8
vritti
March 2018
Last but certainly not the least, let's talk
payments. It's quite straightforward, really.
I believe that consolidation of various payment
systems will take place in a significant way,
encompassing the mobile handset, cards,
online payments, in-application payments,
and the whole lot. Naturally then, players who
offer a consolidated view in this regard will
clearly have an edge over the competition.
Now, let's be more specific. In the Indian
context, there has been a lot of buzz around
using Aadhar for payments at physical point
-of-sales. However-and I don't mean to burst
this bubble-I do not see it taking place in
the near future, at least. On the other hand,
the leveraging and deployment of a unified
payments interface (UPI) will continue to
surge. Here's evidence to support this-as
per Morgan Stanley's Tracking Digital
Payments report, UPI's contribution to digital
payments has increased to 5 per cent (in
the second quarter of 2017-18) versus 3
per cent in the previous quarter and 1 per
cent in 2016-17. In fact, on a monthly basis,
Trending Now
that number has already reached 13.8 per
cent, as per data released by the Reserve
Bank of India for December. Clearly an up-
and-comer, this!
On the same note, QR Codes, I believe, will
slowly but surely find themselves in main
stream payments. In so far, china, India and
South East Asia has been a success story
in this regard-wherein QR Codes have gained
significant traction. Eventually, the ambit is
expected to enhance significantly in 2018,
with markets like Africa are expected to jump
onto the bandwagon as well. Signs are already
in place, with Safaricom launching QR codes
and mVisa and Masterpass QR pushing the
use of QR Codes in developing countries.
2018 clearly promises to be an eventful year
for the digital payments space. A word of
caution-while extensive lists of what will be
at the forefront this year are doing the rounds,
it is still too soon to say for sure. One
thing's certain, though-the industry ought to
buckle up-interesting times lie ahead!