When stress can be fatal - Article for SHB Social Foundation

I found earlier this week that a former colleague, a wonderful kind, gentle and knowledgeable human being, passed away last week. Of a heart attack.

Over the past week, after I shared a post on this on Facebook, I received a few messages from people sharing that they too had themselves suffered a heart attack from severe stress, or knew someone up-close who had gone through this.

I remember that colleague and I talking last year when one of his other team members had died suddenly of a heart attack. He had known that guy well for years and was deeply saddened…mentioned that he had been going through a lot of stress recently…wondering if that had brought on his untimely demise?

The kind of stress that builds up, brings on a heart attack, a fatal one…?

I don’t know what was the cause of his death. But then when I look around, stress is palpable with so many of us. All those sources of what causes stress aren’t going to go away suddenly. But we all need to know that stress needn’t be here to take shelter in our lives.

Let’s hope each of us can do our bit to chisel it away bit by bit – meditate, exercise, yoga, dance, sing, meet, laugh, talk, cry…Help ourselves, and help those around us.

We also need more of us actively reaching out to others for help – be they our family, friends, others in our network or our neighbourhood. Somehow, stress tends to get pushed under the carpet – thinking this shall pass. But how many of us are conscious that it has built up to a stage where it has already caused tremendous harm to us!

I can’t be thankful enough that organizations such as SHB have been tackling this through its Listening Post initiative – a talking space, that recognizes that the simple act of talking, and having someone to listen to you, can be therapeutic. May the tribe grow, and may all of us dealing with stress avail of these services wherever they may be available.

This article was first published on SHB Social Foundation

With the extensive coverage that WeChat Pay and Alipay have in China, mobile based payments are already intrinsic to payments in the domestic market. And over the past few years, Alipay's international reach is only growing. The Alipay-Yelp coverage extends it further.

I believe that's the true beauty of payments - woven so well into our lifestyles, we don't even know it's there!

Check this: http://www.scmp.com/tech/enterprises/article/2107113/alipay-and-yelp-join-forces-drive-local-experiences-chinese

Understanding mental illness in India, and the rights of the mentally ill - Article for SHB Social Foundation

A few days ago, my fourteen year old daughter was watching a Hindi crime show on television. It showed a lady attempting suicide by jumping off a flyover, when she was stopped just in time by the detective, and she was warned, “Madam, what are you doing? Don’t you know attempting suicide is a criminal offence in India?”

For a moment, I couldn’t decide who looked more confused, the poor lady on the flyover or my daughter, who turned to me to ask why this was a criminal offence. All I could come up with as response was “I know it is a criminal offence, but I don’t really know why. Maybe that’s one way to discourage people from taking their own lives…?”. My response sounded lame, even to my ears. 

When I checked later, I found that while an attempted suicide is illegal in some other countries too, the intent is not to “punish” those who have attempted to take their own lives. Rather it is aimed at enabling the state to intervene so that it can assess the mental state of the person, based on which their treatment can be enforced. Someone who has attempted suicide typically does not (or is not supposed to) get arrested, jailed, and tried for the “crime”. However despite the noble intent of discouraging another suicide attempt, viewing an illness from a criminal lens has felt heartless and impractical. 

Therefore it was heartening to read about the Mental Healthcare Bill 2016, passed by the Indian Parliament this week that has decriminalized attempt to suicide and acknowledges that a person is suffering from mental illness at that time and will not be punished under the Indian Penal Code. The government shall have a duty to provide care, treatment and rehabilitation to a person having severe stress, and to reduce the risk of recurrence of attempt to commit suicide.

It is being hailed as a landmark and progressive bill that addresses many other crucial factors of mental illness in a patient-centric way and aimed at ensuring that the patient’s interest is safeguarded

