Hi Friends,

Even as I launch this today ( my 80th Birthday ), I realize that there is yet so much to say and do. There is just no time to look back, no time to wonder,"Will anyone read these pages?"

With regards,
Hemen Parekh
27 June 2013

Now as I approach my 90th birthday ( 27 June 2023 ) , I invite you to visit my Digital Avatar ( www.hemenparekh.ai ) – and continue chatting with me , even when I am no more here physically

Wednesday, 21 June 2017

FW: VOICE ACTIVATED BHIM


Dear Kavin Mittal :

It was with great interest that I read your interview in today’s Business Line – especially in relation to your efforts to simplify DIGITAL PAYMENTS thru your HIKE Messenger

For a few months now , I have been pursuing the concerned people for implementing a “ Voice Activated Mobile Wallet

Details of my suggestion can be found at :


Other relevant blogs are :






Following email forms part of my persuasion  




Warm Regards,

Hemen Parekh

+91 98675 50808


From: Hemen Parekh [mailto:hcp@recruitguru.com]
Sent: 21 June 2017 12:37
To: Aseem Chaturvedi
Cc: Anubhav Sharma; Vishal Anand Kanvaty; aphota@npci.org.in; amitabh.kant@nic.in; amitabhk87@yahoo.com; hcp@recruitguru.com
Subject: VOICE ACTIVATED BHIM

Dear Assem,

Many thanks for sparing your valuable time yesterday , to discuss with me, my suggestion re a Voice Activated version of BHIM mobile wallet


I was happy to know that you do think that the SIMPLICITY of such a version, would enable millions of illiterate / rural Indians to start using BHIM , but it would have to wait till ,


·         Merchants / Retailers , have biometric enabled Smart Phones

·         Bankers ( where these rural folks have their accounts ) come forward to support this Version

·         Privacy / Encryption / Security concerns are properly addressed

·         Current version of BHIM ( V 3.0 ) launched on 14 April , finds universal acceptance / usage among the rural folks

·         At present, there is no visible “ demand / clamour “ from  “ Potential Users “  for this SIMPLICITY


While entirely agreeing with your observations , I think from the word “ GO “ , it may take a few months to design / develop the entire Eco-System , before BHIM V 4.0 can be launched


I would also like to draw your attention to the following extracts of an interview of Shri Amitabh Kant , which appeared in to-day’s Times of India :



India has tremendous scope to increase the number and proportion of digital transactions as only 5 %  of personal consumption expenditure is through digital means today


Our target is to cannibalize cash usage from current levels of 12 % of GDP to 5 – 6 % of GDP in coming years


After the launch of UPI in April 2016, various bank-led and third party apps permeated the space, which led to usage of UPI


However, not a significant and steep rise was seen due to multiplicity of apps


BHIM was intended to bring clarity into the public space, where any customer of any bank could use the same app to make UPI based payments


The expectations did prove right



To complete this scenario , it seems a lot of “ Messaging Platforms “ ( Facebook - WhatsApp / Hike Messenger ) are about to jump into the DIGITAL PAYMENT space !


Today’s Business Line reads ( “ Hike Messenger launches payment services “ ) . Extract below :


According to market analysts, mobile payments are a logical next step for messaging platforms as they have millions of users on their platform


In an interview with BusinessLine in February, WhatsApp Co-Founder Brian Acton said that the Facebook owned company is in talks with the Centre to see how WhatsApp can be used for,

·         Civic engagement

·         E-Commerce

·         Digital Transactions and Payments



HIKE Messenger Founder and CEO , Kavin Bharati Mittal told Business Line :


“ HIKE will not only include a mobile wallet on its platform but will also integrate with the National Payments Corporation of India’s UPI platform to allow in-app transfers between two bank accounts


Not only are we the first ( messaging app ) to offer payments in the country but this also makes HIKE , the biggest UPI platform in the country because we have over 100 million registered users “


Hike , however , won’t be looking at getting merchants on board the app , something wallet companies such as Paytm are aggressively into


Instead , the company is working with banks to see how offline retailers can start using UPI for payments and how HIKE can act as a means for that


The company is also trying to become a platform wherein a user can do anything from shopping to mobile recharges to other bill payments from within the app , eliminating the need for multiple mobile apps


Also we will work with banks to understand how they are deploying UPI QR Code offline


As we support UPI, HIKE will automatically work with all these deployments as the banks deploy merchants on UPI


So , we ourselves won’t acquire merchants – that’s not our goal


There’s a dedicated wallet section in the app


When you tap on it the first time, we’ll re-verify your phone number


And then you can choose to link your bank account via UPI , with a single click


We’ll grab your phone number, which is already linked to the bank account, from all the APIs connected to the UPI platform, and easily allow you to link your bank account to HIKE


Once you are UPI-linked, you can send money to anybody by just choosing their contact number


You can choose whether you want to send money via UPI or the wallet



Dear Aseem :

From the forgoing , it seems , we may not have to wait for too long before Google Action launches a Voice Activated mobile wallet in India

With today’s launch of Google Jobs , they are about to make Naukri / MonsterIndia / Timesjobs etc , obsolete !


Here was my own suggestion to Ashish Kashyap ( Country Manager , Google India ) , on 21 Dec 2005 :


Rest  is  history  !




With Regards,

hemen  parekh 
( M ) +91 - 98,67,55,08,08


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