“Payment apps are no longer focused on just collection of payments, rather they are steadily and gradually evolving towards providing additional services as well. These apps in future will add more services, for example citizens already can make their LPG bookings on payment apps and will be able to do much more” opined Mr. Prasad Kolte, COO, Maharashtra IT at Sapphire Connect’srecently concluded virtual summit – PayGround.

On November 27^th, Sapphire Connect bought the spotlight on the ever evolving and growing ecosystem of digital payments through their virtual summit – PayGround – New Age Payments E-Summit 2020. With more than 500 attendees and an illustrious panel of speakers comprising of some of the most renowned names in the industry, the virtual summit touched upon some very critical aspects of the digital payment ecosystem. This day-long summit had sessions ranging from financial inclusion, to addressing online frauds to highlighting the importance of customer experience.

The digital revolution has redefined the way we transact today; physical transactions are steadily reducing whilst digital transactions are on the rise.BFSI & NBFCs now find themselves in an evolutionary stage, most aptly expressed by Ms.SunitaHanda, CGM IT – Channels & Ops, SBI “The new ABCD of the banking sector now are Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Cloud-Computing & Data Analytics”. Ms.Handa had quite an interactive and insightful session with Mr. Mohan Tanksale, Strategic Consultant, SWIFT India Domestic Services at PayGround in their session – Evolution of traditional banks in the digital age.

As digital payments become increasingly the preferred mode of transactions, governments across the globe are using digital payments as tool to maximise financial inclusion.  PayGround 2020 did not only focus on the evolution of the digital payment ecosystem in India but also shed light on the growing digital payment ecosystems among the SAARC nations of Sri Lank & Nepal. While speaking in the Inaugural Panel DiscussionBanking for the Un-Banked,Mr.AnirvanGhoshDastidar, Chief Executive Officer, Standard Chartered Bank Nepal said “Nepal had a more stringent lockdown which lasted for 6 months, the pandemic did prove to be a blessing, as there was an increased demand in RTGS, which is new to Nepal. Wallets have become a big thing and the new normal will be less of branches and more of digital capabilities”. In the same session Mr.R A AJayalath, Asst Governor, Central Bank of Sri Lankaexpressed “Over 85% of the populations have bank accounts, but when you look into the usage of these accounts it is at 50%. Sri Lanka introduced digital payments few years bank. One of the major challenges is customer education and financial literacy among the masses. We are working on increasing the awareness of the masses and are witnessing the rise of awareness among the masses”.

Speaking on financial literacy, Mr.NitinChugh, MD & CEO of Ujjivan Small Finance Bank said that financial literacy is integrated into their overall plan and that they have a department dedicated to increasing financial literacy among their customers and non-customers by organizing classroom sessions through their Parinaam Foundation. Furthermore, sharing his thoughts on financial inclusion Mr.MrutyunjayMahapatra, Former Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Syndicate Bank said “Financial inclusion must be extended beyond opening of banking accounts. Financial inclusion must include Technology Inclusion, Management Inclusion and most importantly Gender Inclusion”.

As the day progressed, the summit witnessed senior industry leaders sharing their insights and experience on various subjects. The presence of leaders like Mr.ArijitBasu, Former Managing Director - Commercial, State Bank of India;Mr. Deepak Sharma, President & Chief Digital Officer, Kotak Mahindra Bank; Mr.Abhaya Prasad Hota, Consultant, Swift India Domestic Services; Subhojit Roy, Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer, SBI Mutual Fund; Mr.J A Chowdary, Chairman, India Blockhain Standards Committee & General Partner, Succeed Indovations Fund; Mr.Syed Musheer Ahmed, Founder & Managing Director, FinStep Asia; Mr.SrinivasKasturi, Global Head of Mass Payments and Country Product Management, Corporate Bank, Barclays; Ms.SharateeGhosh, Sr EVP Customer Experience Centre & Virtual Relationship Management, Kotak Mahindra Bank; Ms.JijyOommen, Chief Technology Officer, Kinara Capital and many more, keptthe conversation both interesting and insightful.

Mr. Rishi Kapoor, Associate Partner & Business Head at Sapphire Connectshared his and his team’s thoughts behind hosting PayGround – “Financial transactions have constantly evolved through the ages and they continue to evolve today. Our mandate for PayGround was to showcase this evolving ecosystem with all its complexities.We wanted to launch platform for leaders and pioneers of this space to divulge and deliberate on how to enhance this space further. The Pandemic forced us to reinvent ourselves and to launch PayGround on a digital platform. We are hopeful the coming year of 2021 will witness the end of the pandemic, allowing us to re-launch PayGround on-ground, in person!”

Given this, since the dawn of civilization, transactions have been at the epicentre of commerce and trade. It began with the introduction of the barter system to gradually evolving into the new normal of today of digital payments. Financial transactions for sure have come a long way and to know what it will evolve into next, stay tuned for the next edition of PayGround.

Source : Press Release