#11 | Jayant — Future of Data Sharing

By Dhriti Agarwal, Soumitro Datta, Prajna Nayak & Dharmesh Ba

Published in

D91 Labs

17 min readFeb 24, 2021

This interview was conducted as a part of ‘Future of data sharing’ sponsored by Facebook. In this series, we interviewed participants around their access, adoption, and usage of financial products along with their perception of data sharing to financial institutions.

Disclaimer: The income range was self-reported by the participant. D91 Labs does not request the participants to disclose their exact income or proof for the same.

Short Story

28-year-old Jayant works as a technical support engineer at a newspaper publication. He stays with his wife and parents in Hyderabad, where he was born and brought up. Jayant is happy with where he is financially and he has a clear idea of his current and future investments and plans to buy a house in the future. He dreams of bungee jumping and paragliding on his international trips.

Banking

Jayant has 4 active bank accounts. Out of these, his ICICI and HDFC accounts are his primary accounts and he has credit cards linked with both these accounts.
He has also linked all his accounts to UPI Apps like PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm and Freecharge.
When Jayant was 6 years old, his father opened a joint account with him at Andhra Bank, which is now Union Bank. The account was used to create an FD and after it matured, the account was converted into Jayant’s name and is still active.
He has a debit card linked to the account and also uses it for NetBanking on his computer.
The second account was opened with ICICI Bank by Jayant’s employer in 2015. It acts as his salary account even today.
He opened a third account with HDFC Bank in 2017 when he had to take out a loan.
Jayant opened a bank account and a Demat account with Kotak Mahindra Bank in 2018 for FDs and trading.

You mentioned that all your bank accounts are linked to UPI Apps. Why have you linked everything to everything?
To know my expenditure. For example, if I go to a shopping mall or a grocery store, I won’t know how much I’m spending unless I keep track of which bank I am paying from and see the statements at the end of the month. Instead, this helps me identify how I am handling my money.
Why did you choose Kotak Mahindra Bank?
For trading. I researched on Quora — which I use for everything because it has genuine reviews from people, unlike Google which sounds fake. I opened a Demat with them because I got more returns with the Kotak Life policy. ICICI Lombard and other third-party vendors also offered me deals, but I thought this would be the best fit for me and went ahead.

Can you help me understand how you use your bank accounts?
I get my salary in the ICICI account and every month, I distribute my salary across all my accounts. First, I segregate it into my HDFC and Andhra bank accounts, and later to the Kotak Mahindra account. On the 5th of each month, the FD, RD, and LIC will be paid from my HDFC and ICICI account. The due date is a bit late in Kotak and if there are any additional savings or money I get, I will move that also into my Kotak Mahindra bank’s savings. I also transfer some money to third party chit vendors or LIC members through the ICICI net banking app. Apart from ICICI, all my other accounts are backup savings accounts only — if something happens suddenly, then apart from credit card, these are handy.
You mentioned that you already had a Demat account with Aditya Birla. Then why did you open another one with Kotak?
Initially, a friend referred Aditya Birla and I thought I will not get any returns. But later on, I got very good returns so I researched the customer care on almost every site and app. After going through each and everything, I finalised on Kotak. I also wanted Kotak’s Life Insurance. I don’t prefer the Aditya Birla Demat, anymore.

Payment Modes

Jayant’s preferred modes of payment are UPI Apps and Credit Cards. He has credit cards from HDFC and ICICI Bank and he pays for them via Cred.
He has NetBanking for all 4 bank accounts, out of which he has ICICI and HDFC banks’ mobile apps.
He uses digital wallets for PhonePe and Paytm for which he has done KYC. He transfers a fixed amount to his Paytm via Debit Card at the start of the month and Credit Card at the end of the month.
Jayant withdraws cash 1–2 times from the ATM at the start of every month. He uses his ICICI salary account for this.
He reviews his bank statements via the monthly email sent by banks.

“I always have money in my Paytm wallet because if I have to pay in bulk at supermarkets or big shopping malls — I want to get my work done instantly.”
From the multiple UPI Apps that you use, is there any one that you use more often or do you mix it up and use?
I like the PhonePe interface, everybody uses it and they have the scanner option at stores and everything.
Do you have any passbooks to keep a track of all your bank accounts?
Yes, I have one for the Andhra Bank account but I don’t know where it is. I don’t update my passbooks because I already get messages and everything is handy so my mindset is to not harm the environment and save paper also. But I keep track of all my accounts and their balances on every UPI app. For instance, PhonePe has an option to check bank balance by just entering my UPI password. So when I am doing internet banking and all, I can see it there itself.
You mentioned that you also use your bank statements to track your budget. How do you do that?
I check on a date basis because everything depends on dates and the salary and all those things. In the first week of the month, we shop online using Amazon or Snapdeal and its expenditure will stand out in my whole statement. On another day, groceries and food apps like Zomato will be another category. At the end, on 20th, I will do the loading of the wallet again. So I use this in multiple ways.

