The image of a street food seller in Bangkok or a vegetable vendor in Mumbai with a worn-out QR code on a cart is what people think of when they talk about “New Asia”. For the people who created the economy, this is a big deal. It shows that the future is here.

However, when we look closer, we must pose a question: Does the vendor’s experience on the issue of digital payments relate to the experience of a large retailer? When the countries of India and Southeast Asia transition to a cashless future, people tend to confuse access and fairness. It is not enough to provide a merchant with a wallet or a QR code.

A good system ensures that the technology behind the wallet is not only operational for a small business owner but also functional for a large company. The digital economy is no longer fair. They are the ones who have the lowest margins, who put their money into having the greatest risks.

The “silent failure” problem

Speed is the most important thing in a world where payment is made on time. It is unbelievable that India contributes to 46 per cent of the total real-time transactions in the world. However, to a trader, payment speed is not the greatest issue.

Also Read: Value creation: The US$3T private equity blind spot

It is because they are not sure. This uncertainty occurs when the account of a customer is debited. The merchant does not receive notification. According to a recent study conducted by a fintech company, the percentage of this issue is approximately 1.8 per cent of digital transactions. And worst of all, when a few transactions are in process at a time.

A failure rate of 1.8  per cent is a pain for the accounting department of a company. To a small business owner who has missed a payment, it does not mean that they cannot afford to buy food or to stock up on the day. These vendors cannot wait 48 hours before the money is refunded. Failure by the system comes at a cost to the merchant. They are forced to inform the customer that his or her money is lost. They are also unable to deliver goods to them.

Constructing the safety net

Addressing this imbalance requires looking beyond user adoption and examining the architecture that powers digital payments. A transaction is rarely a direct exchange between two individuals. It typically moves through a network of banks, gateways, switches, and settlement systems before it is completed.

When disruptions occur within this chain, large enterprises often have dedicated teams, technical redundancies, and financial buffers to manage the impact. Smaller merchants usually operate without these safeguards. For them, even brief uncertainty around payment confirmation or settlement can affect working capital, inventory decisions, and customer trust.

Also Read: How product design is democratising access to growth‑stage equity

This has led to growing interest in infrastructure-level approaches that improve transaction reliability and transparency. One such approach is payment orchestration, which focuses on coordinating multiple payment pathways and service providers within a unified operational framework. Rather than relying on a single processing route, orchestration layers can help detect network issues, reroute transactions when needed, and provide clearer visibility into transaction status.

The significance of such systems lies less in technological sophistication and more in their potential to reduce operational friction for merchants. When payment flows become more predictable, businesses can spend less time resolving failed transactions and more time focusing on growth and service delivery.

Improved resilience also helps protect margins. The costs associated with lost sales, delayed refunds, and manual reconciliation can be disproportionately high for small enterprises. Strengthening the reliability of payment infrastructure, therefore, becomes not just a technical priority but an economic one.

As digital adoption deepens across emerging markets, equity will depend not only on expanding access to wallets and QR codes but also on ensuring that the systems behind them function consistently for participants of all sizes. A cashless ecosystem becomes more inclusive when confidence in transaction completion is shared by both informal vendors and large retailers.

—

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. You can also share your perspective by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.

The post Beyond the QR code: Why infrastructure is the real key to digital equity appeared first on e27.