Why is the Govt coming out with dozens of different payments?

[NotMyRealName]

...Same thing about UPI too...

What i don't get is why are they coming out with dozens of different payments? First the govt. was practically endorsing paytm. then some bhim crap. then upi. how many standards is a person supposed to subscribe to and follow?

 

[vivek.krishnan]

What i don't get is why are they coming out with dozens of different payments? First the govt. was practically endorsing paytm. then some bhim crap. then upi. how many standards is a person supposed to subscribe to and follow?

When was the govt endorsing paytm?

 

[NotMyRealName]

Did you really miss what was happening at the start? They were screaming cashless cashless and pretty much the first and most prominent wallet was paytm. not to mention their ad debacle where paytm published the modi praising ad the very next morning of the demonetisation announcement. Doesn't take much to put two and two together...

 

[vivek.krishnan]

Did you really miss what was happening at the start? They were screaming cashless cashless and pretty much the first and most prominent wallet was paytm. not to mention their ad debacle where paytm published the modi praising ad the very next morning of the demonetisation announcement. Doesn't take much to put two and two together...

I don't recall the govt giving official approval to Paytm. Rather, they used Modi's pic and people assumed that its official.

 

[pratikb]

Govt never gave approval or endorsed paytm.
Paytm misused Modi 's image for their own benefit without taking permission.
Both jio and paytm got notice from govt for using the prime minister photo for commercial advert.

 

[NotMyRealName]

You really think they will officially endorse it? Things are a little more subtle with PR.

It doesn't really take a genius to see what's really going on. People who choose to ignore reality can continue to do so.

 

[m-jeri]

What i don't get is why are they coming out with dozens of different payments? First the govt. was practically endorsing paytm. then some bhim crap. then upi. how many standards is a person supposed to subscribe to and follow?

Government NEVER endorsed PayTM.

 

[krugur]

The timing was better for mobikwik, freecharge and as they were just foraying into the market and govt. had just opened a channel for them to easy in.
PayTM was here and had overtaken PayUMoney and didnt really need this push (through it helped them a lot more).
More than that it brought the banks itself into the play with likes of ICICI Pockets, HDFC PayZApp and SBI Pay.
Again I am not blaming you as the mass media had portrayed the event as such.
The general tone was negative about the issue (I do agree it created mass chaos), and the media never helped to make a positive sentiment out of it.

 

[NotMyRealName]

Forget the demonetization chaos, they should at the least ensure that people have a simple and easy to understand process to go cashless using apps. Sometimes just giving more options aren't always better. Heck i'm a reasonably advanced user and i'm confused. Imagine poor uneducated people.

Right now icici app is spamming me with their own upi implementation. pockets is another disaster. too much clutter.

Just yesterday i did an IMPS payment to a new payee. took me about 2 mins total including the otp sms. but i'm all for a single unified system which can of course use the same app but on different platforms. multiple app options are just wrong.

Also, when doing a paytm to paytm direct transfer, do they charge anything over?

 

[krugur]

Actually BHIM is exactly that, a singular app for UPI.
There are detailed guides online for how to use it, done mainly during the demonetization time itself.
The main issue is non of the print media is interested in it.
If they cover the app and its use in the front 2-3 pages, everyone will come to know and start using it. But they dont do that.
Govt could also have pushed the people for this by buying adspace in all the national dailies and educated on the app usage.
But they are also not interested. My ex-colleague does it on his own, he has spent time to educate multiple shop owners and labourers in his native.

 

[NotMyRealName]

In the midst of Mr Krishnan's snide comments, i completely forgot about this.

Basically the irctc android app changed their only payment gateway to paytm, and in spite of irctc waiving off their service charge in the name of cashless, now you have to pay a paytm service charge! Which was earlier openly mentioned but later hidden and silently added to the final 2fa payment page.

How is this not collusion?

 

[krugur]

Basically the irctc android app changed their only payment gateway to paytm, and in spite of irctc waiving off their service charge in the name of cashless, now you have to pay a paytm service charge! Which was earlier openly mentioned but later hidden and silently added to the final 2fa payment page.
How is this not collusion?

Not heard of this. Must investigate.

 

[Lord Nemesis]

Actually BHIM is exactly that, a singular app for UPI.
There are detailed guides online for how to use it, done mainly during the demonetization time itself.
The main issue is non of the print media is interested in it.
If they cover the app and its use in the front 2-3 pages, everyone will come to know and start using it. But they dont do that.
Govt could also have pushed the people for this by buying adspace in all the national dailies and educated on the app usage.
But they are also not interested. My ex-colleague does it on his own, he has spent time to educate multiple shop owners and labourers in his native.

Well, IMO, it is better off that everybody isn't using it. With private banking apps, you can at least be sure that the systems have to regularly go through security audits for general Info Sec and also PCI DSS compliance. This cannot be said about govt agency handled initiatives. Given the way BHIM app was released abruptly, I am not even sure if it went through the PCI compliance process that is currently a regulatory requirement for all UPI integrations and nowhere it indicates that. I have had relatives who have worked in govt software projects and one thing I can say is that they are not a big fan of security regulations and regularly flout the regulations they set out for others to follow. So what guarentees do we have that BHIM app went though all necessary security audits. All it would require for them to skip those steps is for somebody like Modi to ask them to release the damned app already.