Business was somewhat languid for a few months. But Sameer Jana knew it would change and start looking up soon. A lull was not unseen for the second-generation textile trader. He had enough to meet his working capital to tide over the crisis. It was January 2020. A month down, footfalls at his retail outlet shrank further, and he started worrying a bit. Most of his neighbours in the commercial centre that housed his shop were unsure how business would continue. In fact, many of them were planning to sell out their establishments or foreclose their rent agreements under funds crunch.

One more month later it seemed to be the doomsday. The entire country went shut and people were asked to stay indoors. Businesses went down to zero and Jana, like most others of his ilk, soon ran out of funds. A few days went by toying with ideas to meet the widening gulf in finances. And, eventually, he stumbled upon the idea to connect with his regular customers.

He took photos of his unsold stock and started sending the snaps with a reduced price tag to his clients on WhatsApp. “I diligently contacted regular customers, many of whom I hadn’t seen for months, as movement was restricted,” he shares.

Jana’s first call came from an elderly lady who wanted to buy garments for her daughter. “I connected with her on a WhatsApp video call and showed my collections. After checking over a few, she zeroed in on one and asked me to deliver it.” That was the beginning. He doesn’t remember the second or the third call because calls began pouring in and soon he had to make arrangements for replenishing his stock.

In this war against the odds, Jana’s only weapon was his smartphone. He was not the only one. Kanishka went live on Facebook with his collection of exotic and traditional handloom saris from Bishnupur in Bengal. With a tripod and smartphone, he has been showing saris to an audience of nearly 52,000 followers from across the world. He posts a weekly schedule for his live shows and expanded his offerings to dress materials and local handicrafts.

That’s the power of smartphone. Cheap internet and affordable devices have been helping people not only trace alternative income routes but also avail the government subsidies that are meant to push the Digital India drive. Smartphones will play an increasingly important role in society shortly and will probably become central than it is now. However, this device enables extraordinary power in the hands of people and is still a once-in-a-generation innovation, and its full potential is yet to be realised fully, according to Deloitte.

Experts believe that by 2030, data will fundamentally transform the nature of financial services and most banking sectors. According to a survey by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, by 2030, cash will be dead in the hands of mobile payments. Credit and debit cards will also be wiped out. The popularity of wallets like GooglePay and Paytm, with direct bank transactions through UPI are all primarily designed for mobile phones.

According to KPMG, traditional boundaries within the financial services industry are likely to disappear by 2030. It will be coupled with a move towards ‘platformication’ where banks will allow customers to opt for services explicitly personalised for their needs from a range of providers.

New entrants like start-up fintechs, neo-banks, over-the-top banking providers and the big technology will change the future of a competitive landscape and offer an entirely different customer experience. Lenders will re-bundle relevant services around crucial customer needs, journeys and experiences that extend beyond the realms of traditional financial products. In this entire journey, smartphones will play a vital role as the single device that delivers all services.

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Smartphone Penetration From 54% in 2020 to  96% by 2024

Data Consumed Per Month

• 2019 – 13GB
• 2020 – 14.6GB

Average Traffic Per Smartphone 14.6 GB per day in 2020 40 GB per month by 2026 [Source: Ericsson]

Active Internet Users From 622 million in 2020 to 900 million by 2025

Rate of Growth 45% CAGR

User Pattern

• Urban users grow 4% to reach 323 million in 2020
• Rural users grow 13% to 299 million in 2020

[Source: The Internet and Mobile Association of India]