0:00 hi everybody for the longest time the Modi government has flaunted the success of UPI and the digital India initiative 40% digital payments india has one of the fastest growth rates of digital payments of any nation in the world 131 billion transactions by volume but there is one big big problem today QR codes are everywhere chaiwalas accept digital payments and as of 2025 more than half a billion people in India
0:46 have a bank account with UPI transactions alone crossing 23 trillion rupees but it pains me to say that after the phenomenal success of UPI there are still gaps failures and glorified announcements that the media forgot to follow up on and two of these glorified initiatives are the DC and the Okin initiative open credit enablement network which is a digital infrastructure being created by the government to democratize the small ticket credit market in India open network for digital commerce or the ODC ondc is aimed at helping small retailers go online to reduce the dominance of the likes of Amazon and Flipkart these two initiatives have failed so badly that ODC's app is worse than a college student's first year project and Okin
1:34 has been ignored by the biggest banking players of the country and the reason why we're making this video is because 2 years ago we ourselves made a video on how revolutionary these initiatives were and one wise comment said that I wish all the initiatives mentioned in this channel actually get executed but sadly they are just announcements with no action and this really hit me so we decided that we will not just make a video when there is a sensational announcement but we will also follow up on the action so that we can help you differentiate between marketing and action so in this episode today let's try to understand what are the biggest gaps in UPI why arec and Okin not the phenomenal success that UPI was and what are the lessons that we need to learn from the slowdown of DC and
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3:09 building tools with AI without writing code creating stunning images and videos using AI tools developing AI agents automating your work to save time and boost productivity and many more things professionals from tech and non- tech sectors like sales marketing HR operations and even business owners and freelancers had attended this workshop and they absolutely loved it in fact more than one lakh people from 40 different countries have already participated the slots for this workshop is filling up very very quickly so click the link in the description to book your slot and make sure to join their WhatsApp groups to receive all updates also guys the introduction call for the session happens on Friday at 7 p.m so please don't miss it and now on with the episode all right before we talk about ONDC and Okin flopping let's understand
3:54 the foundation that they were built on something called the India stack india stack is a moniker for formidable digital infrastructure which includes identity payments and data management governments startups and developers used this infra to accelerate India's shift to not only a digital economy but also an inclusive one india stack actually consists of many applications you have Aadhaar you have UPI Digilocker Cove in number of them it has been extremely successful in India india stack is like a four layer mega tech sandwich each layer was designed to completely transform how Indians interact with the digital world layer one is the presenceless layer this is where the famous Aadhaar system comes in so your
4:40 fingerprint iris scan Aadhaar number all of it helps you verify your identity without you even being present then comes layer two which is the paperless layer here with the help of the dig locker system instead of carrying your PAN card driver's license or certificates India stack said what if all your documents could live in the cloud this is how the digital locker was born so now you can send your documents anywhere anytime without printing a single page and then came layer three the cashless layer now this is where UPI changed the game forever whether it's a 5 rupee cutting chai or a 50,000 rupee iPhone UPI made your money move at the speed of light and then came layer 4 which is the consent layer this is by far the most underrated layer of all and
5:26 here we have something called account aggregator system this layer helps you share your bank history insurance credit score and all other information with the lenders or service providers with no photocopies and no middleman and when all these four layers of India stack which are identity documents payments and consent come together they were supposed to create a digital superpower but here's something that nobody tells you even UPI has gaps and they are massive gaps and guess what those gaps are nothing but multi-million dollar startup opportunities for example meet Arjun arjun is a guy who runs a restaurant chain in Mumbai his staff used to pay vendors with cash file receipts and then pray for the reimbursements so it was complete chaos but then came a company called cashbook
6:11 which is a UPI based business wallet so now Arjun's team uses UPI wallets with 10,000 rupees monthly limits which is directly controlled by Arjun's company dashboard so every payment is locked categorized and approved in real time this way Arjun slashed his reconciliation time from 22 hours to just two hours and saved 1.2 lakhs per year in just leakage expenses so the moral of the story over here is that you don't need to reinvent UPI you just need to fix the gaps and there are some beautiful business opportunities waiting for you similarly there's a huge need for UPI for salaries and contract payments because businesses even today struggle with payroll processing and freelancer payments and current options like bank transfers take a lot of time and they need approvals cash payments
