Official Blog of GTM360 Marketing Solutions
No, there’s no typo in the title. In the past, whenever I bought a fridge, washing machine or any other white good item from this leading electronics chain, I’d settle on the brand and model of the product with the store’s sales rep. Before I’d reach the checkout, I’d be accosted by a bunch of … Read more
PayTM is the first digital payment product I’ve used at scale in India. When RBI enforced the two factor authentication mandate for online payments, bill payments became a major PITA. By requiring users to fill credit card number, expiration date, and half a dozen fields, Reg 2FA caused tremendous friction. After they received the OTP, … Read more
The Indian capital markets recently moved from T+2 to T+1 settlement. For the uninitiated, under T+2 regime, you got two days to deliver stock that you sold and the buyer got two days to pay you for the stock she bought. Under T+1 regime, both you and the buyer get only one day. Many self-styled … Read more
Central Bank Digital Currency is digital cash. Like paper currency notes, it’s issued by the central bank and does not bear interest. Also, like paper currency notes, it’s legal tender. At its inception, CBDC was supposed to be based on the blockchain. We don’t hear much about that facet of it nowadays. At least 130 … Read more
Since times immemorial, merchants have complained that banks charge exorbitant fees for processing credit card payments. Called Merchant Discount Rate (MDR), this fee is around 2% of the transaction value, as described in my blog post titled Credit Card Primer – Interchange, MDR & Surcharge. In this post, I will shatter the myth that MDR … Read more
This post provides a quick primer on MDR, Interchange, and Surcharge, and covers a few recent updates to rules around these key concepts in the credit card industry. 1. Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) When you buy something worth $100 and pay with a credit card, the merchant gets $97.62. The difference of $2.38 is the … Read more
Among others, the credit card value chain comprises the following entities: Consumer (aka Customer, Cardholder), who uses the credit card to pay for the purchase Merchant (aka Store, Retailer), who sells what the consumer purchases Issuer Bank, which issues the credit card to the consumer Acquirer Bank, which issues the POS terminal and Merchant Agreement, … Read more
Dear Editor of Economic Times: This has reference to the op-ed entitled Credit Ratings Need To Get Personal in today’s Economic Times. The article makes a false equivalence between the scope of corporate credit rating and consumer credit rating and misses two crucial points while making the case for enriching consumer credit rating by comparing … Read more
Fintech came into existence with the charter of disrupting traditional banks. It sought to achieve its mission by democratizing finance with modern technologies and superior customer experiences. The plan was to unbundle banking into multiple products, be a CHILL entrant in each product, bring the unbanked and underbanked into its fold first, then work its … Read more
Whenever a new term enters the hype cycle, it’s fashionable for people to bandy it about all the time, sometimes correctly but most of the time loosely. Embedded Finance is one such term. In this post, we will unpack the term, specifically from the consumer point-of-view. A consumer goods retailer in India offered installment purchase … Read more