What does the future of payments hold? Anupam Pahuja, PayPal India Managing Director shares his personal thoughts. Coverage by MyPF at FiNext Conference Asia 2019.

 

The Outlook in Asia and India

China has leapfrogged most of the world. Next the world will look at India which is the next big opportunity in Asia. India is the 2nd most populated country in the world with the younger population age 25 and below making up more than half the population.

Other factors are a regulatory environment that is very forward looking and growing consumerism. One should expect India to become the most populous country in the next 10 years.

 

The Future of Payments

The future of payments will be focused on these 4 areas:

  1. Experience
  2. Secure and frictionless
  3. Omnichannel
  4. Personalise

 

Experience

The cost of moving money is trending downwards. At some point, moving money will essentially be free! Users are looking to have a “no payment” experience when making payments. This means that users want to just get what they want and not have to go through any actual payment experience.

“If you’re in the business of moving money, you better innovate or else will go the way of the dodo.”

 

Secure and Frictionless

The entire process needs to be secure. There are no trade-offs in maintaining security. Security needs to be in the background and frictionless. Users want access to funds is a simple and secure manner. “Every time there’s an extra page of payments that users need to go through, there’s a 4-5% drop off rate in buyers.” Thus there is an incentive to keep payments as frictionless as possible.

 

Omnichannel

A multi-channel sales approach.

The future of digital payments is through multi or omnichannels which include by:

  • Location
  • Device
  • Platform
  • Currency

 

Personalise

Payment needs to be personalised for each individual including:

  • How to pay
  • When to pay
  • Way to pay

 

Open Platforms or Closed Platforms

There are arguments for both open platforms versus closed platforms. This differential is especially focused on the way each platform operates. The 2 key options we are heading towards are:

  • Destination platform which tries to do everything from a single platform.
  • Open platform open to various other partners with each focusing on own niche.

 

Money and water will both find its level.

 

The future of payments will enable even more opportunities for all.

 

How do you see the way we pay changing in the future?