Millions of Digital Journeys. | More Than Just Payments. | Stories to Listen.
Go Live: August 13, 2026
Nayakanti Prashant
3rd Gen Banker & Citizen Lobbyist – Bengaluru
The Starting Point
Dear Maruti Suzuki, BillDesk and NPCI Bharat BillPay,
The recent collaboration bringing FASTag recharge and
e-Challan payments to the Maruti Suzuki App is an interesting addition to the
digital car-ownership journey.
Millions of customers may use such services for very different
reasons — checking a FASTag balance, recharging it, checking an e-Challan, or
making a payment.
Each of these interactions generates useful digital activity.
Perhaps...
the story of a digital payment journey need not end with the
transaction.
What if the data already generated by the digital journey
could also tell the public its story?
Act I | One Digital Journey
Every digital journey begins with an intention.
A customer may check a FASTag balance.
Recharge a FASTag.
Check an e-Challan.
Or make an e-Challan payment.
Some journeys end with a payment.
Others end with a check.
Some may simply pause.
Yet each interaction leaves behind a piece of useful
information.
Perhaps that information can also tell the public something
about the journey.
Act II | One Daily Window
A digital journey creates data every day.
FASTag balances checked.
FASTag top-ups made.
e-Challan status checked.
e-Challan payments completed.
Perhaps...
a simple T-2 daily MIS could bring selected, aggregated
information together.
Not customer-level information.
Not individual transactions.
Just an anonymised snapshot of the digital journey.
So that...
what happens every day need not remain visible only within the
systems that process it.
It could also become a small window into how citizens are
using the service.
Act III | One Bigger Picture
A payment is only one part of a digital journey.
A customer may first check a FASTag balance.
Then decide to recharge.
Another customer may check an e-Challan.
And perhaps make the payment later.
These interactions may already be captured across different
operational systems.
Perhaps...
the daily MIS could bring selected information together.
Not only:
How many payments were made?
But also:
How many balances were checked?
How many e-Challans were checked?
How many payments were completed?
And...
What was the value of those transactions?
When appropriately aggregated and anonymised...
these numbers could tell a much richer story of the digital
journey.
Act IV | One Citizen Illustration
A digital payment journey already generates data.
Perhaps...
selected, aggregated and anonymised information from that
journey could simply be made visible.
Not as a new feature.
Not as a customer-level report.
But as a simple T-2 daily snapshot of what is already
happening.
For example:
|
Activity |
T-2 Day |
|
FASTag balance checks |
XXXXX |
|
FASTag top-ups |
XXXXX |
|
e-Challan status checks |
XXXXX |
|
e-Challan payments |
XXXXX |
|
Total transaction value |
₹XX |
Illustrative only.
The actual format is left to the respective stakeholders
And over a month, the same information could reveal simple
insights:
September 2026
The highest number of FASTag top-ups was recorded on 10 September 2026.
The objective is not to create another reporting system.
It is simply to make selected information already generated by
the digital journey visible.
The First Line on the Whiteboard
What if the data already generated by the digital journey
could also tell the public its story?
One Citizen Thought
Data becomes more meaningful when
it becomes visible.
Act V | One Shared Learning
A digital payment journey does not belong to the transaction
alone.
It belongs to the customer who checks.
The customer who pays.
The customer who waits.
And the customer who later shares the experience.
Perhaps...
when aggregated and anonymised data is made visible regularly,
it can do more than report numbers.
It can encourage conversations.
What happened today?
What changed this month?
When did customers use the service most?
What patterns are emerging?
And perhaps...
the value of making digital payment data visible is not only
in the numbers themselves.
It is in what those numbers allow customers, businesses and
the wider ecosystem to understand about the payment experience.
One day's activity becomes a data point.
A month's activity becomes a pattern.
And over time...
patterns can become conversations about how digital payments
are actually experienced.
Disclaimer
This Citizen Observation is inspired by the collaboration
announced by Maruti Suzuki, BillDesk and NPCI Bharat BillPay for FASTag
recharge and e-Challan payments through the Maruti Suzuki App.
It simply looks at whether selected, aggregated and anonymised
data already generated through such digital journeys could also be made visible
as a source of public insight.
The manner in which such information may be identified,
processed, published or shared is naturally best left to the concerned experts
and stakeholders.
April 11 – Digital Transactions Day
April 11 marks the beginning of India's UPI journey.
Digital Transactions Day is therefore centred on April 11.
Every digital transaction creates more than a payment.
It creates a moment in a larger digital journey.
Perhaps...
when that journey is understood through appropriately
aggregated and anonymised information, it can create greater transparency,
learning and trust.
The Joy of Digital Transactions.
The Joy of Digital Transactions
Nayakanti Prashant
3rd Gen Banker & Citizen Lobbyist – Bengaluru
Advocating Digital Transactions Day (April 11)
Author’s Blogs
https://prashantrandomthoughts.blogspot.com
https://prashantnepayments.blogspot.com
https://innovationinbanking.blogspot.com
