Empowering a cashless India can be no quick-fix

MobiKwik counts itself among the pioneers of digital wallets in India and has now set its sights on becoming the largest source of digital transactions in the country. Upasana Taku, who co-founded MobiKwik along with Bipin Preet Singh, traces the Gurgaon-headquartered firm's journey so far, how digital-ready India really is for their cashless model, and the key to attracting finance for digital start-ups in the country. What is the ethos behind MobiKwik Our ethos is to support digital payments for a cashless society. Shopping and paying bills must be seamless and convenient for all, instead of it being a hassle and multi-step process. With this inspiration, we pioneered the concept of a digital wallet in India in 2009, way before the e-commerce burst. Since our inception as a single page website to a multi-platform application with over 30 million users, the company has come a long way. We make payments happen within seconds, in a three-step hassle-free process. We are today the largest digital payments platform with maximum offline reach and over 100,000 merchants. How does the firm plan to enable the Indian government′s financial inclusion goals After a successful running of cash-based economy for generations, cash is being replaced by digital payments and mobile wallets. And at the forefront of this change is MobiKwik. Today, in India, debit cards issued are about 500+ million, but only about 10 per cent of them are active. Credit card penetration is at less than 30 million. On the business side, India has 30-40 million small and medium enterprises (SMEs including kirana stores), but only 1.1 million point of sale (POS) machines have been deployed so far. The overall number of merchants in India who accept any kind of electronic payment is very low and stands at around 0.7 million. Given these constraints, it is not a surprise to note that about 95 per cent of payments in India still happen in cash. Realising the extent of these constraints, we have strategic partnerships with merchants, IRCTC (train ticket bookings) and Karnataka & Delhi government to push large scale financial inclusion in the country. What are some of the key initiatives to help India's un-banked We have introduced features that promote as well as encourage financial inclusion, especially in areas where banks do not have proper connectivity or presence. Even in urban India, we have millions of users who do not operate a bank account or do not use a credit or debit card to make payments. Our cash pick up feature enables anyone to handover physical cash to a MobiKwik representative who instantly adds it to the customer′s wallet. The customer can then use the money thus added, to transact online or offline, to pay for bills and recharges, and also transfer money to other MobiKwik users or banks. The cash pickup feature is currently available in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Jaipur and Karnataka, but will soon expand to Surat, Nagpur, Ludhiana and other cities. In addition to cash pick up, users can also deposit cash in over 100,000 locations in 1,000 Indian cities. We have formed partnerships with Suvidhaa and ICICI Bank to provide this service. With a view on financial inclusion, we have also extended our reach to rural India. Our association with StoreKing, enabled rural Indians residing in South India to create their MobiKwik wallet and start using it for their recharge and other payments. In India, around 70 per cent of the population is still unbanked. It's a huge opportunity for us to tap into and we are really geared up to take it head on. Additionally, our users can pay across 1,000 Domino's outlets in India at 200+ locations. They can also pay at malls across India and in grocery stores such as Big Bazaar with MobiKwik. We have a robust offline merchant network to support offline cashless spending. Is India ready to move to a cashless ecosystem The Indian government and Reserve Bank of India have committed to a cashless economy and as a strong industry player, we are geared to support their vision. I believe that with a robust public-private collaboration, we can make cashless economy a reality. We have begun inching towards a cashless economy already and mobile wallets are supporting positively towards this transition. Recent RBI data confirmed that mobile wallets are growing at a fast pace. For the year 2014-15, 255 million mobile wallet transactions were made. This is relevant in the context as India has over 1 billion mobile connections and the adoption of smartphones is increasing rapidly. Mobile wallets have transformed a phone into an 'Catalyst of Change', that provides financial services to unbanked Indians. Therefore, we already have a reach in the interiors of India, where banks may not be present. There are over 200 million unbanked Indians who do not have access to banking services, there are many more who do not have confidence in using net-banking or cards for transactions, therefore a wallet is the most viable solution to this problem. Is this a market global investors are keen on FinTech in India is evolving and this is the best time for investors to contribute to this evolution that will change India forever. The next five years will witness the industry grow like no other. MobiKwik raised series C funding of $50 million recently from GMO Payment Gateway and Mediatek, Taiwan-based Semiconductor Company. The interest of investors is also proven by the fact that we are MediaTek's first investment in India. As per a TechSci Research - 'India Mobile Wallet Market Opportunities and Forecast, 2020', mobile wallet category will be $6.6 billion by 2020. And these numbers are further endorsed by global investors betting on space. Mobikwik has raised three rounds of funding from Sequoia Capital, American Express, Tree Line Asia, MediaTek, Global Payment Fund and Cisco Investments. Does Start-up India hold promise for start-ups like Mobikwik In the last five years, the start-up ecosystem in India has witnessed a near-revolution. The mindset among the youth has pivoted from job-seeking to job-making and job-creation through start-ups, which is crucial as more youngsters come forward to take a stab at identifying and proposing solutions to business problems. VCs and investors are constantly scouting the India market to invest in promising ideas and impressive execution. The Indian government has also recognised the game-changing potential of India as a global startup hub. It is a definitive indicator of an extremely alive and kicking ecosystem. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's “Start-up India, Standup India” initiative seeks to provide further impetus to this already thriving ecosystem by acknowledging that entrepreneurship needs specialised focus to afford increased chances of success, and discovering solutions to real-life business problems. India recently crossed the 1 billion mark in cellphone connections. Imagine, if even 1/50th of them could harness the power of internet and digital connectivity, they could become entrepreneurs in their own right and generate significant positive impact for society. This was unthinkable of in 2009. What are some of the schemes that have been tailored for the Indian market We have launched multiple schemes tailored for the Indian market.

• Currently our Cash Pickup facility allows any unbanked individual to make digital payments via the MobiKwik wallet without the need to have a bank account or own a credit/debit card.
• We offer micro-loans, which is an industry first and caters to financial requirements of an average Indians
• Our partnership with Storeking and Big Bazaar allows rural and urban users respectively to make payments via at these large retail stores across India.
• Given the problems with poor connectivity we launched Pay with Pin through which users can pay via MobiKwik without the need of a cellular network or a data connection.
• Our tie-ups with neighbourhood kirana stories for cash deposit points also lets you top up your MobiKwik wallet instantly.