An SOS for Paytm POS

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Editor's note: He says it just shy of thirteen minutes into the call.  But it doesn’t come out straight or sudden. First he apologizes for being a bit harsh, maybe, he isn’t sure, and then after an awkward moment, he asks the question: “How much are they selling the machine for?” We’ve been chatting for that long, jumping from one question to another about the point-of-sale machine, or POS, business in India. And the person at the other end of the phone, a POS veteran of sorts who has been in the business enough number of years to distinguish the bad days from the worse, has been a bit impatient. Reticent, even. Founder of one of the largest POS companies in India, he requested not to be named because there are only a few private, non-banking players in the business, and he doesn’t want to come across as hostile.  After tottering around questions on market size, the payments landscape, his company’s performance and the need for POS machines for small merchants, he’s finally asked me the price at which Paytm has launched …