The India FinTech Diaries

Crypto is everywhere, from cryptocurrencies to decentralized finance to NFTs. So in the next few episodes, we will take a whirlwind tour of the world of Crypto. To start off with some basics, we caught up with Rohas Nagpal, Chief Blockchain Architect at Wrapped Asset Project (WRAP), where we spoke about: History of Digital Currencies Introduction to blockchains, tokens and smart contracts A practi...

What if your card could automagically convert your purchases to pay later at no extra cost? Well we caught up with the inimitable Nitin Gupta from Uni to discuss this and a lot more in our latest episode. In one of our most free flowing and fun episodes, Nitin candidly spoke to us about: His journey from Lehman to Uni The hypothesis behind Uni Uni’s product proposition How Uni makes money The road...

In our latest episode in the Global Fintech Festival 2021 Podcast Series, we spoke with Shruti Chandra, Senior AVP and Sector Head BFSI, Invest India and Aastha Grover, AVP & Head, Startup India. We had an insight packed discussion on the growth of Fintech in India, investments in Fintech and the road ahead. During the episode we spoke about: Growth of Fintech India Enabling drivers for growth...

In our second episode in the Global Fintech Festival 2021 Podcast Series, we spoke with Gaurav Johri, Senior Adviser, Trade & Investment at Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) and Abhinav Pathak, Investment Advisor at Swiss Business Hub India. We discussed how Indian Fintechs could expand to Australia and Switzerland. During the episode we spoke about: Fintech ecosystems in A...

In our inaugural episode in the Global Fintech Festival 2021 Podcast Series, we spoke with Rajat Sharma, Corporate VP- Global Head of Sales and Strategy, eBaoTech. We discussed the very interesting topic of Connected Insurance and what it means for the Insurance industry. During the episode we spoke about: What is connected Insurance Connected Insurance use cases Building ecosystems Technology imp...

Did you know that a single firm is responsible for processing 50% of India’s UPI volumes? Sarvatra Technologies is a firm that’s been promoting digital transformation in financial services over the last two decades, and has played a crucial role in India’s UPI revolution. Starting with co-operative banks, Sarvatra today provides technology to a wide variety of bank and Fintech clients. Continuing...

Starting this Saturday, we begin a limited edition series in collaboration with IAMAI. The series will explore various fintech themes in the run up to the Global Fintech Festival 2021, which this year is from 28th September to 30th September

This week, we take a brief break from our coverage of BNPL and take a look at firms that are building the technology that’s helping transform financial services. In the first in our series on “TechFin” firms, we speak with N Sathish, the Dy. Chief Product Officer at FSS. FSS has been at the cutting edge of the digital transformation of payments in Indian Banking and over the years has been respons...

We caught up with Gaurav Hinduja, the MD and co-founder of Capital Float to discuss Capital Float’s growth story and what the future of BNPL holds in India. In our conversation we discuss : The Capital Float Journey Experience in building out Amazon Pay Later Technology and process considerations for building great BNPL products Growth during the pandemic Does BNPL have a dark side? Regulatory con...

We covered a deep dive into BNPL in our last episode and we thought it's time to speak to some more industry practitioners to further understand the concepts. We caught up with Nitya Sharma, the CEO and co-founder of Simpl in a candid conversation on BNPL. In our conversation we discuss : Definition of BNPL as a payment convenience Adoption by customers Challenges while scaling Simpl Technology be...

In our last episode we got an introductory glimpse into the world of Buy Now Pay Later or BNPL as it is called. In this episode, we thought we would take a much deeper look into the world of BNPL and what goes on behind the scenes. Hemant and Elroy explore the following in this episode: Definition of BNPL History and origins of BNPL Size of the BNPL market The BNPL business model How BNPL makes mo...

Buy Now Pay Later or BNPL is an interesting new trend, which is often likened to a more modern version of the traditional installment loan. Globally, it is growing at a stupendous pace, and is expected to reach $600 Bn to $1 Tn by 2025. The trend has been in India for some time as well and is now gaining momentum post the pandemic. In the first in our series on BNPL, we spoke with Krishnan Vishwan...

