Mobile Payments

Paypal, Square, Dwolla ,Apple Pay ,Google Wallet and so on....... 
Does anything strike you when you hear of mobile payments?
Q. So what exactly are mobile payments and what do the above companies do?
A . As the name suggest 'payment or transaction' through mobiles(no-brainer!)
So lets just cite Wikipedia:

Mobile payment, also referred to as mobile money, mobile money transfer, and mobile wallet generally refer to payment services operated under financial regulation and performed from or via a mobile device. Instead of paying with cash, cheque, or credit cards, a consumer can use a mobile phone to pay for a wide range of services and digital or hard goods.It is only recently that the technology to support such systems has become widely available.

Now lets put in some of India's jugaad into this Technology:
Scenario 1:
(Old Situation)[no mobile payments]
You board a city bus and the cost of the ticket to your place is say ₹17 and you happen to have a ₹20 note, to your sad luck the bus conductor says he has no change. You being an idealistic spender(a.k.a miser or kanjoos) part away with your beloved ₹3.

(Now)[mobile payment available]
You board into the same bus and have to go to the same place and the cost of the ticket is the same and you again just happen to have the same amount of money. This time the bus conductor asks you(to your surprise) whether you have a smartphone or any phone for that matter with some balance in it.
You being a smart 21 year old, give him/her the 'You don't say ' look.
The bus conductor then informs you of the new form of payment in the bus i.e-You can pay through your phone now(a.k.a Mobile payments).
So you ask him how?He explains:
Beta, if you have an iphone we use Apple Pay [usage of your fingerprint as the passcode to your card]
If you have an android phone we use  Google Wallet [Just tap your phone on the reader] as the bus conductor happens to have a Google Wallet reader
Like a boss you pay him through the mobile

Scenario 2:
[mobile payment available]
You walk into your local grocery and you happen to purchase for around ₹49-₹249, you want to pay quickly and head to another shop. To ease your payment your local grocer has put forward mobile payment and also takes in card(  Square   ).
You happily pay him through your card and to your great surprise the transaction fee is super low.

Scenario 3:
[mobile payment allowed]
Your friends and you have eaten lunch at nearby restaurant and you guys want to split up the bill evenly and pay
With special features of mobile payments app, you can evenly divide the bill and the app automatically deducts money from your bank account.

So lets see the positives of mobile payments:

• Paying bills is so easy and convenient
• Transparency of your transactions increases(you can track your expenditure much easily) 
• Collection of money becomes easier
• Minor increases in rates(say ₹0.25 increase in bus charge, a small amount for you but if the city bus collects that from every traveler ,it will become  a huge amount of revenue.)
• Micro taxes can easily be administered by the government
  

But what are the drawbacks of this system:

• You definitely need to have a mobile
• What if your mobile's battery died?
• Internet connectivity required for security of transaction(Internet is not available everywhere)
• Hacking(but even physical money can easily be stolen)
• Illiterates will have tough time with this technology
• M-payments options should be available even on low end mobile handsets
• High transaction fee
  

We can conclude that India has a huge potential for the adoption of Mobile Payments,if all the drawbacks can be addressed in a better manner.
Many India startups have been innovating and making the technology more easily adoptable,Lets hope they succeed

Next up...My view and experiments on stoicism