You mentioned that both your credit cards are linked to Cred. Are their payments auto-debited?
No, I will only do it. I did not take the auto-debit option because I won’t know how much exactly it will deduct. I review my bills every month before paying them. On Cred, there is an option to check the division of how much I have spent on shopping, food and online payments. That helps a lot in identifying the wallet that the credit card statement is showing.
How and when did you start using Cred?
My friend referred it because whenever we make credit card payments, we get points that we can use for shopping on Cred and other shopping apps. If you scroll down on the Cred app, there will be a list of what I can shop from Cred and also other shopping places where I can use Cred points. So it is also multipurpose, I can say. I have some 1 lakh points that I plan to redeem — half on my wife and half on myself.
You mentioned that you have done KYC on Paytm. Was the process smooth?
Yes. Before doing KYC, I researched about it on Paytm to get an overview. I contacted a Paytm KYC agent who stayed next to my house. I filled in all the details and he took my Aadhar and PAN card and made the process smooth. I missed some documents so I uploaded them on Paytm. I did not have much stress.

Expenses

Jayant’s regular monthly expenses include rent, utility bills, cable and broadband, transport, groceries, travel, food, subscriptions and entertainment.
He pays for most of these expenses using a variety of UPI Apps which he selects depending on availability and offers. He uses PhonePe 90% of the time. He also uses Google Pay to pay for petrol and a family plan for mobile recharge.
Jayant withdraws approximately ₹12,000–25,000 in cash at one shot from the ATM at the start of every month, which he uses for expenses.
He pays the electricity bill through the official Telangana states mobile app or alternatively, he also prefers paying it through PayTM.
He fills petrol 4–5 times a month for which he pays twice using cash and once that gets over, he pays via UPI Apps.
Jayant has a fixed budget for groceries and shopping and he checks his monthly bank statement for excessive spending.
On the 4th of every month, he buys groceries in bulk from DMart and pays via his HDFC credit card since HDFC is a DMart partner and doesn’t charge any additional amount. He buys additional groceries from Reliance Fresh and pays with his ICICI account because ICICI is a Reliance partner. For everything else, he visits local vendors and pays in cash.
Jayant has fixed dates for every expense. He uses his debit card while shopping offline because he does this at the start of the month, and not at the end.
He uses NetBanking to book Oyo rooms and recharge his digital wallets from his ICICI salary account. He also travels abroad every 6 months and exchanges currency through a third party vendor instead of using a Forex card.
He uses his ICICI credit card more than the HDFC one at restaurants because:

“ I see what partners restaurants have and it is ICICI for 70% of the restaurants.”
You mentioned that you pay rent either via UPI Apps or cash. What does your payment mode depend on?
It depends on the owner’s availability. Usually, I directly give the rent to my mother and she gives it to him. But if he is not available or is in hometown, then I do a UPI transaction via PhonePe because he only has a PhonePe account. This is the reason I got stuck with PhonePe — because he doesn’t have any other app.
Do you do phone recharges for anyone else in your family?
Yes, I do it via Google Pay because it has a family plan. I got to know about it after seeing hoardings on the street and pop-ups on the My Airtel app.
You use UPI Apps for everything except utility bill payments, which you pay on individual applications for each utility. Why is that?
Other than paying bills, I also check for rewards and share my referral link if someone needs it. So it is handy and I can utilise the offers on that.
You mentioned that you use NetBanking on commute applications like Shuttl, carpool and rideshare apps. Is there any particular reason for that?
I have chosen this method, especially for office rides because if I use UPI, it will take time and during the rush-hours of office travel and I might miss the bus. Suppose I have to take a 9:30 am bus, the Shuttl app is user-friendly, I can book slots and I can pay instantly. I recharge these commute apps’ digital wallets from my ICICI bank for a fixed amount every month — ₹3000 for office rides and ₹500 for the metro. I stopped using Ola wallet after a bad experience a few years back. Money got auto-deducted without any ride or notice. I contacted and discussed this with Ola and posted my heart’s feelings on Twitter and Facebook, but it was not resolved. I kept all the message screenshots but ₹2200 was gone.

