Transactions through apps like Paytm are free for now but they may not be once you get addicted to them

Demonetization was announced in India on the evening of 8th November, 2016 and right on the very next day (9th November), there was this glorified advertisement of Paytm across all Indian newspapers about how the new cashless and digital revolution is going to be driven by Paytm. Right on that very day, the seeds of this new drug called payment apps was sown in the minds of all Indian citizens.

DeMo was supposed to be a confidential affair and nobody was supposed to know about it until it actually happened (except those in the top echelons of govt. who implemented it). Now, any seasoned professional in the PR circles will tell you that such a scale of publicity simply cannot happen overnight, even a newspaper advertisement with that kind of content cannot appear overnight, a lot of thinking goes into it.

These days, everyone is addicted to wallet apps like Paytm, Mobikwik and Google Pay. People need to understand that nothing comes for free in this world, someone needs to pay a lot of money to develop and maintain these apps and servers, conform to regulations of the finance industry, verify the transactions, etc. Who in their right minds will give away all this for free, these aren't socialist or altruistic companies.

Sooner or later, Paytm will want to recover the returns on their investment. Either they'll recover it by placing fees on all transactions (which can't happen right now because people aren't fully addicted) or they'll have to recover these fees from the merchants. And if that happens, it'll be pushed to customers like you and me in some way or the other.

According to some recent reports, this kind of thing is already happening, many restaurants are refusing to accept money through Paytm because they have started charging them with additional Paytm "convenience fee". Similarly, if you book a railway or air ticket through Paytm, you'll incur this same "convenience fee" which won't be there if you book the same through IRCTC or a govt. website.

What should Indian citizens do to get rid of this addiction?

1. Start using cash more and more: Some vested interests are spreading this false propaganda that using cash is some kind of unethical thing. It is this same cash which you've grown up spending on things like Parle-G biscuits and Colgate but now suddenly it has become unethical? You want each and every tiny transaction like these go through a payment platform, thus contributing to the addiction and helping these interests with more data collection? This mindset needs to change, good old cash should remain as valid a mode of payment as these other digital options.
2. Don't use Paytm or Google Pay for every single transaction: Use NetBanking or Debit/Credit cards or even UPI once in a while for online transactions. Also keep the good old NEFT handy, there is nothing wrong with it. Let there be diversity of payment options, one single option shouldn't rule everything. For peer-to-peer transactions like paying your landlord or maid or subzi wala, tell them specifically to stop using Paytm - either use cash or a crypto currency like bitcoin, which brings us to the next point.
3. Start using bitcoins: Use them only if you know how to! Its important that you don't mix the cash and bitcoin economies, keep them separate. Don't fall in the trap of buying them through exchanges, the whole point of using bitcoins is to use them anonymously or at least, pseudonymously (otherwise, you may as well use rupees or dollars, instead). The ideal use case for using bitcoins in India right now is to pay your maid, land-lord or subzi-wala (yeah, they know nothing about bitcoins but you can educate them about it). I wish ecommerce companies like Flipkart and Amazon would accept bitcoins too but that may not happen very soon.

In liberal and progressive countries like Norway and Sweden, it is perfectly legal to use bitcoins as the state has no interest in wielding the sort of capitalist control which countries like India and US have (where bitcoin is still thought of as a grey area). In the long term, we are all moving towards the progressiveness of Norway and Sweden but until then, you need to use bitcoins discretely.