Platforms and Money -2
With both savings rates and stock markets seeing an upswing during later part of #LockDown, we are left with an uneasy situation. Are Indians saving , using earlier savings under financial stress OR doubling down on their investments ? How are we managing our money and what is the role that platforms are playing to reduce friction? In fact, with retail , food and entertainment generally closed, more urban households seem to be turning to platforms for their necessary and even discretionary spending.
DTW
During the Week, I received another email asking me to try HDFC SmartBuy which is an “e-commerce venture specially designed and initiated to give all its customers a friendly and exclusive platform to get the smartest and best transactions in town”! Now, we have always seen banks as payment partners for the e-commerce companies but about a year back HDFC decided to play offence and pushed forward with its own e-commerce platform which combines Online Travel Aggregator (OTA), Shopping and also gift cards. Welcome to HDFC 2.0 !
Everybody would like to help you to spend your money ! And then of course there is CRED , an app by serial entrepreneur Kunal Shah which pays you cash-backs when you pay your credit card bill though the platform. This platform plans to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to track financial behavior of users and then help other brands to offer products and services based on financial history and spending pattern.
Both Amazon and Flipkart have added PaymentTech platforms AmazonPay and PhonePe respectively and Paytm has just acquired an insurance company. In short, all your financial needs would be served by the platforms and lead to complete bypassing of traditional banking channels.
As more Indians start exploring the financial markets, platforms like Zerodha are making it accessible to younger tech-savvy investors. With its discount brokerage model backed by technology , this decade old FinTech Unicorn has been able to achieve a unique distinction of being profitable. They have a special feature called Nudges which warns investors when they are placing orders on risky stocks mostly illiquid penny stocks.
Either call it visionary or watching their back, they have an incubator investing in innovative FinTech start-ups in capital markets space.
Platforms like CRED, Zerodha and many others are shaping money. This shape has characteristics of Personalised, Tech-Enabled and Fun.
We are in Post-Money !
OTW
Over the Weekend, I finished reading Dark Horse: Ek Ankahi Dastan (Hindi) by an extremely talented young writer Nilotpal Mrinal. It is an engaging take on life and struggles of young men from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh who are preparing for IAS- The Holy Grail of Career ! Here is a gem of an insight about life in small towns of UP-Bihar.
हिंदी पट्टी के क्षेत्र में कोई पिता तब तक बेटे को गले नहीं लगाता जब तक कि वह खुद से कमाने-खाने न लगे।
This brings me to my favourite concept to identify the “Reason for Being“. Ikigai is a Japanese concept to conceptualise meaning of life and way to make our lives worthwhile. We have to find a common ground in the four inter-twined circles of What you Love, What you are Good at, What you can be Paid for and finally What the world Needs. It is only when your passion , mission, profession and vocation come together that you would truly achieve meaning of life.
Do share your Ikigai !
I Love You.
Shailendra
This particular article raises me to think about cash -n- carry business during pandemic and post pandemic , how the future and shape of it looks like. We have plenty of examples where platforms are coming to resuce common people purpose and need, on the same line we have seen news showing big tech companies like Intel,Qualcomm etc investing in Jio platforms.I think the day is not too far when we will have jio as one app for all like we have one gst rate for a particular kind of product. As comparing to Jio platforms to case study which we discussed acquring first 1000 customers ( AirBnB, Etsy &Uber),the check list which talks about way forward for platform builders : I guess it ticked all bullet points which says- Attract mass people, Offer standalone value,ensure compatibility with legal systems and they must have sensed way time ago only before launching Jio Platforms. The interesting part to watch will be Jio as one step solution for grocery, entertainment app, healthcare, savings plans advisor, life insurrance provider and advisor,lending money to sme etc like we name anything related to platform and marketplace and the app should be Jio and i believe this will happen in near future. The future plans of Reliance for Young and Vibrant India should be very interesting to watch and contribution towards the society inching to Digitilization. Adding to digitilization, Google announces to support and invest in digital world worth of INR 75,000 cr. As it goes along with Platform business, Network effects, creating enough moats, study their flanks,commodification where ever it requires will always be core values and competitive advantage.( By seeing the Jio Platforms). On lighter note , during this Anti-China apps and other stuffs, lets hope Reliance will be Mashiash for all kind of solutions be a Title sponsor for IPL or investors to startups.
Right now most of the financial institutions moving towards the platform business, one of the best example is HDFC. Many financial platforms are working in different directions like Zerodha warning investors about Pump and Dump Schemes and illiquid options whereas platforms like Finception and Groww who are simplifying the finance for millennials and guiding them that where to invest the money to gain maximum return. They keep track of their portfolios and also provide a service where investors can interact and increase their financial awareness.
Therefore it's true that money is shaping and this will definitely bring positive changes and make us a digitalized economy.