- Government regulations and policies to steer the nation towards a digital future, and the factors driving progression of Digital Financial Inclusion in India
- Upsurge of e-payments & Digital Lending during COVID-19, alongside the role of technology in driving contactless financial transactions in the country
- Combining AI, ML and analytics capability to understand consumer behaviour
New Delhi, 9 July 2020: Exhibitions India Group and 28th Convergence India expo convened a panel of industry experts to discuss the evolving landscape of the fintech industry in India in the wake of COVID-19. Over 400 people tuned in to hear a webinar on ‘Future of FinTech in a Post Pandemic World.’
Moderator Mr. Syed Musheer Ahmed, Managing Director, FinStep Asia conducted a lively session with poignant thoughts, “Build in India will only get more prominent with the spirit of Aatmanirbhar Bharat. We must remember to focus on sustainable finance. Whilst discussions are ripe pertaining to air and water pollution in the post COVID-19 world, we must also make it a priority to drive financial inclusion across the board. Fintech can be an important tool in driving the cause of financial inclusion.”
As a leader of a consumer lending startup acquired last year by PayU, Ms. Sayali Karanjkar, Co-Founder, PaySense observed a few upcoming trends, “Digital adoption is widespread since COVID-19. While a lot of us were building products, financial inclusion was low, but that trend has started to change. Another consumer behaviour in India that’s starting to change is from ‘do it for me’ to ‘do it myself.’ People are visibly moving from visiting the bank to using UPIs.”
Noting the trends during prevailing uncertainty of the pandemic, Mr. Nalin Bansal, Head RuPay, NCMC & NFS NPCI said, “Ideally, to survive in COVID-19 times, life needs to be completely contactless but that’s not entirely the case right now. A lot is changing in terms of payments, and certain businesses such as e-commerce have surged beyond expectations. In spending terms, while middle and low spenders have exhibited almost unchanged patterns, it’s the high-spenders category that has changed vastly, as there is no more spending on any big-ticket items. So, it can be said that contactless payments have not revived the market.”
Elaborating on the 4 Ps of fintech, Ms. Radhika Binani, Chief Product Officer, Paisabazaar.com remarked, “Processes: both supply and demand side, i.e. banks, FinTechs and consumers are willing for digital adoption. Products: the pandemic has created a need for different kinds of products, and we will have to evolve accordingly. Partnerships: partnerships are the very backbone of fintech, account aggregator networks will be crucial in engaging different kinds of partnerships in order to help cater to customers. And finally, Patterns: this is the tricky one- as the financial landscape evolves rapidly, emerging customer patterns will have to be watched out for.”
Describing the impact of COVID-19 on financial inclusion, Ms. Neha Mehta, Founder, FemTech Partners remarked, “Danger and opportunity are the two broad aftereffects of the pandemic. As a company, we focus on sustainable finance, with digital financial inclusion across South-East Asia. It’s our endeavour to try and bridge the digital divide that exists in India between men and women. As it’s challenging for most women with prevailing work from home practices to manage the children, there’s conversation suggesting one can have either a career or a family. It’s these divides that we need to sustainably fill by giving women the right tools.”
Mr. Akshay Mehrotra, Co-Founder and CEO, EarlySalary made erudite observations of the changing fintech ecosystem, “We are an almost 5 years old startup, and pre-COVID-19 from January through March we made a total of 250,000 loan disbursals. With a largely white-collar clientele, the volumes of our loans were large, as was the velocity. However, demand had plummeted to 10% in April, 14% in May and picked up to 28% in June. In the early days of pandemic, we had to throw out the underwriting score cards, and we ended up being unable to furnish loans for 9 days. We restarted customer onboarding with a reassessed score card.”
You may view a recording of the webinar here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=590049518233852