6:57 are absolutely messy and untraceable and payment gateways charge very high fees for processing this is the first gap and the second gap that we could obviously identify was the gap for high value B2B transactions with UPI but you see guys these are just gaps in UPI which can still be addressed and at least UPI worked but the next part of India stack it's not just broken it's a full-blown disaster so let's start with ONDC let me introduce you to ODC the open network for digital commerce it's a governmentbacked online retail network you can find all kinds of sellers on it restaurants grocery stores gadget hubs even fashion omdc is a network of network it's a platform of platform so today let's say Flipkart can also be part of ODC somebody who's new who
7:43 doesn't have a platform but wants to have an innovative test an innovative idea they can also be a part of this you see ODC is not an app or platform like Amazon or Flipkart ondc is a protocol so just like UPI is for payments is a digital infrastructure that allows different buyer apps seller apps and logistics providers to interact on a common network this means any seller on the network can sell to any buyer through any participating app which eventually creates an open and interoperable e-commerce system now imagine this in the digital world sellers are on different apps like PTM Magic Pin and Misho buyers are using different apps like somebody might order from Phone Pay someone might order from PTM and logistics partners like Dunzo Load Share all of them exist as
8:28 independent entities in the same network so now make sure that a buyer on Phone Pay can buy a shirt from a seller listed on Magic Pin and then this shirt can then be delivered by Dunzo all in one smooth order so no one needs to be on the same app they just need to be on the same network now if you look at its success it's not bad at all odc has actually made significant strides since its inception by March 2025 it has facilitated over 200 million transactions onboarded over five lakh sellers with 70% of them being MSMES so it's a great thing and the platform is also gaining traction in multiple sectors like food delivery grocery and even mobility so yes is still growing but in spite of its impressive growth ONDC faces some serious challenges which
9:15 need urgent attention firstly the user experience is one of the most talked about complaints for those who don't know just like Beam UPI is the app for UPI even has its own app but if you look at the app experience the app experience is a nightmare you select groceries and you get shown marketplaces of kortis you search for foreign whey protein brands and you get moringa powder from Indian sellers and the UX is so bad that it feels like using a college student's first year project and the delivery is so bad that prime it takes 5 to 7 days for the products to be delivered this is because unlike Amazon they do not have a seamlessly integrated logistics network so there is no centralized fulfillment and no consistency and while Amazon and Flipkart throw billions on marketing and discounts ODC has no such firepower they
10:03 have no flash sales and they have no flash discounts so users tend to stick around with Amazon and Flipkart more than they stick around with the ODC apps and then comes the last part which is awareness you see OMDC's success relies on getting trust and awareness to match its growth currently many users still don't know about the platform at all and even when they do they're often turned off by the experience as seen in numerous social media complaints so the question is how can a platform built to take on Amazon and Flipkart survive if customers aren't coming back now don't get me wrong over here guys ondc has the potential to disrupt the e-commerce space but the government needs to address three key issues logistics marketing and financial viability they need to introduce more fees but also balance the fees in such a way that they
10:49 themselves don't become the problem that they want to solve these are the challenges that the government needs to solve when it comes to ONDC if this is very very clear to you let's look at Okin or open credit enablement network and guys I must admit that I was very happy for this initiative and I thought that this is going to change the landscape of Indian MSMES forever but the only thing that has changed is my opinion on government execution so let's understand this better okin is a government-led initiative aimed at democratizing the access to credit in India particularly for small businesses and the individuals who have been excluded from traditional banking systems so if a small business in Bihar applies for a loan of 10,000 rupees using Aadhaar the business owner's identity is verified then the business
11:36 shares its GST records and transaction history via the account aggregator which allows the lenders to then access the business's creditworthiness then a lender like HDFC quickly approves the loan using real-time data and the business receives its funds instantly via UPM and then the business will use digilocker to store and access important documents digitally reducing paperwork and ensuring security so this paperless cashless and digital-driven ecosystem was expected to cut transaction costs reduce fraud and provide instant access to financial services so the question is where did we all go wrong because this seems like a very straightforward procedure right well the biggest challenge for Okin has been the reluctance of major banks to fully participate while initial reports in 2022 and 23 suggested that lenders like