• Definition of mental illness – as a substantial disorder of thinking, mood, perception, orientation or memory that grossly impairs judgment, behaviour, capacity to recognise reality or ability to meet the ordinary demands of life, and mental conditions associated with the abuse of alcohol and drugs. It does not include mental retardation which is a condition of arrested or incomplete development of mind of a person, specially characterised by subnormality of intelligence.
• Rights of persons with mental illness – The Bill addresses crucial aspects such as the right to access mental health care and treatment; free treatment for such persons if they are homeless or belong to Below Poverty Line. And right to confidentiality and to live with dignity and no discrimination on any basis including gender, sex, sexual orientation, religion, culture, caste, social or political beliefs, class or disability.
• Advance Directive – A person with mental illness shall have the right to make an advance directive that states how he/she wants to be treated for the illness and who his/her nominated representative shall be.
• Mental Health Authority – Set-up a Central Mental Health Authority at national-level and State Mental Health Authority in every State with which all mental health institutes and mental health practitioners including clinical psychologists, mental health nurses and psychiatric social workers will have to be registered.
• Mental Health treatment – specifics of the process and procedure to be followed for admission, treatment and discharge of mentally-ill individuals.

It is high time that India discusses its mental health issues, and the increased focus of the government on mental healthcare is encouraging. Per the findings from the recent National Mental Health Survey conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), at least 13.7 per cent of India’s population has various mental disorders; 10.6 per cent of them require immediate interventions.

The survey also points out that India’s urban areas are most affected with mental illness. And urban areas have a higher prevalence of schizophrenia, mood disorders and neurotic or stress-related disorders. This disturbing scenario could be due to fast-paced lifestyles, experiencing stress, complexities of living, a breakdown of support systems and challenges of economic instability. With continuing urbanisation, the burden is expected to rise and hence, there is a need for an urban specific mental health programme.

The survey also says that despite three out of four persons experiencing severe mental disorders, there are huge gaps in treatment. Apart from epilepsy, the treatment gap for all mental health disorders is more than 60 per cent.

Also, due to the stigma associated with mental disorders, nearly 80 per cent of those with mental disorders had not received any treatment despite being ill for over 12 months. Poor implementation of schemes under the National Mental Health Programme is largely responsible for this.

These are just some of the survey findings, and if you are interested, please do study the survey findings at http://indianmhs.nimhans.ac.in/Documents/reports/Summary.pdf .
Both the survey and the bill cover many critical aspects to do with gaining insights on the various aspects of the illness and its incidence, and its treatment and care. It is important that we understand these and also appreciate that passing the law is but one step. What is also needed is that we as a society – our caregivers, police, family, educational institutions, workplaces, etc. – are sensitised to the illness, to the rights of the mentally ill, and to taking timely action for their care and treatment.

This article was originally written for SHB Social Foundation 

Wings: A call to all women to realize your dreams (#Poetry also published on Womens Web)

This goes out to all the women out there to hold on to your dreams and to nurture them, reaching for dreams whenever it is possible!

Oh to see you be like the birds!
To sing, to take off, to soar
To know what it is to be alive
And free at its very core

To bring young ones into the world
To feed them and watch them grow
Help them take wings each day
Only to one day, let them go

And while tending to them
Keep your own wings strong
Knowing your own time to fly
Isn’t ever truly gone

So why weren’t you more like the birds
That you carved your own limits
Got so caught up in your duties
That you forgot to feed your spirit

So keep your songs intact and your wings strong
Don’t ever let them go lame
The ground is as much yours
As the sky is yours to claim


- Dipali Ekbote


This poem was also published on Womens Web 

Cashless India: Seeing the Vision for Financial Inclusion Come True – Part 3 (Article published on Let's Talk Payments)

Role of infrastructure in Financial Inclusion & addressing barriers to adoption of mobile payments  

This is part three of a series covering disruptive banking, regulatory, technology-led and payments initiatives being taken by the government, regulatory, enterprises and private firms to achieve financial inclusion and a cashless (or a less-cash India) vision. In previous posts, we have covered

• Part 1 - The India Stack and UPI enabled technology platform built on top of the "JAM" trio of Jan Dhan bank account, Aadhaar and Mobile.
• Part 2 - Banking initiatives aimed at increased customer reach via new payment banks and an improved business correspondent network. And the role of mobile payments as an enabler of financial inclusion
• In this post, let’s take a look at the mobile payments landscape in India which is seeing a lot of action but also adoption barriers that have limited its growth. We will then continue to understand the role of the infrastructure now emerging in India in overcoming the adoption barriers, and how these will position India favourably to achieve financial inclusion.

