TECH NEWS : NPCI discusses empowering new UPI players, excludes major apps like Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm. Newcomers seek incentives, brand visibility, and NPCI

Why NPCI did not invite Google, PhonePe and Paytm for its meeting on UPI - Times of India

NPCI plans to meet various fintech startups this month to develop a strategy to address the market dominance of PhonePe and Google Pay in the UPI ecosystem.

India scrambles to curb PhonePe and Google's dominance in mobile payments | TechCrunch

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is taking proactive steps to address concerns over the increasing market dominance of PhonePe and Google Pay within the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) ecosystem.

NPCI Takes Steps To Address Duopoly Concerns In PhonePe, Google Pay - Goodreturns

NPCI engages fintech startups to counter market dominance of PhonePe and Google Pay in UPI ecosystem.

India plans to curb Google, PhonePe’s dominance in mobile payments: Report - The Hindu

PhonePe, eSewa, and HAN Pokhara join forces to promote UPI during Nepal&#x27;s Fewa New Year Festival, aiming to boost digital transactions. Activities include merchant and customer education, branding, and interactive initiatives. Key figures emphasize the partnership&#x27;s significance in enhancing ...

PhonePe Partners with eSewa, HAN Pokhara to Promote UPI in Nepal

UPI rule change for PPIs: Currently, money in your prepaid wallet (like PhonePe) can only be used for UPI transactions through the app offered by the wallet issuer itself. This limits your options — you can&#x27;t use PhonePe money on Paytm or BHIM, for example.

UPI rule change: Soon use money in PhonePe, Amazon Pay, any wallet to pay via Paytm, other UPI apps; check RBI new rule - The Economic Times

PhonePe has managed to eclipse its arch rival Paytm by a decent margin in terms of monthly active users of its merchant app.

PhonePe’s merchant app MAUs on rise as Paytm falls behind

The full conversation can be seen here: This discussion was organised with support from Meta, PhonePe, Google, and Salesforce, and in partnership with CUTS and the Centre for Communication Governance. Need for a risk-based approach in reporting ...

“India needs a risk-based approach for data breach notification”: Varun Bahl, NASSCOM #PrivacyNama2023

Digital payments in the country continued their growth momentum in the month of October, with UPI transactions crossing the 1,100 Cr mark

UPI Transactions Continue To Rise, Cross 11 Bn Mark In October

(UPI) crossed 11 billion transactions for the first time on a monthly basis in October with a decent growth in the value of transactions.

UPI crosses 11 Bn transactions for the first time in October

PhonePe

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At a time when the Global Tech sector is facing stagnant growth and employees are facing job losses, the Indian tech industries are booming. Recently, a Mumbai-based Identification verification startup, IDfy, raised 27 million dollars in total primary and secondary funding from top firms like Elev8 Venture Partners, KB Investment, and Tenacity Ventures. On its LinkedIn page, IDfy claims to "help enterprises eliminate fraud and establish trust using tech-powered products and solutions for KYC, KYB, Background Verification, Risk Mitigation, Digital Onboarding and Digital Privacy." IDfy is a top Indian identity verification company that provides services to help other organizations like banks and e-commerce sites verify a person's identity. They are crucial for preventing fraud and theft. While applying for EMIs through certain services, we are often asked to take a picture of ourselves after entering details like Aadhar's card number and account number. The picture that is taken is then compared to the picture on the Aadhar card servers to make sure the person applying is genuine and not a fraud. This complex process is carried out by services like IDfy. The funds raised by the company will be used in its expansion programs and product development to provide a better experience for the users, the company said in a statement on Wednesday, 6th March 2024. "Investment from Elev8 and Tenacity is a strong validation of our vision and capabilities. IDfy’s mission is to eliminate fraud and establish trust," said Ashok Hariharan, co-founder and chief executive of IDfy. IDfy was founded in 2011 by Vineet Jawa and Ashok Hariharan. Since then, it has grown to become one of the major players in the field of risk management both nationally and internationally. IDfy provides crucial services to India's top companies, including but not limited to KYC, KYB, background checks, risk mitigation, digital onboarding, and privacy solutions. The company has a big list of clients that includes HDFC Bank, AxisBank, Zomato, PhonePe, Paytm, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, and American Express, managing over 60 million verifications monthly. It also provides its services to millions of users in the international markets. In a statement, Elev8 said it was drawn to IDfy's strong leadership team, its product-centric approach, and its alignment with India's digitization story. “The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of cloud-based services, driving a surge in digitization and a shift in consumer behavior. This, coupled with the supportive regulatory environment fostered by the India Digital Stack initiative, creates a fertile ground for IDfy's continued growth." “We have known Ashok and IDfy for several years and are impressed with how they have built great products and a great brand. We believe that trust platforms from India will scale internationally, and IDfy can compound meaningfully with these global tailwinds. We look forward to a fruitful partnership with the management team to build IDfy in its next phase of growth," added Rohit Razdan, managing Director of Tenacity Ventures. The company plays a major role in one of the most important sectors in India, making life easier for millions of Indian and international customers. As of 2021, the company is valued at 66.9 million dollars. It has brought significant investments to India and sets a major example of showing the unstoppable growth of India and the potential of talented Indians who are only limited by their creative minds. Also published here

Mumbai-based Identity Verification Startup IDfy Raises $27M Amid Indian Tech Boom

The mobile app market is growing fast, and the same is true in India. More and more Indians are using their mobile phones, boosting app usage to a mind-blowing extent. As such, the market is attracting many foreign players. , total app market revenues for 2022 reached US$475.90 billion, and they expect to see an annual growth (CAGR 2022-2027) of 8.58%, resulting in a market volume of US$755.50bn by 2027. According to Statista In March 2023 alone, 39% of apps by Indian publishers in India were using ads to monetize their platforms. Additionally, more than half of all mobile sales in India are made through leading to an increase in the number of mobile sales by more than 10% in H1 2023 YoY. mobile phones show that more than 158,000 apps by Indian app developers have been published on Google Play in 2023 already, and this figure is set to grow. This growth is attracting foreign players, who seek a slice of the Indian market. Figures from Statista mobile app July saw a tie-up between an Indian telecom service provider, and , the global communications platform. Vi, Truecaller Now, , a US-based Decentralized Wireless (DeWi) company, announced that India has become its second-largest global market, only after Indonesia, witnessing a monumental surge of 12 million app downloads. This robust growth is reflective of the growing DeWi community and the swift adoption of web3-based services in the region. WiFi Map India’s demographic transition is naturally capable of driving mass adoption of consumer technology, and we are elated to facilitate this growth by providing decentralized wireless internet to millions of users across the country Denis Sklyarov, CEO of WiFi Map Denis Sklyarov, CEO of WiFi Map, said “India’s demographic transition is naturally capable of driving mass adoption of consumer technology, and we are elated to facilitate this growth by providing decentralized wireless internet to millions of users across the country. The positive data trends in India have encouraged us to recruit local talent, thereby catalyzing user growth and shaping the existing community into a powerful driver for DeWi adoption.” In July, , a global IT/MarTech company launched Mombio, a specialized mobile app user acquisition and CPI/CPL/CPA/Revenue share monetization services platform in India. Mobmio is a new mobile performance network with ambitious plans for the Indian mobile app market. Mitgo Also, existing foreign players are facing rivalry from ambitious local players. In April, Walmart-backed Indian fintech giant PhonePe the launch of a dedicated app store for Android users in India, challenging Google. announced A Broadband India Forum (BIF) study that India’s app market will touch US$800 million. The study reveals that the growth in the Indian app economy is about 32%, which is more than four times the GDP growth. predicted This article was originally published by on Navanwita Bora Sachdev The Tech Panda.

