Auth n Capture : Introduction to India’s Digital Payments Ecosystem

by Aditya Kulkarni

FinTech, especially digital payments, is a fascinating space. More than trillion dollars’ worth of digital payments are done, and we are ‘just getting started’. Online payments space is attractive and intriguing to many. A young graduate wants to build a career in this domain, a user wants to know how payments are done and a merchant wants to know the processes. Just like India, full of diversity, even India’s payments ecosystem is full of different types of payment instruments, payment service providers, and solutions that adhere to complex processes while getting constantly shaped and re-shaped by Government, RBI, new business models, and other market forces. One can refer RBI website or read Visa documents or NPCI’s product specs to learn. But those documents are far too technical and loaded with heavy jargons. The blogs of the FinTech companies are more like sales pitches than giving neutral understanding about the topic. How can one go about learning about this domain? I had that question when I started my career in FinTech. Over the years, I learnt from others and from experience. Based on my learnings, I started a blog ‘Auth n Capture’. After more than 2 years and ~60 articles later, here I am writing this book. This book is a beginner’s guide for FinTech enthusiasts and professionals to understand the basics of India’s payments ecosystems.

316 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 2, 2021

Reviews

[Udaykiran Joshi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Must read for all the payment enthusiasts! Aditya beautifully explains the entire (Indian context) payment ecosystem in a very simple and engaging way!

I would highly recommend this to everyone especially the product managers who are starting with Payment platforms. I'm sure it would help a lot of tenured guys as well who are already working in the payment space in connecting the dots across the entire ecosystem and understanding a brief history of it.

Aditya has done a commendable job as a first time author and I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and witty analogies throughout! 👍

[Mohit Somani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book on payment ecosystem in India. Main insight of the book is about how payment aggregators work and how does the ecosystem addresses complex need of different merchants. The book also brings focus on commercials of payments.

I don't think there is any other book on the matter. Would've given five stars if author had gone deeper into inner workings of payment companies, TSPs etc. Book could also examine the matter of profit in payments better.

Would recommend the book to everyone interested in payment systems.

[Hemanth Chandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book to understand different payment mechanisms in India.

[Shrikant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good reference book on current Indian payments eco-system.

Payments has become an ubiquitous part of our life now and so much work has been done to make it work seamlessly.

[Arpit Varshney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book on payments gateway ecosystem. Aditya beautifully explains topics in detail with live examples