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Ketharaman Swaminathan

Ketharaman Swaminathan Founder and CEO at GTM360 Marketing Solutions

Why Does Cash Still Rule Ecommerce In India?

Contrary to popular belief, ecommerce began in India in the mid-1990s, which was way before Flipkart came into existence in circa 2007. I remember placing orders from a dial-up modem on Fabmall, Rediff and a couple of other Indian ecommerce pioneers in the late 1990s. I used to pay online by credit card, which I remember was the only mode of payme...

/payments

Ketharaman Swaminathan

Ketharaman Swaminathan Founder and CEO at GTM360 Marketing Solutions

Quantifying The Risk Of Online Payment Failure

I had to pay college fees of INR 300,000 (~US$ 4615). The college supported an array of digital and paper-based payment options viz. Digital: Log in to college website, use college’s ePayment Gateway and pay by Credit Card. Paper: Demand Draft. I evaluated the pros and cons of both options. DIGITAL PAYMENT Pros: Credit card reward points: 3000 (@ ...

/payments /regulation

Ketharaman Swaminathan

Ketharaman Swaminathan Founder and CEO at GTM360 Marketing Solutions

Innovative Fintechs Don’t Need No PSD2 Regulation

[Pink Floyd fans won’t need any explanation for this post's title. As for the others… well, it’s never too late to become fans of Pink Floyd!] The recent buzz around Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning has spawned the next generation of Personal Finance Management applications. While the forerunners in the cateogory like Mint (now part of ...

/retail

Ketharaman Swaminathan

Ketharaman Swaminathan Founder and CEO at GTM360 Marketing Solutions

Five Reasons Why PayTM Is Miles Ahead Of Its Rivals

With over 100 million users a year ago, PayTM was already ahead of its digital payment competitors before the Nov. 2016 demonetization of high value currency notes in India. On the back of the push for #CashlessIndia consequent to #CurrencySwitch, the Alibaba-backed mobile wallet has increased its lead over its other mobile wallets (e.g. MobiKwik,...

/payments

Ketharaman Swaminathan

Ketharaman Swaminathan Founder and CEO at GTM360 Marketing Solutions

CashlessIndia - Why Putting Cart Before Horse Will Work

On the back of the demonetization of high value currency notes in India, the government has been aggressively pushing cashless payments. Trending on Twitter under the hashtag #CashlessIndia, the initiative has attracted criticism from the blogosphere and mainstream media on the grounds that India is not yet ready for digital payments. The average ...

/payments

Ketharaman Swaminathan

Ketharaman Swaminathan Founder and CEO at GTM360 Marketing Solutions

Fintechs Need Guts More Than Lawyers

In Part 1 titled “Fintechs Need Marketers And Lobbyists – Not Lawyers”, we saw why marketers and lobbyists play a vital role in a fintech startup’s success. In this second part, we'll examine the following middleground approach suggested by some people: Go to lawyers, listen to what they say, understand the risks and work out a mitigation strategy...

/regulation /startups

Ketharaman Swaminathan

Ketharaman Swaminathan Founder and CEO at GTM360 Marketing Solutions

Fintechs Need Marketers And Lobbyists, Not Lawyers

Like startups in any other industry, fintechs need to find a problem to solve, develop a solution, package it in such a way that it provides a compelling reason to use, and thereby gain mainstream adoption. SQUARE and PayZapp are two fintechs that have a good job of this for reasons I’ve covered in my previous blog posts here and here. This requir...

/regulation /startups

Ketharaman Swaminathan

Ketharaman Swaminathan Founder and CEO at GTM360 Marketing Solutions

Enhanced Remittance Data Could Multiply Electronic Fund Transfer Volumes

My property management company in UK wanted me to link the following information to my monthly rent payment: MCS MERIDIAN CLIENT ACCOUNT HOUSE RENT 98 MERIDIAN PLACE JUN 2008 There was no way I could do this electronically since the maximum info I could squeeze through in the reference field of my Online Banking's fund transfer screen was only MCS ...

/payments /retail

Ketharaman Swaminathan

Ketharaman Swaminathan Founder and CEO at GTM360 Marketing Solutions

Five Ways For Banks To Boost Credit Card Use

Ever since I got my first credit card in the late '80s, I’ve been a fan of plastic. Rewards, deferred payment and a built-in line of defence from fraud - these are some of the reasons I pay with credit cards as far as possible. That said, during the same period, I’ve come across many people who're wary of using credit cards. When I ask them, they g...

/retail

Ketharaman Swaminathan

Ketharaman Swaminathan Founder and CEO at GTM360 Marketing Solutions

Banks Will Know Chipotle Is Going Bankrupt Before Chipotle

Following Chipotle’s e-coli scare late last year, the burrito chain’s stock has been on a free fall. From a peak of ~$750 in October 2015, the stock price plummeted to ~$400 at the height of the crisis last month. At the time, it was rumored that the company might be forced to file for bankruptcy. Whether the rumor is true or not, banks will know ...

/retail

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