In this episode, Paolo Sironi speaks with Dr. Balakrishnan Mahadevan (Balu), author of Designing Change: My Journey Through India’s Digital Payments Transformation. India’s digital payments have grown from under one billion transactions annually around 2010 to over 225 billion by March 2025—a more than 200-fold increase. Through his unique lens as a former banking technology leader, COO of NPCI during its critical scaling years, and World Bank advisor, Balu offers a rare insider’s account of how this transformation actually happened. The conversation explores the book’s core message: that payments innovation is rarely about a single breakthrough. Instead, it emerges through decades of institutional development, regulatory leadership, collaborative ecosystem building, and combinatorial innovation—integrating real-time rails, mobile interfaces, APIs, and interoperable frameworks. Balu discusses the long journey from early electronic systems to real-time networks like UPI, the critical role of institutional design, overcoming early skepticism, and lessons for both developing and developed markets. The discussion highlights broader implications for digital public infrastructure, financial inclusion, and the evolving role of banks. This episode provides deep, practitioner-led insights into building scalable, inclusive financial systems.

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In this episode, author Dimitrios Salampasis joins host Paolo Sironi to introduce the Research Handbook on FinTech, a global scholarly effort to understand finance’s radical transformation. Two decades ago, finance meant traditional banks and centralised institutions. Today, digital payments, AI, blockchain, and central bank digital currencies are rewriting the rules. Dimitrios explains why this handbook arrives at the perfect moment: FinTech has matured from startup hype into core infrastructure, involving regulators, central banks, technology companies, and incumbents alike. It now shapes payments, digital assets, identity, trust, and inclusion worldwide. He reveals his motivation: to bridge the gap between rapid innovation and lagging academic theory by uniting leading scholars across finance, law, economics, and technology into one intellectual map. Editing the book felt like conducting an orchestra—bringing global experts together while keeping pace with fast-moving developments. Dimitrios highlights the surprising global reach of FinTech, the convergence of AI and blockchain, and the growing role of governments. Essential reading for researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and students seeking to understand—and shape—the future of digital finance.

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In this episode, author Daniel Trabucchi joins host Paolo Sironi to explore strategies for legacy companies to embrace platform business models amid dominance by tech-native giants. Drawing from his book The Digital Phoenix Effect, he outlines a pragmatic approach for traditional firms to foster innovation through platform thinking, preserving core strengths like customers, suppliers, data, and expertise. Unlike startup-focused literature, this conversation emphasizes internal transformation in established organizations, blending academic rigor with practical insights from Thinkers50-recognized experts. Ideal for leaders seeking sustainable, networked value creation without radical overhauls.

LINKEDIN

https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-trabucchi-a7891566

https://www.linkedin.com/in/buganza

TWITTER

@DanielTrabucchi

@polimi