An observation recently at a bus stop highlighted the crucial importance of a country’s infrastructure. I was at the bus-stop in Singapore a few days ago. When my bus arrived, the bus driver (there are no bus conductors here) stepped down from the exit door, and pulled out a fold-down ramp that rested just rightly so on the footpath. He then gently pushed a wheel-chaired person, who was commuting solo, out onto the footpath from where that person proceeded on his way. He then wheeled in another solo wheel-chaired commuter, folded in the ramp, and only after he made sure the commuter was comfortable, did he proceed to take the driver's seat and open the entrance door for us.

Later, he helped the second wheelchaired commuter alight at the same bus-stop as mine. As I watched him maneuver himself easily over the seamless sections over footpaths and road, it brought to mind how possible this whole activity had been for both those wheelchaired commuters - who could travel independently, and travel much cheaper (on the public bus). But for that to be possible, a whole lot of “plumbing” - a combination of infrastructure and training - has been put in place that enables disabled commuters to use public transport. The driver knew exactly what protocol to follow for wheelchaired commuters. All buses would be equipped with the fold-down ramps. And all footpaths across Singapore would be aligned to allow for leveled and gap-free boarding and alighting. And of course, to ensure no obstruction for wheelchairs, footpaths would be free from hawkers etc.

The reason I recount this incidence is because when we look at financial inclusion, it is not much different from inclusion in transport such as is actively encouraged in countries such as Singapore. The entire objective of inclusion in transport is to ensure persons with disabilities - wheelchaired, hearing or visually impaired etc. - all have access to transportation on an equal basis with others.

The infrastructure needs to be put in place keeping in mind, not only the abled population for whom the obstacles and barriers are not even noticeable, but to ensure that the disabled can commute as effortlessly as they can.

So while an elevator at a train station may be a luxury for an otherwise abled person, it is a necessity for a disabled person to be able to commute.

Similarly, a robust plumbing - infrastructure and training - is crucial to address not only the already financially included, but more crucially, address the financially excluded sections of population. These constitute large chunks of the population at the bottom of the pyramid - Who besides not using credit or debit cards or electronic transfers for making payments, even more importantly, cannot avail of fair, cheaper or transparent financing and payment services. Whose salaries or daily wages do not come into their accounts in a timely or seamless manner. Who suffer from money pilferage and exploitation due to which the intended money does not reach the intended beneficiaries.

Mobile payments in India - crowded landscape, limited growth

We saw in the previous post, the integral role of mobile-based payments in bringing the financially excluded into the formal financial and banking fold. Demonetization has put the limelight on and may have catalyzed digital and mobile based payments. However in India, only 5% of personal consumption expenditure currently happens digitally.

In order for digital payments to reach critical mass and for financial inclusion to reach the bottom of the pyramid, it is important to address disparate consumer segments, each of which is characterized by different pain points and adoption barriers. As well as address pain points on the digital payment providers that service the industry.

There are some significant barriers to adoption of mobile payments.

Digital Payments Providers: Variety of solutions with lack of interoperability

The mobile payments landscape in India is already crowded. However, despite the large number and variety of solutions introduced by multiple providers, adoption has remained low. This is both a positive and a limiting factor for the growth. Let’s see why.

Take a look at the range of mobile payment solutions in India launched by various players:

• Banks: E.g. SBI Buddy, ICICI Pockets, HDFC PayZapp, AXIS Lime, IDFC Bank Ziggit etc.
• Mobile carriers (aka Telcos): e.g. Airtel Money, Vodafone M-Pesa, Reliance Jio Money, Tata Teleservices TruPay, etc.
• Pre payment Instrument (PPI) providers: These include Mobile wallets which get funded by credit / debit card or through net banking, e.g. Paytm, Mobikwik, mRupee, FTCash, Citrus Pay; Pre-Paid Card solutions e.g. Oxigen, Itzcash, Suvidhaa; Retailer-led solutions such as Flipkart PhonePe or Snapdeal’s FreeCharge, or Transport company-led solutions such as Ola Money.
• Credit card companies: e.g. Visa payWave, Citibank and Mastercard’s Citi MasterPass
• Regulators: interestingly, we have recently also seen solutions launched by regulatory bodies such as the Reserve Bank through its National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) with Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) . And the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) with Aadhaar Pay to enable users who do not have mobile phones to pay merchants using their Aadhaar card and bank account.