Loans

Jayant had taken an education loan from ICICI bank, which he repaid through auto-deductions from his salary after he started working.
He also took out a personal loan from HDFC Bank in 2018 to purchase land, which is ongoing.
Despite facing multiple hurdles from banks, Jayant did not consider approaching private non-banking companies.
The repayment for the personal loan is auto-deducted from his ICICI salary account every month and he plans to repay the full amount in 5 years.
He isn’t sure about taking another loan in the future.
Jayant purchased his mobile phone on a 0% EMI-basis through Amazon and he pays the EMIs from his HDFC credit card.

“I decided to try EMI because there was an offer on my phone’s price and the EMI was with 0% interest.”
You did not have an account with ICICI Bank so why did you take an education loan from there?
My father decided on ICICI Bank because of the low rate of interest.
You mentioned that you took the personal loan from HDFC Bank because the rate of interest was reasonable as compared to other banks. Did you consult with anybody about where to apply for the loan?
Yes, I did a lot of research. Without a broker, I applied for the loan 2–3 times in different banks but they did not meet my expectations. I quoted 5 lakhs to ICICI but they suggested reducing it to 3–4 lakhs. I talked to the executive and he had accepted but later, we couldn’t approach him and at the end moment, they denied me the loan because I was a first-time personal loan seeker. I cancelled the form and visited Kotak bank but they were the same. There was also the point that my CIBIL score was zero. Finally, I decided on HDFC bank and got the loan. I think if anybody is applying for a personal loan for the first time, they will also face many difficulties.
You mentioned that you plan to repay the HDFC personal loan in 5 years. On what basis did you decide to repay it in 5 years?
I said I will repay it in 5 years although it could have gone up to 10 years. As they auto-deduct ₹13,000 every month, I calculated accordingly.

Investments

Jayant had an FD in Andhra Bank which was broken after 3 years to pay his college fees.
He has 1 active FD with the post office since 2016 which he renews every year at the post office.
Jayant has 2 Demat accounts — one with Aditya Birla Group and another with Kotak. But at the moment, he doesn’t feel the need to start investing in stocks.
His family has a Gold Card from RS Brothers, for which he pays ₹4,000 monthly for 2 years, with a 25% return on investment. After the time period, he will buy gold jewellery or silver or sarees. The first year is for his wife, then mom, then dad and it goes around.
Jayant has a Provident Fund policy provided by his employer for which payments are auto-deducted from his salary and he keeps track of it via message updates.
He has invested in a private Chit Fund and in 2 years, he will get back 2.25 lakhs on a 2 lakh investment. He visits their office every month to make payments.
Jayant does not have any minimum balance that he maintains in each of his 4 accounts but he has ₹50,000 stored in his Andhra and Kotak accounts in case of an emergency.
He has never invested in Mutual Funds and is unsure if he ever will.

Why did you make an FD in the post office?
I found out about it myself. It is a reputed office which will not drown. Even if it drowns, the government will pay.
Do you have any plan for your Provident Fund?
I will not touch it till retirement. I have 1.5 lakhs now and I will let it accumulate till 30 or 40 lakhs.
How did you start investing in Sumanth Chit Fund?
I started it 2 years back. I knew about it because we see many chits in our life. Even my father used to invest in them earlier, but now he doesn’t. If the chit fund is from a reputed and old organisation, you can trust it. I have trust in Sumanth because it is very old, and unlike the usual organisations that change their board every 1–2 years. This belongs to a big shot family called Ramoji Rao.
You mentioned that you bought some land after taking the loan. Did you buy it as an investment?
It is on the outskirts of Hyderabad but I don’t plan to live there. I have a long term plan but it is not an investment. I have now purchased it for 6 lakhs and it may grow after some years. Later, I can use it for my baby boy or girl’s marriage.

Insurances

Jayant has a Medi Assist health policy provided by his employer. The policy covers his wife and parents too. The premium is auto-deducted from his salary on an annual basis.
He also has 2 life insurance policies — one from LIC and another from Kotak Mahindra Bank. The Kotak premium is auto-debited annually and he pays the LIC premium on the LIC website via NetBanking.
Vasanth purchased vehicle insurance for his Activa and car from Reliance at the showroom. He pays for the Activa in cash and the car online via NetBanking.
He also receives a travel insurance package from his travel agent when he travels abroad every 6 months.

