Open minded. When we think about India’s telecom numbers on a monthly and quarterly basis, our obsession becomes focused on operator-based subscriber numbers (who gained how much, and who lost the most). It can be easily recalled in the quarterly report of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for April to June 2025 that India has now become the second country after China to have one billion internet subscribers. I remember a recent comment by Airtel’s Gopal Vittal, where he rightly said that while connectivity has been resolved, the primary issues now are trust, security and inclusion. Keep in mind, India’s wireline internet base is still very small (47.49 million) compared to the wireless subscriber base (1,170.88 million) that relies on 5G/4G/3G. Ray of hope shown by research firm Techark’s The latest Insights Pro report states, “The number of wireline subscribers increased dramatically 28.20% QoQ to 47.49 million. This rapid growth is attributed to the fiber rollout and a specific reporting change.” One thing I would be worried about is the future of Tata Play, DishTV and even Airtel’s Xstream DTH service. DTH subscribers declined 1.49% quarter-on-quarter, perhaps reflecting the shift towards OTT viewing, and also partly due to IPTV gaining renewed relevance with Reliance Jio and Airtel Xstream bundling. Worth keeping an eye on.
Analysis: Your Biometrics for UPI Payments
Last week, most of you will remember that we analyzed Razorpay and Yes Bank Integration of biometrics (this could be fingerprints or facial recognition, depending on your phone) as authentication for credit card payments on websites and platforms that use RazorPay’s gateway. Reserve Bank of India’s latest (Authentication Mechanism for Digital Payment Transactions) Guidelines, 2025 circularThis allows for flexibility and convenience. Now, it is expanding to UPI payments as well. A historic moment? Perhaps. For consumers, this means an alternative to the hassle of punching in a UPI PIN for every transaction (often in full view of unknown humans nearby). This potentially has more benefits.
As Razorpay reported, about 35% of transactions for card transactions fail due to OTP delays, incorrect entries or redirection issues. In the case of UPI, it is a privacy issue like incorrect PIN, poor internet connectivity at the time of transaction or complete anonymity. RBI’s new framework mandates two-factor authentication, encouraging a move away from OTP dominance towards more secure, harder-to-counterfeit methods such as device tokens and biometrics. For consumers, the benefits are immediate: fewer failed transactions, faster checkout, and more confidence for users stopping at first-time PIN entry. Expect higher completion rates and increase in ticket sizes in P2M flows (QR and Tap) where PIN concerns suppressed spending.
The other big winner apart from consumers is every UPI you might be using for payments. PhonePe, Google Pay, CRED, Amazon Pay, you name it, and they will soon add biometrics as a way to authenticate UPI payments. The choice now lies with consumers, whether they want to still use the good old PIN, or fingerprint or face scan.
The risk surface turns partly to device theft, and spoofing (a fake QR cleverly pasted over a real QR in a store) – don’t be surprised, this happens more than you might expect. The other question here is whether more affordable Android phones will be accurate enough with fingerprint or facial authentication to successfully confirm a transaction in one go? For now, and as it should be, biometrics should remain an opt-in.
Tech Spotlight: Honeywell Travel Accessories
If you travel often (some of you fly a lot more often than I do, but still), especially for work, a tech goodie bag should hit the spot. Fast chargers, docking accessories for your laptop, and a travel adapter to get you started with the variety of power sockets around the world, are three styles I worry about not packing (during the entire flight) until I get to the destination and see that I have it. Honeywell, a brand known in the field of tech accessories, has an all-round portfolio that is equally impressive in terms of real-world performance.
I’ll start with the two docking systems, which is very relevant for thin laptops, which often don’t have enough ports (for example, my MacBook Air of choice only has two USB-C ports). One of Honeywell’s Type C Docking Station 9-in-1 (price approx. 2,789) and Type C Docking Station 6-in-1 (approx.). 2,149) would be a very suitable option for additional connectivity to your Mac or Windows laptop. Both specs will have in common an HDMI port with 4K resolution support, 100-watt power delivery for external peripherals over Type-C, Thunderbolt 4, three USB 3.0 ports, and a Gigabit Ethernet port. On the former, a USB 2.0 port, a 3.5mm audio out and an SD as well as TF card slot have also been added.