Foreign Players Flock to Thriving Indian Mobile App Market

Mimosa pudica, or the touch-me-not plant – That’s how our transactions are becoming. Given our preferences for touchless menus and contactless transactions in the last two years, QR codes have made huge inroads – a ever since the pandemic occurred. The global QR Code Market is projected to grow to by 2026, from in 2020. 750% rise in QR Code downloads $1.2 billion $0.9 billion Local Kirana stores, restaurants, fintech players, retailers, FMCG companies, travel and hospitality businesses, healthcare businesses, and even donation platforms have started using Quick Response, or QR codes with varying degrees of need. In , we elaborated on how a QR code works, the types of QR codes, the advantages of using it, and more. one of our earlier blogs RBI announces UPI and credit card linking With the new announcement, users can now link their credit cards to popular UPI apps like Google Pay, Paytm, and PhonePe. Users can then scan the QR code and choose a credit card as the mode of payment, making it an additional layer of convenience. So, how are these developments in QR codes impacting business revenues, and customer growth? QR codes – The connector between us and the physical world As we know, QR is a barcode-like image consisting of information about both a merchant and their payment provider. QR payments function like a normal Point of Sale (POS) terminal: customers use their smartphone to scan the QR code,  once the camera detects the QR code, a push notification leads them to a screen to input their payment details and complete the purchase instantly. QR codes – The key benefits. Convenient and contactless, and real-time QR codes can be placed anywhere: outside a payment counter or shop, on websites, or in emails. Customers can complete payments instantly, from a safe distance. Improved customer experience QR codes for payments eliminate the need for any cards or payment terminals – just a smartphone can do the job. A secure payment alternative QR codes are more secure than card payments: all data is encrypted and if paid through a website QR code, customers need not even fill in any bank details. Payment Reconciliation Every payment is reconciled in real-time, and the ledgers are updated. While it is convenient for customers, it easier for businesses. APIs make virtual accounts Saving on commissions and processing fees While vendors can get payments instantly via QR codes & UPI, small merchants get to save the commission or transaction fees to payment gateways. With high-volume__ __, SMEs can save big by using QR code payments and avoiding paying hefty processing fees. B2B payments How can Decentro empower businesses with QR codes for payment? Get Static or Dynamic QR Payment Codes Decentro’s help you create both static or dynamic QR codes, based on your business needs. Be it , , , or , Decentro’s payment stack supports multiple modes of transfers including bank transfers, UPI, and QR code payments. With created exclusively for your business, you can receive payments in real time! Payments APIs neobanks fintech lenders gig economy platforms NBFCs virtual accounts Branded, or White-labeled UPI IDs Branded UPI IDs instill confidence in customers. Decentro can help you brand the UPI IDs in the name of your business, making way for a better customer experience! Simplified Split Payments & Commission Settlements For businesses with more than one branch, keeping track of the money flow can be a hassle. Decentro’s feature helps a company with real-time bookkeeping, irrespective of which outlet the money flows from! split payments Payment Reconciliation Offline businesses often face trouble figuring out missed payments, reversed transactions, etc. Decentro’s real-time payment reconciliation via keeps your ledgers updated, and you can create multiple accounts too! virtual accounts APIs Speed of Integration You perhaps liked all the features and it fits well with your business needs. If you are wondering how soon you get started with the integration, Decentro’s financial & are built to enable you to go live in about two weeks, as compared to the months that traditional financial institutions typically take. This also means reduced expenses of up to 90%! banking APIs By the way, You also even scan the QR code below to reach us. Just for the feel of it, cheers!

