With the demonetization in swing, Manish Patel, CEO of POS terminal company MSwipe, narrated an incident to me, when a person was trying to pay for medicine using his debit card, presumably for the first time. Patel said that the individual had a worn out magnetic stripe card which he handed to the shopkeeper who asked him to enter his PIN. The gentleman who was trying to buy medicine said that he did not know what a PIN was. He had to be prompted, that this was the same number he entered at an ATM to withdraw cash. After three attempts to enter the PIN, the card was blocked by the bank. The man cursed and left the shop understandably upset without the medicine he needed. Note that POS terminals across the country were down across the country during the period with the additional load on machines. "With demonetization and card payments failing, the first experience for many card holders in now a disaster. Users would be put off by the entire experience and would revert to cash because it is simple and everyone understands it," Patel added. Many in the payments industry would agree that the first time experience is vital to make sure a customer keeps coming back to the service. Why debit cards matter Patel's fears of card payments failing may have some truth to it. After cash, the most prevalent payment instrument in circulation are debit cards. The NPCI says that there are 755 million debit cards in…