Universal World Travel Adapter 38W (It costs approx 1,549) not only has an intuitive plug point converter for EU, US, UK, CN, and AUS sockets (the wrong plug pin type can be a stressful point when starting work a few hours after landing), but also features a USB-A (18-Watt max) and USB-C (tops out at 20-Watt) ports, allowing a total of 38-Watt charging speeds. Connects.
A definite favorite among this group is Honeywell’s Zest Charger GaN 140-Watt Charger (it will cost approx. 7,769). This gallium nitride semiconductor powerhouse has two USB-A and two USB-C ports – the former maxes out at 30-watts while the latter can certainly do 140-watts when used collectively or alone. As with this type of charger, the specifics of the calculation dictate which port and how many devices you plug in for simultaneous charging. For example, using one Type-C and one Type-A port would mean 100-watts + 30-watts. Using the latter two means 30-Watts + 30-Watts. In my tests, the Zest Charger GaN 140-Watt Charger stayed extremely cool even when all four ports were charging devices simultaneously, including the MacBook Pro.
Editor’s Margin: Land Rebellion in India
Things may soon get interesting in India’s fintech sector. UK-based global fintech platform Revolut, which has 65 million customers worldwide, is the closest to signing up users in India. After receiving a payments license in April 2025, the platform should go live in India in the coming weeks, and largely replicate a global model for a broad-spectrum digital payments app that includes membership tiers that will define rewards and benefits. There will be a prepaid instrument wallet or PPI wallet for online or offline transactions as well as bill payments, a domestic prepaid card (think of it as a debit card) linked to the wallet and possibly a foreign currency card. In some countries, they enable investing in stocks and commodities, but this is unlikely to be available in India any time soon. All things considered, Revolut isn’t quite another payments app, especially if the global payments and forex card elements are well integrated. But for the larger share of domestic transactions they expect Revolut to definitely tap into multiple payment platforms including Amazon Pay and Paytm as well as payment bank account platforms including Airtel and Jio.
Car Corner: Responsibility beyond the showroom
A few days ago, an email from Mercedes-Benz arrived in my mailbox. This tells me that the country’s largest luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz India is now partnering with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to skill 1000 youth and women at the world-class skill development centers set up under this initiative in Pune and Delhi-NCR. They call this development ‘transformational’ and based on the scale they’re referring to, I wouldn’t disagree. The idea is clear – “This comprehensive Corporate Social Responsibility initiative will empower talented youth and women, providing them with industry-relevant automotive skills at par with global standards,” he says. This has made me think. What is happening with vehicle manufacturers in India, and what is their involvement in social work. Turns out, it’s a pretty bright picture.
Tata Motors, a shining example of this, is known for its comprehensive, multi-pillar CSR strategy. Just last month, their 11th Annual Corporate Social Responsibility Report highlighted the positive impact on the lives of 1.47 million people across 109 aspirational districts in the country through initiatives in rural development, water conservation, education and livelihood support. During a year when large parts of the state of Maharashtra grappled with drought, Tata Motors helped restore 356 water bodies across 10 districts. He estimates that about 700 crore liters of water capacity will be restored for farmers and villages.
Over the years, Mahindra has also focused on multiple pillars, including sustainable rural development, women empowerment in agriculture, adoption of clean energy in villages and community health. As Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group, said in the latest sustainability report, “Mahindra Sustain is driving the future of renewable energy with its investment in a 150 MW hybrid project, integrating wind and solar power to provide clean energy at scale to our Mahindra Group companies.” The initiative is expected to significantly expand the automaker’s renewable energy footprint, reducing carbon emissions from direct operations.
The three key pillars of Maruti Suzuki India Limited are road safety, skill development and community upliftment. The latter talks about the need for rapid improvement in infrastructure, especially around health care and education. Their ten main CSR projects for this financial year include a multi-specialty hospital in Sitapur, Gujarat, vocational training support through Japan India Institute for Manufacturing (JIM) and vocational training support to Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) of the government.