Serving Contactless Payments Through the Use of the QR Code

In 2021, India recorded 48.6 billion real-time transactions, more than any other in the world. 2022 Prime Time for Real-Time Crypto, Decentralized Finance, and Smart Contracts might be stealing the limelight from an enormous change in the world of finance that is materializing here and now. That change is Open Banking. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the shift from physical to digital mediums of conducting financial transactions. With more time spent online, adopting these new habits accelerated the onboarding of consumers and enterprises – small, medium, and large – to be more accepting of non-traditional financial products and services. Open Banking Definition defines Open Banking as “a banking practice that provides third-party financial service providers open access to consumer banking, transaction, and other financial data from banks and non-bank financial institutions through the use of application programming interfaces (APIs).” Investopedia Open Banking is a global movement in which banks are allowing access to much of the data they hold on to – customer purchases ranging from buying a coffee, a house, or paying mortgages. In open banking, banks typically allow access to their customers' personal and financial data to third-party entities. Examples include , , in India, and many more. Google Pay WhatsApp Payments PhonePe How It Works View the graphic to get an understanding of how Open Banking works. After receiving consent from the customer, access to the customer’s account(s) and data merge with 3rd party service providers like FinTech companies. Opening core banking data to 3rd parties using APIs delivers greater transparency and levels the competitive playing field. Open banking is a driving force of innovation in the banking industry. With the rise in competition on established banks’ turf from smaller and newer banks, it should ideally result in lower costs, better technology, and better customer service. As a result, Open Banking is changing the idea of banking, increasing pressure on incumbents. Value Proposition Open Banking is a driving force of new-age technology deployments that radically transform how finances are handled. The APIs that banking institutions release can look at consumers' transaction data to identify and present the most relevant and appropriate financial products and services. Be it opening a new saving account that can fetch a higher interest rate than the present one or a different credit card with a lower interest rate. Let’s look at the value offerings that Open Banking applications can provide. First, take cues from the UI of the Indian app PhonePe. #1 - Centralised Financial Data Users of Open Banking applications can view their entire payment history in one centralized location. They can even set up automatic payment rules and reminders for due dates. #2 - Intuitive Budgeting Open Banking applications allow users to view dashboards and the flow of funds in different categories. This aids users in understanding their spending habits and sticking to their established budget goals. #3 - Smart Expenditures An Open Banking application user can quickly transfer funds from one bank account to another, receive requests for payments and funds from merchants, and split bill payments without any hassles. #4 - Incentivise Savings Users can receive prompts to increase savings by earmarking extra funds in investment options. Moreover, users can even receive lucrative deals and cashback offers as they continue using their choice of app. Benefits and Drawbacks Consumers and businesses ideally want more choice, ease, and flexibility in managing their money. Open Banking is leading the way to fulfill those wants. Open Banking can help small businesses save time by helping with online accounting and avoiding fraud. Indian payments giant Paytm came up with to make digital payments quick, simple, and safe. Paytm Soundbox However, Open Banking also potentially risks financial privacy and security of consumers' finances, resulting in heavy liabilities to financial institutions. Opening up customers’ data via APIs brings territorial security risks, such as the potential for a malicious third-party app to clean out a customer's account. We’re at the cusp of sweeping and monumental financial industry changes. There are no outright winners and losers yet. Google’s release of maps APIs data paved the way for ride-sharing and other location-based apps to build new products. Similarly, Open Banking has the potential to usher in a new set of innovative products and services that we’re yet to consider viable. Unified Payments Interface (UPI) Introduction Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in India is built on the Immediate Payment Service or IMPS architecture. IMPS was introduced in 2010 and has provided 24x7 instant domestic funds transfer facility. The IMPS system offers a real-time funds transfer between the remitter and the beneficiary with a deferred net settlement between banks. UPI is a centralized facility that does not rely on individual banks. Instead, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) provides the entire facility, an umbrella organization for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India. How It Works The UPI payment mechanism works on the equal participation of 4 intermediaries. #1 - Remitter Bank The remitter bank is the bank of the person initiating the money-sending transaction. #2 - Remitter Payment Service Provider The remitter payment service provider is the UPI app that the person who initiates the transaction uses. #3 - Beneficiary Bank The beneficiary bank is the bank of the person receiving the money from the remitter. #4 - Beneficiary Payment Service Provider The beneficiary payment service provider is the recipient’s UPI app. A Global Case Study UPI is not product innovation. UPI is a distribution, time, and cost innovation. The 2022 Prime Time for Real-Time report reveals that India is far ahead of its global peers. “India led the way for real-time payment transaction volumes in 2021 with 48.6B transactions. The widespread adoption of real-time payments resulted in an estimated cost savings of $12.6 billion for Indian businesses and consumers in 2021. Net savings predominantly drive this in the payment system costs. These savings helped unlock $16.4 billion of economic output, which represents 0.56% of the country’s GDP, equivalent to the output of approximately 2.5 million workers.” Amazing, isn’t it? In the financial year (FY) 2021-22, the Unified Payments Interface processed payments worth $1.09 trillion. In March 2022, UPI achieved another significant milestone. It processed 5.04 billion transactions for the first time, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). according to Even Google has a UPI-like platform to the US Federal Reserve for facilitating digital payments! recommended Upsetting the Established Order The credit and debit cards market has long been a duopoly between Visa and Mastercard. Visa and MasterCard a significant chunk – over 70 percent – of India’s credit cards. With a massive network of customers and merchants across the globe, how does an entity begin contemplating destroying the moat? together process UPI is fast becoming an existential threat to Visa and Mastercard in India. Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm have managed to coax consumers to replace cash for many use-cases. As a result, they might soon be on the turf of the credit card industry. With Russia no longer a part of the SWIFT system used for cross-border international payments, explored alternate payment systems to ensure bilateral trade continued. One option included linking the Indian Unified Payments Interface (UPI) with the Russian Faster Payments System (FPS). Russia and India Closing Thoughts In this piece, we learned from the ground up what is Open Banking, how it works, and why we should seriously consider its value proposition. Furthermore, we learned how India with its Unified Payments Interface (UPI), is a global case study to learn from. Open Banking, if implemented properly, can revolutionize the world of finance and even break the hegemony of established institutions – potentially ushering in revolutionary product developments.

