Monica Jasuja

India's economic rise is attracting attention across the globe, but its progress in poverty reduction deserves an equally important place in international conversations. According to the World Bank's October 2026 India Poverty & Equity Brief, the country recorded one of the fastest declines in poverty globally across both monetary and non-monetary dimensions. The numbers are extraordinary. Poverty at the $4.20/day threshold declined from 57.7% in 2011 to 16.1% in 2023. Extreme poverty fell from 27.1% to just 2.6%. And multidimensional poverty, as measured through OPHI's index, declined from 53.8% in 2005–06 to 16.4% in 2019–21. Together, these indicators describe a country experiencing substantial improvements across multiple measures of deprivation. This progress is particularly significant considering India's enormous population and diverse economic conditions. Economic growth is an important part of national development. But the ability to reduce poverty at this scale is what makes India's experience truly significant on the global stage.

I'm not from Singapore, but I rode its metro and buses all week on my Indian credit card. 
No metro card. No top-up.
Just tap in and tap out. 
So why are banks fighting to be that card?

“What we give doesn't always return, but what we give is always what we are.” Insecurity turns admiration into envy and success into rivalry. I've worked hard to unlearn that. Met someone yesterday who reminded me how refreshing it is when neither person needs to compete.

iPhone duo frenzy in Singapore! You simply cannot comprehend the level of Apple fandom until you witness it firsthand. The fascination, the excitement, the almost religious devotion! Apple doesn’t just have customers. It has devotees. And Singapore seems to have them in abundance! 😂😭😂

Everyone talks about the future of payments. But who’s listening to the people actually accepting them? At the Merchant Advisory Group (MAG) Summit in Singapore, we turned the microphone towards merchants. And three conversations stood out. Fraud and scams. Who carries the risk when things go wrong, and who is responsible for fixing it? Agentic commerce. When AI starts making purchases on our behalf, who authorises the payment, and who is accountable? Local payment methods. Why is accepting payments across markets still so complicated when paying has become so simple? Three very different challenges. One common thread. Merchants don’t just want more payment innovation. They want the payments ecosystem to solve problems that matter to their businesses. That’s why EPAA and MAG brought merchants together. Not just to discuss what’s next, but to hear what needs fixing now. Because the future of payments cannot be designed without the people who accept them. Here’s a question: Are we building the payments industry around merchants’ needs, or asking merchants to adapt to what the industry builds? @ahier @AlexH_Johnson @Arjun_Vir_Singh @agenticAI @antgrasso @BrianRoemmele @BrettKing @cgledhill @chidambara09 @Chris_Skinner @Damien_CABADI @davidbrear @efipm @Eli_Krumova @enricomolinari @f_burelli @Fabriziobustama @FGraillot @FinMKTG @FintechBalerina @Hana_ElSayyed @helene_wpli @JameDiBiasio @JimMarous @JoannMoretti @Khulood_Almani @LedaGlyptis @linasbeliunas @oost_marcel @mikeflache @mikequindazzi @mikulaja @nafisalam @norbertgehrke @pkriaris @psb_dc @richardturrin @rshevlin @SabineVdL @samboboev @sarunibm @SpirosMargaris @sytaylor @tanvi_ratna @UrsBolt @visible_banking @Xbond49 @YuHelenYu #MerchantVoice #Payments #Fintech #MAGPaymentsSummit

Evening task if you applied for the Jio IPO today: open your UPI app, check themandate says approved. Evening task if you're in but haven't applied: make sure you apply by Thursday. Don't leave it for Friday night. #SabkaJioIPO #ipo #jio #finance