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India's Plan to Bring Digital Banking to 1.2B People

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Re: India's Plan to Bring Digital Banking to 1.2B People

#41
post #22

Here's an anecdote about India. They started requiring customer authorisation on all card transaction recently (signature doesn't cut it and no Paywave for you). There were reports on how that that forced Uber to use local payment gateway. Anyway, couple months ago I was in Chennai, went to a restaurant with a customer and when the bill came which customer didn't give me a chance to pick up, they handed over a card A…

Thanks for clarifying, peeps! As you understand, I'm selling it at what I bought it for, merely retelling what I've been told. In this particular case, bill was definitely more that $20 and to my knowledge, there was not 2-step auth, just a notification.

I definitely seen it more than once and it also does seem to me that wired terminals are still quite common, but I might be wrong since I, naturally, pay with foreign bank's card and don't have to punch in a PIN.

Afaik, fully cloning a chip card is fairly easily done with a cloning device, one of those you might have seen hooked up to an ATM.

And I'm happy that you guys seem to be content with the way things are. I'd be totally paranoid having to share my PIN even once, ever. I mean, after that some one should be able to withdraw tons of cash and after I see the notification, bank would be in their full right to refuse reimbursement on the grounds that I shared my PIN. And they'd be absolutely right.

Cheers!

Re: India's Plan to Bring Digital Banking to 1.2B People

#42
post #22

Here's an anecdote about India. They started requiring customer authorisation on all card transaction recently (signature doesn't cut it and no Paywave for you). There were reports on how that that forced Uber to use local payment gateway. Anyway, couple months ago I was in Chennai, went to a restaurant with a customer and when the bill came which customer didn't give me a chance to pick up, they handed over a card A…

I was under the assumption that the 12-digit ID is public data, the bank account number, not the password to access it. Unless they can scan your iris and derive the number themselves to identify you, which makes it similar to a bitcoin address, while the private key for that address is your biometric data.

I very much doubt they plan to equip POS's with biometric readers, not to mentioned I doubt there's a reliable enough tech to deploy at such scale.

Re: India's Plan to Bring Digital Banking to 1.2B People

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not going to argue against the general thesis that the US banking system is antiquated, but I gotta pick these nits: - Checks are usually free in the US. - You don't usually get charged to have a checking account in the US. - The lack of interest on most US checking accounts is due to the very low inflation rate and nearly zero federal rate. Adjusted for inflation, what is the interest rate of your Indian checkin…

- You don't usually get charged to have a checking account in the US. I have to maintain a minimum balance of 1500$ for the checking account to be free. >> - The lack of interest on most US checking accounts is due to the very low inflation rate and nearly zero federal rate. Adjusted for inflation, what is the interest rate of your Indian checking account? Back in the 70s when inflation was high in the US checking ac…

Pick a different bank. Almost every bank I walk by offers free checking with $100 balance, or even less

Re: India's Plan to Bring Digital Banking to 1.2B People

#44
post #11

Audacious plan? That would be getting their 1.2 Billion people reasonable access to fresh water and indoor plumbing.

So any other plans should be put on hold while doing this? Access to sanitary facilities has been one of the prime agendas of Modi's elections and he is delivering on it too. http://qz.com/505276/narendra-modis-most-popular-move-so-far...

Sigh. No, I did not suggest that all other initiatives should be put on hold. The pivot, fulcrum, etc. for my comment was the use of the word "audacious" in the article title. Since the use of brevity has... muddied the waters:

I don't think the deployment of yet another digital payment method that allows for the highly centralized storage of personal information, in a country that does not yet have enough toilets (yes, there is an initiative under way) or reasonable access to fresh water, qualifies as audacious.

I suppose I may have pulled up short on the Audacity Scale by copping low with sewage and water, instead of mentioning crime and air pollution.

Of course, YMMV.

Re: India's Plan to Bring Digital Banking to 1.2B People

#45
post #22

Here's an anecdote about India. They started requiring customer authorisation on all card transaction recently (signature doesn't cut it and no Paywave for you). There were reports on how that that forced Uber to use local payment gateway. Anyway, couple months ago I was in Chennai, went to a restaurant with a customer and when the bill came which customer didn't give me a chance to pick up, they handed over a card A…

Can relate to some parts of this. Controls are bypassed routinely. The concept of privacy is a foreign idea, almost. People don't understand basic elements of security. But openly giving up your PIN seems quite silly. Not shame as much as laziness and stupidity, it seems.

Re: India's Plan to Bring Digital Banking to 1.2B People

#46
post #19

The plan is based on a national identity system with 80% penetration: > So far, India's attempt to assign every citizen a unique 12-digit number associated with a person's unique iris, fingerprint or facial features, is succeeding—just last week, Aadhaar reached its milestone of registering 1 billion people. With more than 80 percent of Indians enrolled, it gives the payments system a solid base to build on. This rem…

[deleted]

Re: India's Plan to Bring Digital Banking to 1.2B People

#47
post #19

The plan is based on a national identity system with 80% penetration: > So far, India's attempt to assign every citizen a unique 12-digit number associated with a person's unique iris, fingerprint or facial features, is succeeding—just last week, Aadhaar reached its milestone of registering 1 billion people. With more than 80 percent of Indians enrolled, it gives the payments system a solid base to build on. This rem…

I held off for a very long time. I realized finally that if it is OK for me to give these details to foreign governments ( for visa ) atleast I should not be so uneasy about giving it to the Indian government which ( at least theoretically ) have the responsibility to defend my interests.

Banks can't arrest you for violating bogus immoral crimes. Your government can. You should be much more afraid of the government violating your privacy than your banks.

Re: India's Plan to Bring Digital Banking to 1.2B People

#48
post #32
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>because Hindus are a dying majority in India. Curious what you meant by that. Care to explain?

Hindus have always been the majority on the Indian subcontinent (around 90%), similar to how the majority of Americans (after the 1700s) have been white. The prime worry of the Hindu population seems to be that gradually they would represent smaller proportions of the overall population. The reasoning behind this is that although you can convert to other religions, it isn't possible to convert to Hinduism. In 1951 Hi…

It is always possible to convert to Hinduism. There is no authority that decides if you are Hindu or not. You just are if you believe that you are.

Lets I digress. You can be a Hindu today if you want. Just start incorporating Hindu philosophies in your life. Choose an atheist one if you like.

PS: Not advocating anyone to convert to Hinduism. In fact I think that the lower castes should abandon Hinduism if the upper castes don't reform fast enough.

Re: India's Plan to Bring Digital Banking to 1.2B People

#49
post #32
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>because Hindus are a dying majority in India. Curious what you meant by that. Care to explain?

Hindus have always been the majority on the Indian subcontinent (around 90%), similar to how the majority of Americans (after the 1700s) have been white. The prime worry of the Hindu population seems to be that gradually they would represent smaller proportions of the overall population. The reasoning behind this is that although you can convert to other religions, it isn't possible to convert to Hinduism. In 1951 Hi…

> it is also impossible to think of a non-Hindu holding any serious power in India for the foreseeable future.

the last prime minister was a Sikh, the leader of the party which was in power for the last 10 years was an Italian Catholic.

Re: India's Plan to Bring Digital Banking to 1.2B People

#50
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I held off for a very long time. I realized finally that if it is OK for me to give these details to foreign governments ( for visa ) atleast I should not be so uneasy about giving it to the Indian government which ( at least theoretically ) have the responsibility to defend my interests.

Banks can't arrest you for violating bogus immoral crimes. Your government can. You should be much more afraid of the government violating your privacy than your banks.

[deleted]
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