The multitude of solutions available in the market have had many users confused with which solution to use and for what purpose. With each solution having its separate closed user group or “island”, tagged to a different platform, users cannot use one single solution for a multitude of payment purposes. Therefore the need is for an infrastructure that provides an underlying “plumbing” or interoperability whereby islands start getting connected to each other. That will enable a user on one solution’s platform to transact as seamlessly as possible with a user on another platform. And the funding the payment transaction takes place seamlessly from their chosen bank account in any bank, and can be transferred to the beneficiary into an account in any bank.

Despite its benefits to users, the plumbing for interoperability rarely happens on its own - the absence of a regulatory framework, competition between various stakeholders and the lack of consensus on commercials and technical models all pose to be challenges in laying out the necessary plumbing. Therefore, it is notable that NPCI and India Stack have developed the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) platform as an interoperable infrastructure that allows for solutions from multiple providers to be built using the platform’s Application Programming Interface (API) stack. This will allow enterprises, entrepreneurs and government to build their solutions to publish and subscribe to each other’s API - similar to a “handshake” between two systems, to establish communication and interfacing with each other.

The lack of interoperability in mobile payments is a challenge which many other countries are seeking to resolve, including countries such as Kenya which has seen the world’s most successful adoption of mobile payments, but has seen much lesser progress in financial inclusion (we shall cover this in further detail in the next post).

Digital Payments Consumers: Low user engagement

Users of mobile payments constitute all entities who make or receive payments via the mobile phone - Individual persons, merchants, governments, business enterprises are all mobile payment users either as payers or payees depending on which end of the payment transaction the are at.

Each payment scenario represents unique customer segments, and mobile payments have seen low adoption because

1. Users have been inherently slow to change their payment habits. Users either find that existing modes such as cards or cash are already convenient and / or do not perceive the added benefits of using mobile payments as strong enough to consider changing payment habits.
2. Concern over security is another reason for low adoption.
3. Not all users are equipped with smartphones - which has highlighted the gap for digital solutions that work with feature (non smart) phones, and also for solutions that can work for users with no mobile phones at all.

In order for India to go truly digital, mobile and digital needs to be part of users’ routine payment transactions.

For this, mobile payment players need to particularly note that while they will be competing with each other in this space, their biggest competition is from cash or cards. Therefore mobile payment solutions need to be as frictionless as possible in terms of security, convenience, ease of use and cost of transacting.

As we covered previously, bridging the “last mile” in financial inclusion is no mean feat as despite more than five decades of work done, between 40%–50% of Indian households today still do not have a bank account or have little or no access to financial services. Hence, that “last mile” is actually a massive distance we need to cover if the entire country including the bottom of the pyramid needs to reap the benefits of financial inclusion. This has necessitated exploring further disruptive approaches to banking.

In the next post, let’s look at what are the digital payment scenarios now possible, and how the new infrastructural plumbing can bring in stronger adoption of mobile payments, and position India strongly to achieve low-cost, ‘last mile’ delivery channels for financial inclusion.

This article was also published on Let's Talk Payments

Why The Potted Plant Parenting Way For Raising Teenagers Can Work Wonders (also published on Womens Web)

While our children grow up into teenagers nowadays, let’s understand the shift taking place in them and in their way of needing us.

Over the past few months, as I’ve spent more time at home, I’ve wondered why my teenage children sometimes point out that they missed me on the few occasions when I’ve been out. While it’s nice to know I’ve been missed, I thought it was rather strange because when I am around at home, they seem to be content doing their own things. And hours can go by when we haven’t talked to each other.
All of us parents and especially those of us with corporate or professional lives, struggle to spend more time with the family and children and make the most of ‘quality over quantity’.

I came across this wonderful article on New York Times talking about teenagers nowadays and the role of ‘potted plant parents’ in their lives. I loved this term and the article resonated with me as I think it makes sense for many of us, who as parents of adolescents, need to understand the shift taking place in our children. And understand the shift taking place in the way that our children relate to us and need us.

As our two teenagers have been growing up, we have been seeing the change taking place at our home. Dinner time together continues to be important. But often catching up over dinner or those “so, how was your day” conversations work only to an extent. That does not mean that our children do not want to talk about their day. Maybe they do not want to talk about it just then.

