Platforms and Money -2

Shaping Money

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 !

HDFC Bank @HDFC_Bank

Not #DusBahane, just 1 bahana to shop - HDFC Bank SmartBuy #TrendingFormat

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.

Zerodha @zerodhaonline

@MuCashAmban1 @Nithin0dha @amitabhk87 Hey, we already do that. We put up Nudges warning clients on the order window.

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।

Siddhartha singh @sid_varanasi

"ज़िन्दगी आदमी को दौड़ने के लिए कई रास्ते देती है, ज़रूरी नहीं है कि सब एक ही रास्ते दौड़ें। ज़रूरत है कि कोई एक रास्ता चुन लो और उस ट्रैक पर दौड़ पड़ो। क्या पता तुम किस दौड़ के डार्क हॉर्स साबित हो जाओ।" ~ @authornilotpal 🙏 #DarkHorse #डार्कहॉर्स

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.

sharath prodduturi @3shasp

@kiranbirsethi

Do share your Ikigai !
I Love You.

Shailendra