Rise of Open Banking & Real-Time Payments: Reimagining Finance

Central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilots have evolved into implementations in the past several months, with large-scale projects by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, Nigeria, and China leading the world in CBDC development. The value proposition of CBDCs is extremely significant and in-line with the principles of decentralized finance (defi), particularly given CBDCs’ access and placement to reach previously unbanked individuals. However, one often-overlooked implementation point of CBDCs is at the point of connection from the banking system to the end-user: the wallet. Current technological, economic, and social infrastructures simply do not exist for many individuals that CBDCs have the potential to benefit. The best way to understand these factors while simultaneously considering a myriad of other topics is to look at successful examples of pre-CBDC digital payment frameworks. It will also be important for governments to solidify their wallet choices in policy considerations when developing CBDCs, with CBDCs being the gateway into the world of Web 3.0 and beyond. The case of India’s push to digital payments India is one example of a nation that may come out ahead in terms of long-term CBDC implementation, despite not having significant first-mover advance in the digital currency space. The announcement of India’s proposed digital rupee came in early , a complete reversal from talks just months prior in that proposed India banning cryptocurrencies as a means of payment. February 2022 late 2021 India has been able to implement a variety of different initiatives to help ease CBDC implementation dating back several years prior to the recently heightened interest in CBDCs by central banks around the world. Smartphone penetration in India continues to rise, with governments incentivizing increasing amounts of users, particularly in rural areas, to adopt smartphones. To this extent, smartphone penetration in rural India has risen from 9% in 2015, to 25% in , with over 53% of all Indians having mobile access to the Internet as of . 2018 2020 This increased access to smartphones has enabled more accessibility to digital wallets and payments services. To further emphasize these newfound capabilities, the Indian government launched the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system in , enabling inter-bank peer-to-peer (P2P) lending and person-to-merchant (P2M) services. During this time., like Paytm, Google Pay, and PhonePe established wallets based on UPI technology, with other services like BharatPe enabling cross-wallet transfers through a , highlighting the need for public-private innovation and partnerships in developing digital payments aimed at mass adoption. April 2016 entities singular QR-code system Compounding the move to utilize digital payments was India’s demonetization of currency on , which became yet another catalyst along India’s route to payments digitalization, with India effectively removing 86% of its currency from circulation overnight. Billed as a move to help fight corruption, this move had the tertiary effect of increasing enrollment in the country’s Aadhaar infrastructure, a digital unique identification number with some biometric qualities. November 2016 The example of India highlights how critical wallets are to ensuring the success of digital payments, paving the road for future implementations of CBDCs. Ensuring equitable access to smartphone devices through surging mobile penetration rates, providing Indians with digital identities, and creating payment rails to facilitate mobile wallets with interoperability remains critical in setting the stage for increased digital payments usage in India, with the digital rupee ostensibly able to capitalize on all these factors for implementation and use in the age of Web 3.0 Policy considerations Many around CBDCs speak specifically to CBDC design, ranging from how a CBDC is distributed and whether or not a CBDC is based on distributed ledger technology (DLT) or not. However, significant policy perspectives must be further incorporated into CBDC pilot testing, more specifically focusing on access to digital wallets. current debates Identify verification of wallets is one issue that is currently a hot-button issue for proponents and detractors of CBDCs alike. On one hand, India’s capabilities to issue the majority of Indians a unique identity number within the Aadhaar system has enabled real-time settlements and transfers, to include the effective distribution of coronavirus stimulus aid in . This is also important from the perspective of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know-Your-Customer (KYC) regulations. However, Aadhaar’s hope to into the Aadhaar system has come under intense scrutiny,  with many questions being raised by privacy advocates of Aadhaar’s protection and usage of collected data. This raises questions of how AML/KYC regulations can be followed without violating users’ rights to privacy, while still ensuring proper identification of consumers. 2020 integrate consumer biometrics Additionally, the issue of wallets being able to work in cross-border scenarios is also a topic that necessitates further discussion. Different country-specific regulations present significant challenges for regulators, necessitating more investigation on how truly interoperable wallets can be developed for consumer use, with migrant workers, business travelers, and tourists being among the millions of consumers that would want a multi-functional and interoperable wallet. Offline transactions and capabilities are also of significant concern. Additionally, the growth of popularity in other digital assets like cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) also highlight the need for a wallet to incorporate these different asset types while providing consumers with the capability to transact globally. Conclusion In today’s world, a typical consumer’s wallet might be filled with their identification, credit and debit cards, as well as cash in different denominations, with all these things fitting nicely into standardized pockets. Amidst central banks’ rush-to-market to implement CBDCs, governments must consider how consumers can access digital wallets to use CBDCs in the first place, calling upon public and private entities to work together to create the digital version of standardized pockets. Having interoperable wallets capable of holding different digital assets will be just some of the crucial design features that governments must solve, particularly if governments desire to have widespread adoption and use of CBDCs by their respective populations.

Why Understanding Digital Wallets is Key for Central Banks Desiring Widespread CBDC Implementation