Why did you make these 2 life insurance policies?
So that I will get some money after retirement. It may also be useful for my children’s education and my parents’ medical expenses. I had taken LIC for my parents, but Kotak is for me and my wife.

Technology

Jayant owns a wide range of devices and social media and communication apps, but deleted his account and uninstalled Sharechat after it was banned.
He has been a smartphone user for 6 years and uses Whatsapp for work, and for voice and video calls, but he has never changed its privacy settings. He also uses Facebook regularly and has changed the privacy settings so that his profile picture is only accessible to friends.
Jayant has never used any of his social media accounts to log in to other apps because -

“I don’t want to interlink two apps. If I directly have one app like BookMyShow, why would I redirect it to my Facebook? I don’t link any two apps.”

Jayant goes through terms and conditions and privacy policies if they are short, otherwise, he doesn’t. He read them for PhonePe because it was small and fit in a text box, but he wasn’t looking for anything in particular.
He usually doesn’t mind giving apps permissions but he didn’t give Shuttl access to his contacts because he felt it was unsafe in the beginning.

Data Sharing and Privacy

Jayant’s first preference for taking another personal loan would be from a government bank, followed by private banks but not from any non-banking sector.
He thinks that if PhonePe and Google Pay offer loans, he will check interest rates and consider them before trying out private companies because -

“It will be good and exciting. These two apps are leading apps that are frequently used by everybody. If they offer loans, even those in slum areas and lower-middle-class people will come to know about it and use it in a very respectable and right manner.”

We asked the participant what kind of data they would be interested in sharing across the different types of loan providers to borrow a personal loan.

Jayant was initially hesitant to share his KYC, financial and investment details with anyone except government banks. On further explaining the possibility of loans on Fintech Apps, he was very excited and ready to share his investment details with Fintech Apps.

Why are you uncomfortable about sharing your social media profile with your lender? What if it’s for identity verification?
I guess I won’t give because instead of sharing my ID, I can just follow them and see what offers they have if they want to showcase something. It’s not a give and take, right? Even if it is for identity verification, I still don’t think it’s a good idea. Maybe in the US or Facebook, they are using this kind of stuff. But no, I won’t share.

To further cross their statements we asked the participants to choose from two different types of loans based on their varying data requirements and captured their thoughts.

“If I give one, I give all. Everything comes under the same picture. If they get my Aadhar, they can get my bank accounts, mobile number, photo and all other databases, right?”
You won’t mind giving access to your bank statement for a longer period in return for a lower interest rate?
Yeah, sometimes we have to get down in some places. I am giving something and I am getting something.

If Lender B gives you an interface to track who has access to your data and you can withdraw the access anytime, would you change your decision?
No, it will not change. I am not bothered if you tell me the details or not because that person will go tell another person and I cannot risk my security, right? Already I have given the information and I won’t know to what extent he has used my details because my information is already on his plate. If the lender asks me before he shares my information every time, then maybe I can do that.

Goals and aspirations

Jayant feels that he is financially stable since he has a road map to all his policies and plans to start a LIC policy for his future child and he wants to buy a house.

If you could give your 23-year-old self some advice, what would it be?
At the graduate level, we are not that serious about money because our parents gave it and we easily spent it — we thought money would come and go but that’s not the scenario. If you have the money, you should save it and for future use.

Credits

Interviewed by Soumitro Datta
Analysed and written by Dhriti Agarwal
Visualised & edited by Prajna Nayak, Dharmesh Ba

Future of Data Sharing:

‘Future of Data Sharing’ aims at designing a playbook for consented data sharing to enable financial services in India. The objective of this research is to develop a design toolkit with the upcoming public infrastructure Account Aggregators as the main theme in focus. The toolkit will host resources and assets around designing better user experiences for data sharing and data portability.

Future of Data Sharing is sponsored by Facebook and executed in collaboration with D91 Labs, DICE, Parallel Labs, TTC Labs and Sahamati.

Future of Data Sharing by D91 Labs is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

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About the Research

This documentation is a result of the in-person interview, along with the participants’ consent. The interviews might be conducted in their native languages and translated to English in the best possible way to reach a large audience.

Disclaimer: The identities of people and places in this documentation have been changed to honour the privacy of the participants.

About D91 Labs

This research was executed and documented by D91 labs. D91 labs is an open-source initiative by setu.co to help Bharat build great fintech products. We organise and publish user research, insights, and frameworks for fintech in India. Please follow us on medium for more exciting stories and insights on Bharat.

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