’s and collaboratively construct a pilot program, as a demonstrable proof of concept. Broadly, the pilots were established to transfer the invented technologies and expertise to the market. In addition to creating sufficient and supportive infrastructure for technology transfer; to embolden entrepreneurs and businesses create profits...
Sanjay Jain, Pramod Varma, Ranga Raj With a lot of momentum being built around Digital India and Smart Cities, we offer a contrarian view of how government agencies and stakeholders should approach this complex problem. While there are many facets towards the journey of Smart Cities – some that are non-technology related – political, bureaucratic, architectural, social, cultural etc., and...
Last week was a landmark week for all Indians and by sheer coincidence; the country witnessed the launch of two generational shifts. The one that has everyone excited is Jio, a pure, data-only high-speed mobile network. The other that perhaps will have equal transformational impact is its peer in the world of digital payments, the Unified Payment Interface (UPI). As soon as I had my first...
There is today in many countries a proliferation of new digital credit services. These have been especially prominent in mobile money markets in sub Saharan Africa. The poster child has been M-Shwari out of Kenya; though there are a burgeoning array of new varied services in many places. The signals of deep interest from India are strong and India Stack may well position this market for an...
Japan introduced ‘Zengin’, a real-time money transfer mechanism in 1973. Thirty Seven years later, NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India) introduced IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) in 2010 as the first real-time 24*7 money transfer mechanism in the country. In-between PayPal launched money transfer by just knowing a person’s email ID in 1999 and now in 2016, India is about to make UPI...
Increasing penetration of smartphones, Aadhaar-linked bank accounts and a host of powerful open and programmable capabilities is set to create the ‘WhatsApp moment’ for Indian banking. Once in a while a major disruption or discontinuity happens which has huge consequences. In 2007, the internet and the mobile phone came together in a whole new product called the smartphone. This phone, with its...
IndiaStack can enable the government, the citizens and entrepreneurs to interact with each other through an open digital platform. At a time when financial technology is changing the face of Indian banking, the government is looking to bridge the digital divide. The biggest hurdle here is paper-based authentication and approvals. To bridge this gap iSpirt is working with various government...
