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As one year of note ban draws closer, and the government prepares to observe ‘Anti-Black Money Day’ on 8 November, one of the country’s most preferred alternative modes of payment in the post-demonetisation world, Paytm, went down for approximately 3 hours.
A number of users took to Twitter to lament that India’s go-to digital wallet service wasn’t working. Coming just days ahead of the anniversary of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation announcement on 8 November 2016, the service hitting a sudden stop caused inconvenience for more than a few people.
Downdetector.in, a service that tracks reports of a website or online service being down, reported a massive spike in the number of users reporting that Paytm wasn’t working from 2 pm to 5 pm.
Indian citizens’ dependence on Paytm rose sharply after demonetisation. Perhaps as proof of a large increase in its user base, Paytm managed to raise $1.4 billion in revenue in the first two quarters of 2017.
The note ban announcement on 8 November 2016 led to many Indians’ increased reliance on Paytm and other similar digital wallets.
What happens if the technology citizens rely on so heavily, stops working? One year after demonetisation, what would the country do if digital wallets go down for longer periods than just 2-3 hours?
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