12:23 ICI Bank Kotak Mahindra Aditaba Finance have signed up their level of engagement still remains low in fact the total loan dispersal through Okin as of 2024 was just 23 cr rupees and that too to just 14,000 sellers now compare this with UPI's transaction volume which hit 200 lakh crores in 2024 you will know how Okin's impact was negligible in contrast to the other digital public goods in fact from what we read by 2024 only five lenders were actively dispersing loans through OKEN which indicates a failure to reach mainstream adoption now why is this happening well from the brief data that was available on the internet what we found is that number one the banks fear losing direct control over customer
13:09 relationship number two unlike UPI which banks were forced to adopt Okin is a protocol and thus banks can choose to adopt or ignore it so banks could ignore it without any consequence in fact if you look at account aggregators which was supposed to be the fourth layer of India stack that could let users share bank and insurance data as of 2024 from the data that we could find on the internet only 8% of bank accounts are linked in fact Phone Pay stopped being an account aggregator recently citing competing priorities now I don't understand what this means so if you do please let me know in the comments and you know what's even more disappointing guys the latest status of OK is not available on the open source so if at all it is successful I would request a government official to please email the report to write to
13:54 things.com and we will make a video on it and the last reason why OK is a failure is because of the regulatory and operational failures in early pilots in this pilot lenders struggled with repayment collection leading to a higher thanex expected defaults in fact the government's marketplace called GM Sahai 1.0 to it was quietly discontinued in late 2024 with a new version of Okin 4.0 under development so while Okin has not been officially discontinued its primary pilot program was shut down due to performance issues and again there is no clear update on whether its replacement is more successful or it is less successful and according to us a major red flags that there have been virtually no official updates on Okin's progress since early 2024 unlike UPI which has monthly transaction reports and the
14:40 progress that features on Instagram page itself Okin's adoption figures have not been published frequently enough which has then led to speculation that maybe the rollout has been stalled this is what we could find about the gaps in UPI the startups to be built and the gaps in ONDC and OKAN so if any government official is watching this episode please help us gain clarity on this so that we can educate the people about the pitfalls and opportunities and we do want to celebrate the success of the government but if you don't find any we can't do it so please let me know in the comments or you can email it to write tothinkchoolgmail.com but this is what brings us to the last part of the episode and that are the lessons that we need to learn from this story lesson number one vision without execution is just PR we all see grand government tech
15:26 initiatives often being launched with big speeches and bigger promises but we also need to remember that unless there are follow-ups incentives and user feedback loops which keep on improving the product these ideas will remain as PowerPoint dreams and not public goods lesson number two without skin in the game private players will walk away and the government needs to understand this as soon as possible you see okin and account aggregators fail to attract banks because there was no incentive or regulation forcing the participation of these giant players and if private players do not see any value they will stick to what already works so whenever you build a system or a platform always ask yourself one question what is the incentive for any person or any entity to sign up on your platform and only when you get the answer you should begin developing the platform or the system
16:11 lesson number three India stack needs startups and not just state support you see UPI exploded because startups like Phone Pay Google Pay and PTM built amazing layers on top of the public rails but ODC and Okin tried to scale without startup innovation and we believe that is why they are not picking up and lastly if a government official is watching this please understand that to us the common people of India transparency builds trust and silence often signals failure while real-time data of UPI is published everywhere OK and account aggregators data is not published that often and in fact when we searched for it we almost found nothing so if the public doesn't know what's working and what's not they would assume that it's not working so please update us and keep us posted on both your progress and failures and we understand
16:58 that some initiatives may not work but not informing the public at all doesn't seem like the best thing to do especially after you've created this massive hype about something really really revolutionary which got the public very very excited so please update us and let us know and we would be more than happy to celebrate your success because we believe that your success is our success that's all from my side for today guys if you learned something valuable please make sure to hit the like button in order to make YouTube happy and for more such insightful business and polial case studies please subscribe to our channel thank you so much for watching i will see you in the next one bye-bye