As most of the world is still using cheques or some kind of a card to transact money, India has developed a system that allows the transaction of money in no time without any transactional fees. Unified Payments Interface or UPI is an instant real-time payment system that facilitates inter-bank transactions. As of January 2022, it is India's widely accepted model for financial peer-to-peer(P2P) as well as peer-to-merchant(P2M) transactions. It became so successful that in November 2019 Google recommended the US Federal Reserve Board to develop a UPI-like real-time payment solution for the USA. In just five years, UPI has revolutionized the way Indians use digital payment systems. UPI has surpassed global giants like Mastercard, Visa and has also outpaced traditional methods like E-wallets and net banking. India before UPI In a , the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) found out that on average every citizen is doing only six non-cash transactions in a year. However, around 10 million retailers accept debit or credit cards as a method of transaction. survey conducted in March 2011 On further investigation, RBI concluded the following possible reasons for the failure of card-based payment system in India: At that time, a small fraction of the population had smartphones and the internet. The number of people who could afford cards or smartphones on a daily basis was negligible. Digital literacy: Merchants had to pay a 2% charge for every transaction to the card company. This was not possible for many small- or medium-scaled businesses. Transactional fees: The process of sending or receiving money was lengthy and expensive. Merchants had to have a machine to accept cards. People had to enter detailed information of the receiver in order to send the money. Complexity: To tackle this, in 2012, RBI a vision statement for the next four years. RBI recommended the development of an authorized payment system which would be: gave Safe Efficient Accessible Inclusive Interoperable This vision was a part of a green initiative system, one of the objectives of which was to reduce the use of paper. This led to the birth of the United Payments Interface or UPI. United Payments Interface UPI was launched for public use in April 2016. UPI was developed to remove all the friction in digital payments and create an easy, secured way to transact money. It didn't catch much of the public attention until one day. On 8th November 2016; Prime Minister Narendra Modi demonetized the nation's 86% of currency in circulation. At that time more than 90% of the nation's transactions were conducted in cash, more than 85% of workers were getting paid in cash, and about half the population didn't even have a bank account! Demonetization forced people to consider digital payments for transacting money. Before UPI, customers had to submit a cheque or use bank portals if they wanted to transfer money. This was not only time-consuming but also expensive to use on a regular basis. With UPI, it was possible for third-party companies to debit or credit money directly from a customer's bank account. Architecture of UPI National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) developed a secure backend system that makes it possible for third parties to facilitate transactions on behalf of the customer. UPI debarred the need of entering bank or card details before every transaction. Every user has a unique Virtual Payment Address (VPA) which is a combination of a username and a customer’s bank account. If Alice wants to send money to Bob, she only needs to know Bob's VPA (or sometimes contact number only) for the transaction to become successful. This changed the way Indians think of internet banking. What Makes UPI unique? A few features of UPI make it ideal for daily usage in India. Real-Time Payment System Traditional methods such as cheque, NEFT, RTGS take a couple of business days to transfer money. UPI transactions are completed within a few seconds. Moreover, the system is available 24*7 and you can use it from any part of the country. All it requires is a mobile phone and a stable internet connection. Third-Party Companies UPI is not limited to any central authority and neither can it be considered as a product owned by the government. It's a service made available to everyone via NPCI. Anyone can work with NPCI to develop a UPI-backed payment service. PayTM, Amazon, Google, PhonePe are a few such examples. A customer is not forced to use a particular system and is free to use the platform that they want. This is one of the main reasons behind the major success and social acceptance of UPI. Companies always thrive to provide the best features to gain more customers which creates a competitive market for third-party payment applications. Interoperability Interoperability was included in the mission statement of UPI. If the sender is unaware of the receiver’s VPA, they can also use their mobile number, AADHAR number, or even good ol' IFSC/Bank Account Number. UPI allows seamless transactions between two users regardless of their bank account, payment app, or location. Interoperability gives more freedom to the customer than third-party apps. Customers are not tied to send/receive money from one app only. Push-Pull While most of the other alternatives have an option to send money, UPI allows merchants/ customers to ask for money from another user. Security : VPA makes it possible to transfer money without disclosing your name, contact number, AADHAR number, bank details, etc. Personal Information : This adds an extra security layer to the app. Before sending money, user needs to enter a PIN or verify Biometrics to confirm transactions. 1-click 2-Factor authentication How UPI beat Visa and MasterCard In April 2021, UPI took over card payments in terms of volume. According to RBI, 15.8 crores transactions valued at 59,150 crores were conducted in April 2021 via credit card. Whereas UPI handled 119.2 crores UPI-based on P2M transactions valued at INR 81,836 crores. Tier 3 Cities Visa and MasterCard have dominated the global financial sector for a long time. But somehow it never got into mainstream Indian markets. I talked to many folks of my parents’ age. Most of them had a debit or credit card but they hardly ever used it. Using cards for payments was expensive, tedious, and sometimes impossible. None of the two competitors could ever reach tier two or three Indian cities. UPI did exactly that. The simplicity of UPI transactions made it possible for people who were not familiar with technology to adapt and use it. Third-party companies have established themselves in many fields and domains that used VISA or Mastercard for transactions. Customers get many rewards and cash back because of the competition between third parties. Zero MDR UPI announced Zero Merchant Discount Rate (Zero MDR) in P2M transactions that enables UPI transactions to happen without any transactional fees. Unlike card payments, using UPI became beneficial for both customers and merchants. Pandemic and Lockdown The second most important factor after demonetization that helped UPI to become accepted is the nationwide lockdown in March 2021. To follow regulations of social distancing and lockdown, people were again forced to use cashless options. And this time, they choose UPI over anything else. In March 2021, UPI crossed a total of 2.73 billion transactions valued at 5.04 lakh crore Indian rupees. Then In June 2021, a total of 2.8 billion transactions were conducted with a total value of INR 5,47,373 cores. It was the same time when UPI took the crown of digital payments from card-based transactions. For end-users, regardless of them being a customer or a merchant, using UPI based payment system was infinitely better than cards. It saved their money, time, and brain cells by a lot of margins. What Next? What does the future of UPI look like? What’s in the bag? Improvements: Offline Digital Payments At the start of this new year, RBI a framework for carrying out offline digital payments in India. Offline digital transactions would not require internet or telecom connectivity. Users would be able to transact money via mediums like cards, wallets, or mobile phones. Many rural and remote areas in India have weak connectivity. Having an offline mode of the digital transaction would enable many villagers to use digital payments. announced Expanding to Global Markets In August 2020, NPCI launched ‘NPCI International Payments Limited’ or NIPL, which is an NPCI owned subsidiary for expanding UPI and RuPay in international financial markets. In an , Ritesh Shukla, CEO of NIPL said: interview “We are aiming to expand RuPay and UPI acceptance across world destinations, where Indians travel for holidays, study or profession or even stay. We are in talks with global agencies through which we are looking to introduce RuPay and UPI to the world.” He didn’t disclose names of agencies or destinations by some likely destinations might be UAE, Saudi Arabia, and some European and North American countries. Helping Other Countries Many countries have shown interest in developing a UPI-backed payment model for themselves. Recently RBI announced that it is going to sign a pact with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. UPI will be linked with PayNow, which is a P2P funds transfer service in Singapore. Merchants from Singapore have already started to accept BHIM as a mode of payment. Bhutan is also adapting to Indian UPI and is the first country to use Indian UPI standards for its QR codes. Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan partnered with NPCI to launch this. NIPL is trying to implement a real-time payment system in Myanmar. They have submitted a proposal to the Central Bank of Myanmar to introduce a real-time payment system in the country. Network Operational, a company that enables digital commerce in Middle East Africa has signed a memo of understanding with NIPL. We can see UPI-based service in UAE very soon. SWIFT SWIFT is the biggest International Payment Settlement System. Many banks and financial institutions use SWIFT for transferring money internationally. If UPI keeps growing with such momentum, it would create a tough competition for SWIFT. But I believe the road won’t be easy. SWIFT conducts around $5 trillion of transactions per day, whereas UPI conducts 30 million transactions a day. Also, SWIFT has more than 11,000 members across the world. UPI on the other hand has around 220 banks. Conclusion From not making cashless transactions to using cashless payment even for a payment worth of a rupee, India has come so long in the past four years. UPI has the lion’s share in making this possible. Revolution is not easy, even if it is a digital one. Especially in a country like India, where using smartphones and the internet was considered a luxury a few years back. The planning, implementation, and execution behind the Indian digital revolution is really interesting and could be a whole separate topic of a case study. If you find this article helpful, or you think something can be improved, do let me know. I am most active on , and ! Twitter LinkedIn Showwcase Happy Going Cashless 📱

How India Revolutionised its Digital Payment System

Fintech can be defined as a technology that uses science-driven solutions to change traditional financial services. Trading, banking, payments, and lending are all examples of financial activities. The rise of Fintech and mobile app development solutions expand the options and ease with which financial innovations can be implemented. Do you want to find out the role of mobile app development in Fintech? Well, we'll discuss that as well. Role of Fintech apps The evolution of Fintech is something that should be mentioned. Starting from viewing bank balances online to transferring money to friends within seconds, the efficiency of Fintech has improved sufficiently. Fintech has a significant role within stock marketers as they find these apps are pretty helpful to research their investments. For the past couple of years, a large percentage of people choose digital financial services over the traditional money transfer due to various reasons such as: Easiness in financial transactions No need of carrying cash and cards all the time Transactions carried out directly from the banks Track every transaction Transactions can be carried out virtually anywhere Exciting cashback and offers Choosing a digital path can even save your time to a great extent. Let's find out the advantages of fintech apps in detail: 1. Improved Security Fintech apps are dealing with one of the most sensitive things in the globe - money. Therefore, offering security is not an option but a mandatory requirement. Considering this requirement as a serious matter, Fintech apps possess great security features. 2. Advanced Payment Systems An exciting benefit of Fintech is improving the efficiency of enterprises through more accurate invitation acceptance and collection, which provides more professional services and helps strengthen the relationship with customers. In addition, it increases their chances of returning as loyal customers. 3. Smooth and reliable functioning Companies that are into financial technologies use mobile communications. However, it only increases the number of people accessing the system, improves the agility and ability to obtain information about transactions and exchange data with other consumers, and improves the ability to solve this problem. 4. Customer service and revenue Fintech improves the quality of traditional financial institutions by optimizing efficiency and increasing productivity. As banks and credit unions treat fintech companies as allies rather than some companies that sell products, more opportunities are growing. The company's customer loyalty will inevitably increase, resulting in higher profits. 5. Investment management Creating software that can self-learn and improve over time opens up new opportunities for investment professionals. Analysis of loads of data, automated trading, analytical tools, automated advice are several ways. Fintech manifests within the investment industry. 6. More personalized services Fintech enables companies to use innovative technologies to expand their reach and service industries; Fintech companies are actively using mobile communications, increasing the number of people who can use such services ​​and improve the quality and convenience of transactions. For example, if customers can manage finances using smartphones and tablets, they can simplify operations. 5. Faster rate of approval Fintech enables companies to use innovative technologies to expand their reach and services; Fintech companies are actively using mobile communications, increasing the number of people who can use such services and improving the quality and convenience of transactions. For example, if customers can manage their finances through smartphones and tablets, they can simplify its operations. are trying to make bank functionalities simple and more user-friendly than the existing financial services offered by financial firms. For example, let's say, most of us nowadays prefer mobile payment apps such as Paytm, Gpay, PhonePe, etc., over the cliché banking apps. Considering this a great opportunity, getting into a business using fintech apps will elevate your entire business to a much better realm. Mobile app development companies If you are looking for or apps that possess features like bill payment, bank to bank transfer for B2B purposes, or MasterCard API integration, visit Pixbit Solutions. We have the best solution for you and your app development requirement. eWallet app development services To find out more about Fintech and how effective you can use it for your business, our business team. Being the best fintech app development company, we have marked our signature in Fintech, and we are proud to develop and deliver more fintech apps. contact