The MSME sector has long been called the backbone of the Indian economy. We have seen the evolution of the sector from one primarily manufacturing simple products to one producing competitive and sophisticated goods like electronic control systems, medical equipment etc. But the sector remains woefully underserved by financial services with an estimated credit gap of $300 Bn. To discuss this and m...

Continuing in our theme of  Fintech for Bharat, this week we look at the role that networks can play in fostering financial inclusion.  Payment networks sit at the crossroads and provide the rails that connect merchants accepting payments and banks that issue payment instruments. Therefore when a payment network like Mastercard makes a pledge to financially include 1 billion people and 5...

Continuing in our theme of  Fintech for Bharat, this week we shift our focus to affordable education. One of the most important enablers of upward mobility in society, is the access to affordable education. A recent survey conducted by the National Statistics Organization revealed that only 10.6% of the Indian population aged above 15 years had successfully completed a graduate degree. This p...

In our last episode we introduced the problem that diversity in India presents to Fintech and started our new theme of Fintech for Bharat. This week we continue in our series on Fintech for Bharat  and shift the focus to addressing the issue of linguistic diversity. According to the 2011 language census survey, India has 121 languages spoken by over 10,000 people, with 21 of them recognized a...

As a country, India has a vast amount of diversity across people, language, culture, education and wealth levels. The diversity becomes even more apparent as we from India to Bharat. Can Fintechs be the great equalizer, as they aim to make financial services more inclusive in India? We explore this in our latest theme - Fintech for Bharat In our introductory episode we examine: The problem of dive...

In our last episode we discussed Embedded Insurance with Chiranth Patil and Suvendu Prusty from Riskcovry. This week, we continue in our series on embedded finance and shift the focus to embedded banking. Is the future of banking moving towards banking anywhere but never at a banking app? Embedded banking is enabling non-financial companies to bring banking products within their own apps and act a...

We began our series on embedded finance with a discussion on embedded credit along with Anubhav Jain, co-founder and CEO of Rupifi. This week we take a look at another interesting and emerging area of embedded finance - Insurance !!! Why does Insurance have to be always sold, and never bought? Embedded insurance is aiming to change the way insurance is distributed by embedding insurance in user jo...

In our last episode we introduced the concept of Embedded Finance, with a promise to cover this topic, at length, in the coming episodes. In our first in the series, we caught up with Anubhav Jain, Co-founder and CEO of Rupifi and discussed embedded credit. Rupifi enables embedded credit for small businesses by leveraging technology and working with platforms and marketplaces to bring credit withi...

In our inaugural episode of 2021, we look back at the year that was and relive some of the big stories and trends of 2020. Then we discuss the new kid on the block - Embedded Finance. Even since Goldman Sachs declared it's entry into the Embedded Finance space, the term has grown in popularity with reams written about it. But what exactly is embedded Finance? Well we help demystify this for you a...

RBI's financial stability report in July 2020 indicated that NPA's could be as high as 14.7% of total loans by March 2021. Against this backdrop, loan collections becomes all the more important, as lenders aim to collect on overdue loans in the most cost effective manner. New age collections fintechs are aiming to solve this problem by leveraging platforms and data to make collections as simple an...

This week we speak with Mayank Kachhwaha, co-founder and COO of IndiaLends, a Financial technology startup based in New Delhi. Started in 2015, IndiaLends is an online platform that connects borrowers with lenders to help them get the best deal possible.  The platform has grown over the years to offer the full range of unsecured products across personal loans, credit lines and credit cards. &...

Large sections of individuals and businesses in India do not have access to formal credit. Today just the MSME sector alone has a credit gap that is pegged at $300 - $ 400 Billion, with thousands of small businesses unable to access affordable credit. However, a transformational change is coming to India that aims to revolutionize how credit is provided to borrowers by lenders. This change is call...

Ever wish you didn't need to submit so many bank statements every time you applied for a loan? Well account aggregators, the new kids on the fintech block, hope to make that a thing of the past, as they seek to unshackle financial data in India  . We chat with B.G. Mahesh, the co-founder & CEO of DigiSahamati Foundation, a collective of account aggregators that is serving to help set stan...