TechProcess, a payment solutions company organized two panel discussions titled ‘NxtGen Payments’ in Mumbai on 29th August 2015. The objective of the panel discussion was to discuss key challenges, innovations and the way forward for ‘Recurring Payments’ in utility, insurance and telecom sector in India. Here are edited excerpts from the discussion.
Panel 1 – Challenges in recurring payments
The first panel discussion was moderated by Anand Ramachandran, CFO, TechProcess Payments Services. Participants (from left to right) Ramakrishnan Ramamurthy, Executive Vice President, Service Delivery, TechProcess Payment Services Ltd ; Bhalchandra Joshi, Senior Vice President at Reliance Mutual Fund ; Anand Ramachandran, CFO, TechProcess Payments Services Ltd ; Ashok Suvarna, COO at Birla Sun Life Insurance Company Ltd ; Santosh Navlani, Vice President – Digital Initiatives & e-business Head, DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund.
The panel discussed the challenges in customer acquisition for recurring payments and execution. The discussion veered towards factors required to fulfill for the low adoption in segments like insurance, utility payments and telco. Panelists also discussed ways to achieve a seamless customer experience. With respect to customer experience, the panel opined that ecommerce channels are contributing heavily to a richer experience, and therefore there are key challenges in enabling a smoother adoption of recurring payments. Factors such as ECS registration, mobile connectivity, and the missing last mile connectivity have been touted as niggling worries. A panelist expressed that NPCI building up Unified Payments Interface is a promising initiative in the recurring payments industry.
Innovations in recurring payments
A second panel was also organized, this panel looked into the aspect of innovations. The panel was moderated by Rajeev Narayanan, chief strategy and innovation officer, TechProcess Payment Services.
From left to right, Amrita Mitra, Vice President – Analytics Business Development, TransUnion ; Rajeev Narayanan, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, TechProcess Payment Services Ltd ; Nihal Desai, Chief Risk Officer of Capital First Limited ; Srinivas Koora, Deputy – CFO, Just Dial Limited ; Kumar Karpe, CEO, TechProcess Payments Services Ltd.
Talking about Innovations and the roadmap for recurring payments in India, Rajeev Narayanan, Chief Innovation & Strategy Officer, said, “Futuristic features such as reminder presentment, superior payment checkout experience along with the ability to complete transactions securely will be the game changers for the recurring payments industry. Despite the hype around wallets, existing payment modes will embrace technology and become mobile first to spur adoption in a sustainable manner.”
The panel looked into the how useful innovations are and how can these be improved. The panel found that there could be tremendous improvements to the instant registration facility which can address current challenges. This be universally adopted by all industry segments for better customer experience.
One panelist observed that Indian customers like to be served at doorstep. Transforming customer comfort into the digital way is the way organizations need to look at innovations. According to the panel, KYC and documentations getting into online is the key challenge. The customer is looking for e-KYC on the whole registration process.
Kumar Karpe, CEO, TechProcess Payment Services Ltd. said, “Owing to the potential of existing payment methods in the consumers’ hands, recurring payments can be the driving force of digital payments in India. Despite that, it has received very little attention from the utility, insurance and the telecom sector. At TechProcess, we realize the power of recurring payments; a platform like this presents a good opportunity for industry leaders to highlight the importance of building NxtGen payment modes that will provide a seamless customer experience.”
The panel concluded that small steps need to be taken to eradicate customer pain points. OTP is a pain, but is necessary as it reduces fraud. Organizational innovation should not be restricted to products and services alone, but also in the area of regulations and mandates brought about by RBI, IRDA, and TRAI etc.