What Advantages Come With The Use Of Fintech Apps

How many times have you run into a situation where you wish you could do a SQL join without getting duplicate rows back? What if we could get a list "column" returned instead? ’s ARRAY() function enables just that. In this post we’re going to take a look at a basic example of people with addresses and phone numbers. HarperDB Use Cases for the ARRAY() Function Most existing systems have trouble transforming relational data into hierarchical data. Typically large batch processes or ETL jobs exist to perform these data transformations. HarperDB can perform these transformations out-of-the-box with a single SQL query. This query effectively performs the job of an without the need for bloated software. Don’t think this is possible? Keep reading. ORM How the ARRAY() Function Works The HarperDB ARRAY() function, forthcoming in a future release, is an aggregate function, similar to COUNT, SUM, AVG. The difference is that while standard aggregate functions will return computation results, ARRAY() returns a list of data as a field. While this may not be intuitive to those, like myself, who have been using SQL for years, it does enable the developer to create complex JSON objects with a single query. Let’s take a look at an example use case… Example Data We’ll be working with People, Phone Numbers, and Addresses. Each Address and/or Phone Number links back to a single Person. We have 10 person records, each with one or more phone numbers and addresses for a total of 20 addresses and 24 phone numbers. Array Example ERD Connecting Person and Phone Number Let’s say I want to get all of the phone numbers for a person with ID 1. That’s fairly simple, I just query the phone number table for that person. But what happens if I also want to get the person data? I have to execute two queries and connect the data in my application. SELECT * FROM person WHERE person_id = SELECT * FROM phone WHERE person_id = 1 1 Now what happens if I want to get all people and all of their phone numbers. While I’d like to do a simple join, I can’t, because I’d end up with duplicate person data. SELECT * FROM person LEFT JOIN phone ON person.person_id = phone.person_id So, again, I have to run two queries and aggregate the data together in my application. In HarperDB, we have the ARRAY() aggregate function which allows us to return this data, with no duplicates, in a single query. Remember, because ARRAY() is an aggregate function that we need to have a GROUP BY clause specified. In this case, since we are selecting multiple person fields, we need to specify all of them in our GROUP BY clause. Since we included our hash, person_id, we will safely retrieve each person record. SELECT
  person.person_id, 
  person.first_name,
  person.middle_name,
  person.last_name,
  person.saluation,
  person.dob, 
  ARRAY({ : addr.address_type, : addr.address_line_1, : addr.address_line_2, : addr.city, : addr.state, : addr.zip_code,
  }) address 
FROM 
  arr.person AS person 
    LEFT JOIN arr.address AS addr 
      ON person.person_id = addr.person_id
GROUP BY 
  person.person_id,
  person.first_name,
  person.middle_name,
  person.last_name,
  person.saluation,
  person.dob type addressLine1 addressLine2 city state zip as This returns a list of complex JSON objects where each Person object contains a list of Phone objects. For example, the complex object for person ID 1 would look like this: { : , : , : , : , : , : , : [
    { : , : , : , : , : , : },
    { : , : , : , : , : }
  ]
} "person_id" 1 "first_name" "Doug" "middle_name" "James" "last_name" "Henley" "saluation" "Mr." "dob" "8/15/57" "address" "type" "MAILING" "addressLine1" "94317 Roxbury Court" "addressLine2" "Apt 102" "city" "Tampa" "state" "FL" "zip" 33625 "type" "MAILING" "addressLine1" "35 Elgar Court" "city" "Arvada" "state" "CO" "zip" 80005 Connecting Person, Phone Number, and Address Now that we’ve shown how to aggregate list data from a single table let’s take a look at how we can retrieve multiple lists within our complex JSON objects. Ordinarily, if I wanted to pull data for person, phone, and address, then I would need three SQL queries. SELECT * FROM person WHERE person_id = SELECT * FROM phone WHERE person_id = SELECT * FROM address WHERE person_id = 1 1 1 Now, if I were to put all three of those tables into a JOIN statement, I would receive a lot of duplicate data across all three tables. Take a look, here, at what is returned by the below SQL statement. SELECT * 
FROM person 
  LEFT JOIN phone 
    ON person.person_id = phone.person_id 
  LEFT JOIN address
    ON person.person_id = address.person_id Moving back to HarperDB we can query with the ARRAY() function to help us out with this. However, because we are joining across multiple tables we may still see some duplicate data in the phone and address lists. This is the inherent nature of SQL JOINS. In order to solve this problem, HarperDB created the DISTINCT_ARRAY() wrapper function. This function can be placed around a standard ARRAY() function call to ensure a distinct (deduplicated) results set is returned. Now to create our complex Person object with lists of both Phone and Address we can write a SQL statement like this: SELECT
  person.person_id,
  person.first_name,
  person.middle_name,
  person.last_name,
  person.saluation,
  person.dob,
  DISTINCT_ARRAY(ARRAY({ : addr.address_type, : addr.address_line_1, : addr.address_line_2, : addr.city, : addr.state, : addr.zip_code,
  })) address,
  DISTINCT_ARRAY(ARRAY({ : phone.phone_type, : phone.number, : phone.primary_flag,
  })) phone
FROM arr.person AS person
  LEFT JOIN arr.address AS addr
    ON person.person_id = addr.person_id
  LEFT JOIN arr.phone AS phone
    ON person.person_id = phone.person_id
GROUP BY
  person.person_id,
  person.first_name,
  person.middle_name,
  person.last_name,
  person.saluation,
  person.dob type addressLine1 addressLine2 city state zip as type num primaryFlag as The complex object for Person ID 1 returned from the above query looks like this { : , : , : , : , : , : , : [
    { : , : , : , : , : , : },
    { : , : , : , : , : }
  ], : [
    { : , : , : },
    { : , : , : }
  ]
} "person_id" 1 "first_name" "Doug" "middle_name" "James" "last_name" "Henley" "saluation" "Mr." "dob" "8/15/57" "address" "type" "MAILING" "line1" "94317 Roxbury Court" "line2" "Apt 102" "city" "Tampa" "state" "FL" "zip" 33625 "type" "MAILING" "line1" "35 Elgar Court" "city" "Arvada" "state" "CO" "zip" 80005 "phone" "type" "REFERENCE" "num" "926-647-6907" "primaryFlag" 1 "type" "HOME" "num" "737-377-6038" "primaryFlag" 0 With a single query in we were able to transform SQL data into a complex JSON object that can be used in your modern application! HarperDB Sample Data Here are links to CSVs of each table used in the above example. You can also view the data below. person.csv address.csv phone.csv Also published at https://dev.to/harperdb/sql-queries-to-complex-objects-with-array-function-4p6

