Founder & Editor
Chander Prakash is the founder and editor of Pointales. He reviews every story before it is published and sets the publication's editorial standards, with a focus on clear, well-sourced explanations of business and technology.
A dark store looks like a small supermarket with the shutters down. It exists only to fill online orders fast. Here is how it differs from a shop or a warehouse, what one costs and earns, and the rules it has to follow.
Chander Prakash ·
Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and Zepto deliver groceries in minutes from small warehouses close to your home. Here is how the model works, what the companies' own filings say about its economics, and why distributors, regulators and gig workers are pushing back.
Chander Prakash ·
The merchant discount rate is the small cut a shop gives up every time you pay by card, and from October 2026 on some UPI payments too. Here is how it is set, who gets a share, and why some shops add a card surcharge.
Chander Prakash ·
Every UPI payment passes through an app, two or three banks and NPCI's switch in a few seconds. Here is how that chain works, who has paid for it since merchant fees were scrapped in 2020, and what changes with the new fee on large merchant payments.
Chander Prakash ·
ONDC lets a shopper on one app buy from a seller listed on a different app. Here is how that works, who runs it, and what the numbers say about where it has succeeded and where it has struggled.
Chander Prakash ·
India Stack is the set of public digital rails for identity, payments and data that most Indian apps now plug into. Here is what each layer does, how companies build on it, and where the privacy fights and criticisms lie.
Chander Prakash ·
Most UPI frauds don't break the system; they trick you into approving a payment yourself. Here are the common patterns, the one rule that defeats most of them, and what to do in the first hour if money is gone.
Chander Prakash ·
A plain-English guide to what happens inside ChatGPT-style AI tools: tokens, next-word prediction, transformers, training, context windows, and why running them costs real money.
Chander Prakash ·
"AI agent" is one of the most overused labels in tech. Here is what it actually means, how agents use tools, where they go wrong, and how to judge a company's agent claims.
Chander Prakash ·
AI chatbots sometimes state false things with complete confidence. Here is why it happens, the forms it takes, what developers do about it, and a simple checklist to catch it before it costs you.
Chander Prakash ·