Also not all the activities that we used to do together when they were younger find common ground now in terms of timings or interests. In other words, as many of us parents of adolescents would know, they now need to be ‘convinced’ about joining us for activities. Activities that they would have all too readily jumped at or insisted on joining when they were younger.

This shift taking place in their behaviour is coming from the changes taking place in them as they grow and develop their independent views, interests and choices. This needs to translate into us understanding that shift in our teenagers, and respect that they can need us and connect with us differently during these years.

I have been experiencing that even if I’m just being around my children or taking the ‘form of blending into the background like a potted plant’, that time does matter to them. It may seem like we are not pursuing any common activity, nor are we having any conversation. But then sometimes they suddenly open up and talk. They share their viewpoint on something. Or show a song or video they like. Or seek advice on something that’s been troubling them.

As the NYT article rightly states this is as relevant for full-time working or travelling (‘fly-in, fly-out’) parents – both fathers and mothers – as they can stay connected with their teenagers nowadays “by regularly checking in by social media, texts and FaceTime — letting their kids know that even though they were away, they were still watching.”

So fellow parents of teenagers, let’s not fret if our children are doing their own thing. Let’s understand that they still need us in their teenage years, just that they need us differently.

Let’s embrace our potted plant parenting and enjoy these years together with them!

This article was also published on Womens Web

Cashless India: Seeing the Vision for Financial Inclusion Come True – Part 2 (Article published on Let's Talk Payments)

India’s financial ecosystem is undergoing disruptive changes as it extends channels for customer reach. Let us take a look at what are these changes and how they can help achieve India’s financial inclusion goals.

This is Part 2 of a series covering disruptive banking, regulatory, technology-led and payments initiatives being taken by the government, regulatory, enterprises and private firms to achieve financial inclusion and a cashless (or a less-cash India) vision. The previous post covered the technological infrastructure emerging in India via the cashless layer riding on top of the India Stack platform and the “JAM” trio.

The goal of financial inclusion is not new in India

Over the past five decades, the Indian government and banking regulators led by the Reserve Bank of India have put in place several measures, starting with the nationalization of banks (1969), building up a robust bank branch network, and mandating priority sector lending targets.

Within the past decade it has further focused on increasing customer access to financial services through simpler Know Your Customer (KYC) norms and "no-frills" basic accounts (2005), “Branchless Banking” (2006) - which we shall shortly delve into in further detail, and the liberalization of bank branches and ATMs (2009).

On a parallel thread, digital banking and payments - through  the internet and mobile - have been promoted and encouraged by the Reserve Bank to reduce dependence on paper-based payments such as cheque and cash.

Customer reach is critical to the vision of financial inclusion

Financial inclusion is the process of ensuring all sections of the country, and vulnerable and poor sections in particular, have access to appropriate and affordable financial products and services.

The need to look beyond traditional banking

Up until now, the financial inclusion process has put the primary responsibility on banks for serving the ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’ customers. However banks alone have been unable to bridge the “last mile” - the chasm between where the banks are and where the customer is and have struggled to further extend their network through brick and mortar branches or to address the bottom of the pyramid in cost-effective ways.

Business Correspondents

A very different approach to traditional banking was introduced in India in 2006 through “Branchless Banking” that allowed banks for the first time to appoint Business Correspondents / Business Facilitators to act as agents of the banks. As they can function at places other than bank branches, this opened the market for various entities such as the "kirana" (corner grocery store), or the vegetable or fruit vendor at the local "mandai" (market), or the village Panchayat Office, etc. as they could all be customer service points for individuals to conduct financial transactions and avail of financial services.

Until now, India’s Business Correspondent network has 400,000 agents but the numbers do not match the level of performance that was expected. Inactive agents, agent attritions, poor mobile connectivity, unreliable services and lack of trust among customers persist and the Reserve Bank is taking the lead and working with various stakeholders as these all need to be addressed.  With continuous availability of Business Correspondents at fixed locations, direct involvement of the bank branch officials in screening, supervising and remuneration of Business Correspondents, and training to customers, Business Correspondents and banks, there is potential to strengthen the Business Correspondent network substantially.