Querying Complex JSON Objects With SQL

The mobile banking sector has seen continued growth in the past decade, with alone. With almost all business operations shifting from brick and mortar to virtual due to the ongoing pandemic, the demand for virtual banking soars more than ever now. 57 million mobile banking users in the United States Mobile banking has come a long way from its beginnings in the 90s. What started as a simple text alert for debit and credit notifications has now transformed into full-fledged, fast, secure, and reliable applications that perform millions of transactions a day with the power of a few clicks. From basic transactions such as paying bills to more complex ones such as investments, gold purchases, and sending money overseas, there is no end to what a virtual banking system can offer you. To put it simply, a portable bank now resides in your smartphone! So, what probably can go wrong? For starters, virtual banking is heavily dependent on the robustness, dependability, and impregnable security of its applications. Without these, the financial health of its users will be heavily compromised, resulting in catastrophic losses. The question that arises then is: How do we ensure that our mobile banking applications are up to date and highly secure? The answer lies in two approaches: Stringent quality assurance measures- software testing of your mobile banking app. Staying abreast and updated with current industry trends. First: Second: In this article, we’ll explore the top 8 mobile banking trends for 2021 and beyond, which will shape the future of virtual banking in the coming decade. Let’s get started: The mobile banking market and technology trends in 2021 in 2018 shows that millennials constitute 69.3% of all the users in the mobile banking industry in the US. A whopping 760 million global users make mobile payments, persuading sellers and service providers to accept cashless mobile payment services as a standardized form of currency. A survey published by Statista The future of banking lies in automation The onset of the pandemic has coerced banks and other financial institutions to automate routine and repetitive tasks for no-touch customer interactions. While some of us disagree with cognitive computing and robotic automation, as it puts many traditional human jobs to dust, its implementation is critical to ensure that banks prepare for a tech-savvy digital transformation. Manual processing, no matter how skilled, is error-prone and slow and comes at the cost of training and experience. Cardless ATM transactions Let’s face it. The possibility of us fumbling for a debit card at the ATM and then ever so discreetly entering the pin in a public booth is so archaic. Newer innovations such as mobile pin ATM transactions and QR code scanning, are now eliminating the scene of plastic cards. Also, cardless ATM withdrawals will finally put an end to Clone Card frauds. Enabling secure transactions quickly, cardless ATM transactions are a convenient option for customers. Near field communication technology allows apps like PhonePe, Google Pay, Apple Pay to connect with the ATM and allow for safe withdrawals. AI/ML, Chatbots to the rescue Leveraging Artificial Intelligence is helping banks scale the speed of their transactions, thereby pleasing customers. Machine Language is enabling next-level predictive personalization by digging into customer data. AI also aids in early fraud detection, performing KYC checks, and improving anti-money laundering processes. AI-powered Chatbots are all the rage with technology-driven banks to eliminate the need for an actual assistant. These smart bots can solve basic issues and respond to simple, frequently asked queries, providing much-needed help to customers with problems. The role of Chatbots does not end with helping alone; they are well used as a marketing tool to promote the bank’s newest product and service offerings, thereby making chatbots a worthy financial advisor. Voice recognition Mobile banking applications are getting on the bandwagon of voice command by incorporating voice search and app navigation into their interfaces. It makes banking applications user-friendly for the elderly and differently abled customers. Elaborate menus can be puzzling to find your way around. Voice commands help get to the required transactions faster by searching precisely what a customer needs, thereby allowing them to have a seamless and swift virtual banking experience. Stronger biometrics for your security Move over Sci-fi movies. Adapting biometric detection for user authentication and authorization is now a reality. Biometrics such as fingerprints, facial recognition, voice recognition, eye scanners, etc., are becoming a part of mobile banking applications to verify users, making app security fool-proof. Blockchain Blockchain is to 2021 what the internet was to 1995. No one knew how huge it was until it wholly revolutionized and took over. Blockchain will be a critical competency in the banking sector by enhancing digital security, enabling swift payments and settlement systems, and simplifying the whole accounting and auditing process. It is inherently a decentralized platform that aids in scaling efficiency and accuracy. As a result of reduced human intervention, the processing fees of bank services will be lowered. Big Data and fraud protection The data pertaining to a bank’s customers is a goldmine, which can be tapped into, to design & deliver tailormade financial products & services. However, this data also poses the risk of being mishandled and tampered with. Baby boomers and Gen X find it hard to shift to virtual banking because they find it fishy and fraudulent to deal with. The lack of security notion adopted by many people changes once we harness stringent cybersecurity practices. is the key to countering such issues. By adopting quality assurance measures, the shift-left testing approach, particularly banking application developers, can embed security into every phase of their development journey, thereby identifying vulnerabilities early on and proactively preventing attacks. Software testing of mobile banking applications Banking apps – your fund managers The presence of numerous financial applications being rolled out by leading banks and financial service providers, is proof enough that this industry is ready for its digital transformation. The emergence of third-party payment gateways in addition to the in-house mobile banking applications put smartphone owners at the liberty to choose between the faster and more reliable option. Mobile banking applications need to have flawless UX, UI and uninterrupted backend support. Mobile banking applications in the latter half of the decade will scale up to provide an umbrella of AI-powered services and operate uninterrupted in any condition. Summing it up: There is no doubt that the banking infrastructure is revolutionized with the emergence of numerous mobile banking applications. But the threat of cyber-attacks, data breach, and a crashing application always looms. Software testing of mobile banking applications is an essential element for virtual banking to counter these issues. The robustness of mobile banking applications can be increased by adopting quality assurance, thereby improving performance, functionality and security. Delivering a reliable application can only be ensured when tested by an experienced like Qualitest, with skilled testing professionals possessing in-depth domain knowledge. QA services company

