Live data from Hacker News

A digital payments revolution in India

economist.com

111–120 of 179 posts

Re: A digital payments revolution in India

#111

The article repeats a claim discussed by https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03056244.2019.16... "that ‘access to the Kenyan mobile money system M-PESA increased per capita consumption levels and lifted 194,000 households, or 2% of Kenyan households, out of poverty’ (Suri and Jack 2016, 1288). It is no exaggeration to say that this article and its specific poverty reduction claim have electrified the internat…

An anecdote I posted above specifically about the positive impact digital payments has had on poverty eradication:

In my ancestral village, before cashless payments the nearest bank was 5 miles away in the district/county headquarters. If you needed to take out cash or deposit a paycheck, you'd need to ride a bike or take a bus or walk over potholed roads to get to that bank which was staffed with lazy employees who'd take chai+nashta breaks all the time. With the proliferation of cashless payment options, it's much easier now to deposit a paycheck or buy groceries in these small towns and villages.

Re: A digital payments revolution in India

#112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can use UPI offline: https://www.gadgetsnow.com/how-to/how-to-pay-online-using-up... This is what I mean with so many misconceptions, falsehoods and just outright conspiracy theories, from people who have probably never used UPI.

> you can use UPI offline Yes, UPI Lite (local offline wallet) has a transaction limit of INR 200. Yes, 200. With a limit of 4000 per day and the Lite wallet can hold 2000 at any one time. Good luck doing anything serious with that. Also, good luck reloading the wallet when the internet is blocked. Note: the context of this thread was a UPI vs Cash comparison. Cash is king when the internet isn’t available. UPI Lite…

> They are a massive failure of local governance in India. And getting defensive about it won’t help you in the long run, if you live in India. Sooner or later, you’ll be affected too.

Yep. Welfare Schemes are distributed via UPI, and internet shutdowns often affect regions where there are a number of residents who are eligible for welfare schemes like MGNREGA, PMSBY, etc.

Look at Manipur for example or portions of UP during law and order flairups.

That said, in my ancestral village it is being used as a cash alternative. Almost no one there is eligible for a credit card, and "payment disputes" are resolved with lathis or bandhs.

Re: A digital payments revolution in India

#114
post #57

[flagged]

The digital payments infrastructure in India has done more to bring more people into the banking system than what was possible earlier. It is pervasive, ubiquitous and very user friendly. This is all thanks to the mobile data revolution ushered in by the telecoms companies in India over the last decade and a half. Yes, data privacy is a larger issue that needs to be addressed in India, but that is no different than o…

How many hours a week was the average person spending driving to get cash?

Re: A digital payments revolution in India

#115
post #30

As a note, this is slightly incorrect: > The Indian model is inspiring others. Brazil’s Pix, which facilitates bank-to-bank payments with a small fee, was launched in November 2020. It now accounts for some 30% of Brazil’s electronic payments (credit and debit cards take up around 20% each) In fact, Pix is free, which is the main reason why the Brazilian population adopted it so widely and so quickly. Before Pix, you…

Nitpick: Pix is free between people. Companies pay ~1% of the transaction

That is crazy high, cash back credit card levels

Re: A digital payments revolution in India

#116

India: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Payments_Interface Brazil: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pix_(payment_system) US: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FedNow

Also, Pakistan launched its own last year. Unfortunately, no wiki entry.

https://www.sbp.org.pk/dfs/Raast.html

Re: A digital payments revolution in India

#117

I wish there were better ways to use UPI as a tourist. Like if wise.com could support QR code payments to it. Right now the system isn’t very accessible to those on short term visits.

https://travel.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/technology/...

(Foreign tourists & travellers in India can now make payments using UPI)

Re: A digital payments revolution in India

#118

India: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Payments_Interface Brazil: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pix_(payment_system) US: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FedNow

Singapore: FAST - https://www.abs.org.sg/consumer-banking/fast

Thailand: PromptPay - https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Digital-Banking/Prom...

Australia: NPP - https://www.rba.gov.au/payments-and-infrastructure/new-payme...

Hong Kong: FPS - https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/smart-consumers/faster-payment-s...

Philippines: InstaPay - https://www.instapayph.com/

Mexico: CoDI - https://www.codi.org.mx/

Indonesia: BI-FAST - https://www.bi.go.id/en/publikasi/ruang-media/news-release/P...

Re: A digital payments revolution in India

#119
As a big fan of UPI, I have a concern if people became too much dependent on it. What happens when there is a power outage for extended period of time (due to war, natural calamity, grid failure, etc)?

Most shops in India do not have backup power provisioned.

Re: A digital payments revolution in India

#120
post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for bringing this clarity. And as an Indian citizen I am glad we took this step towards building an independent payments infrastructure, given how critical a payments clearance system is to the functioning of a modern economy. I don't want other governments to hold us hostage through Visa's and Mastercard's where we are just one sanction away from economic meltdown. Just like what happened recently in Russi…

Absolutely, the US government has a long tradition of weaponizing US Dollar and SWIFT to cut off countries from global trade. This is a fact that has been happening ever since the petrodollar was invented. Governments all over the world, especially India, have realized this is a big vulnerability and a threat to their country's sovereignty. India, Brazil and several countries across the world have invested in their o…

> For those who don't know India has been on the receiving end of US sanctions for a variety of reasons.

According to wikipedia[0] there‘s only ever been two sanctions against India by the US. A short lived one from 98-99 because of a nuclear ban and a much longer one from 92-2011 related to the space program/missile development.

A quick search didn‘t turn up any current US sanctions either. Were there more sanctions or are you referring to these two?

Post reply on HN