Miles to go

Bridging the “last mile” is no mean feat as despite more than five decades of work done in this area, between 40% - 50% of Indian households today still do not have a bank account, or have little or no access to financial services. Hence that “last mile” - a target of 90% financial inclusion by 2021 - is actually a massive distance we need to cover if the entire country including the bottom of the pyramid needs to reap the benefits of financial inclusion. And that has necessitated exploring further disruptive approaches to banking.

The next wave of disruption in India’s banking and financial eco-system

Payment Banks - A Game Changer in the financial ecosystem

In August 2015, the Reserve Bank of India introduced a new type of banking entity known as Payment Banks, and in October 2016, announced operating guidelines for them. By leveraging their underlying strength of vast customer reach, each of the final eight Payment Banks (most have already tied up with one or more traditional banks for financial expertise) will experiment with different products and services as they represent a diverse mix of organizations:

Telecom

• Airtel, previously Airtel MCommerce Services (has tied up with Kotak Mahindra Bank)
• Reliance Industries (with State Bank of India)
• Vodafone M-Pesa
• Aditya Birla Nuvo-which also owns Idea Cellular

Prepaid Payment Instrument Issuer

• Paytm (in which Alibaba has 25% stake)

Business Correspondent

• FINO PayTech (tied up with ICICI Bank and possibly other banks too)

Government

• India Post Payments Bank-launched by Government of India’s Department of Posts (is in discussions with several domestic and multinational banks, and the International Finance Corporation)
• National Securities Depository (with IDBI Bank)

Payment Banks have many competitive advantages over traditional banks that will not only disrupt the financial ecosystem, but also strongly augment India’s financial inclusion process as they bring:

• Focus: Their core task is to provide deposit and payment services to customers; they cannot advance loans. By taking away the lending function, the new banks will be better able to focus on customer reach. (Lending is a key function and revenue source of traditional banks which brings in the additional cost to banks from risk of lending, and also detracts them from serving the bottom of the pyramid which is characterized by lower margins).
• Market coverage and Customer Reach: Payment Banks formed by India Post and telecoms will leverage their existing geographical reach which is massive. Newer players such as Paytm and Finotech have also demonstrated a strong ability to scale up rapidly in a short duration. They will also need to incorporate the Business Correspondent network into their market coverage strategy.
• Digital-first approach: All the new banks are expected to build their products and services on top of the latest digital technology - with mobile as the primary channel, and analytics and automation - at the very start of their operations.

Airtel Payments Bank was the first to start operations in November 2016 with Rajasthan as its pilot market. Over the next couple of years, Payment Banks will need to overcome a range of challenges and operational hurdles as they develop their business models and experiment with financial products and services.

Customer reach through mobile phone

Digital adoption - internet and mobile based - has seen tremendous growth in India. Mobile phone adoption has surpassed all channels in India, making it the most powerful channel to reach customers -

• For a population of almost 1.3 billion people, there are today more than 1 billion mobile phone users in India.
• Mobile-based payments are integral to the vision of cashless India. They also have a huge potential to increase financial inclusion and the unbanked into the banking fold as they bring banks and customers together primarily because of the customer “stickiness” (increased chance to use products and services) that payments bring.
• Smartphone penetration in India is around 30% and growing rapidly. However, this means that financial products will need to to be offered on feature phones too.  

Each of these is a revolutionary development and definitely going to be interesting to watch out for. For the longest time, the traditional banking system has languished for various reasons as it has not been able to extend its reach to bridge the last mile. With the initiatives to introduce Payment Banks, strengthen the Business Correspondent network, and use the mobile phone as a customer channel for banking access and payments, the banking network will come closer to where the customer is, thereby bridging the chasm substantially.

This decade has us at the threshold of the convergence of two key visions: one is that of financial inclusion (through better customer reach as we saw in this post), and the other is that of a cashless, or a “less-cash” society (through the use of the India Stack technology platform and JAM, as we saw in the previous post). However for the convergence to take effect, the implementation is at required at many levels, requiring an interplay of technology and co-ordination with various stakeholders.

That is when farmers across the country will be able to collect money for their produce directly into their account at their vegetable market directly - all through a few clicks on the mobile phone. We will take a look at how this convergence will happen in the next blogpost.

This article was also published on Let's Talk Payments

https://letstalkpayments.com/cashless-india-seeing-the-vision-for-financial-inclusion-come-true-part-2/