Top 8 Mobile Banking Trends in 2021 

2 Google Pay is a digital wallet platform and online payment system developed by Google. It is currently the market leader, with over 38% dominance, and a large user base. It has recently launched its campaign for Diwali, which is quite similar to the Diwali stickers game that was launched last year during Diwali. Only this time, it is going super viral, and here’s why: Go India Why Google Pay is so popular in the first place? Sleek UI Google’s UI is probably the smoothest among all the UPI apps in the market. Having such a simple UI not only helps in customer acquisition easy but helps the customers be more productive. This, in turn, increases customer retention rates. Clever Incentive Structure Apart from its smooth UI and ease of use, one more reason is its incentive structure. Unlike other apps, Google Pay’s incentive structure is pretty easy to understand. Where and are offering tons of cashback and coupons, often, it has tens of terms and conditions attached that make it difficult for users to remember and well use those incentives. Paytm PhonePe On the other hand, is simply offering a scratch card with variable monetary value that will automatically be transferred to the users’ bank account, if the user wins any amount. There’s absolutely no terms or conditions attached to this. Google Pay Google is also offering vouchers that can also be simply redeemed on its partners’ website, with no hassle. Variable Winning Gifts The winning amount is highly variable. There’s no such thing like “Get 10% cashback “or “Get Assured ₹20”, the winning amount that Google is offering is ranged between ₹101-₹501, and the winner may win any random amount after every scratch or no amount at all. It is an interesting move by Google as it makes the user curious, keeping them hooked to the app for a long time than usual. Competitors In The Market As of June 2020, Google Pay was so far the dominant player in the market with over 38% of the market share, thanks to its competitive market strategies, interactive UI, and clever inventive structure, it is leaving all the other players behind. PhonePe (backed by Flipkart) had a 19.8% market share, Paytm (owned by One97 Communications) had a 15.9% market share, and Amazon Pay (backed by Amazon India) had a 16% market share. However, with the introduction of WhatsApp Pay, these numbers may change soon. (Source: ) Business Insider Go India (2020 Diwali Campaign) Okay, so what is all the fuss all about? Like the 2019 Diwali campaign, Google Pay is back with yet another creative campaign that’s going viral for all the right reasons. For those who are not aware of this, Google launched its 2020 Diwali campaign where users have to collect tickets and virtually visit multiple cities in India. (See picture below) How does it work? At the start of the game, users will be given virtual tickets and KM points. Using the KM points, users can travel from one city to another, until they reach the 30th city by 25th November 2020, which is the finale. Once the users have visited all the 30 cities, they will get a chance to win a reward worth anywhere between ₹101-₹501. As soon as the given tickets and KM points are exhausted, users have to perform actions like paying a merchant, sending money to a friend, etc., to collect more tickets and KM points. Users can also send/receive tickets to/from their friends and family, making it more fun to play. City Event Bonus In between these 30 cities, visiting a particular city at a particular time also gives a chance to win a bonus gift. It would either be a cashback coupon or a flat reward that ranges between ₹20 to ₹100 by answering a couple of questions. Fun Networking The real fun begins here. Once you have exhausted your tickets, the best (and the most popular) way of getting tickets is to ask your peers. Since tickets are given randomly, users can exchange their tickets, and keep playing till they reach the 30Th city. The networking feature alone made Google the talk of the town in a quick time since everyone was LITERALLY asking for tickets everywhere. It also prompted old users to reactive their accounts and start playing. Taking Advantage Of FOMO Now that Google Pay became a talk of the town, where even the old users reactivated their accounts to play the viral game, the fear of missing out (FOMO) was too hard to resist. It evoked interest among the general public, whose network (friend or family) might already be discussing, sharing, and taking part in the game. And the fact that you have a limited set of things to do during this COVID-19 pandemic only erupted the campaign. (Remember how the Ludo game exploded as soon as the lockdown started?) “FOMO is the biggest reason why we are so addicted to this internet.” - Uddalak Das Boosting Payments Now that Google Pay was already going super-viral, the number of payments of the platform has also increased many folds. Guess why? For instance, once you have exhausted your virtual tickets or KM point, you have to perform certain actions to get more. Once the users were hooked to the app, Google used this to boost its primary objective — making them spend. These include the following: Paying Bills These include paying bills for DTH, Electricity, Broadband, etc. (We cannot run from these either, so why not?) Recharging Prepaid Plans Users can recharge their mobile plans to get a ticket and KM points. (We do this anyway, don’t we?) Paying Merchants In simple words, whenever you are buying something, pay using Google Pay. (If the shop owner doesn’t have Google Pay, the person will get it now because you spread the word-of-mouth. SMART MOVE, GOOGLE!) Buying Gold Because it was Dhanteras anyway. (And we Indians love buying gold as an investment, especially during this pandemic.) Sending Money To Friends The fact that there is no minimum limit, you can even send ₹1, and get a free ticket/KM points. This transaction can either be on UPI or direct Bank Transfer. (Although the real intention here is to keep maximum accounts active and running.) And many more ways. Wrapping Up! Every day, I wake up to at least five messages asking me for tickets, hundreds of status/stories on WhatsApp and Facebook, and tons of memes, YouTube videos, and what not! Kudos to Google and its Marketing and Sales team! You did a fantastic job, and I must say, this year’s campaign was far more interesting than the last year’s. Even before the campaign is over, I can safely say, you people are absolutely killin’ it! Oh, by the way, I’m still looking for a ticket to Gaya. If you have one, don’t forget to let me know in the comments. I would appreciate it wholeheartedly. ❤️ If you find this article useful, consider sharing this among your peers, and don’t forget to share your thoughts below. Thank you for staying this far. 🎇 If you loved reading this article and wish me to write for your business, feel free to reach out to , even if it is just a query. uddalakdas999@outlook.com #NinjaWriter

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