Fintech and digital payments are one of the most promising industries in India today, and we are delighted to see the pace at which the sector is growing. With the Indian Fintech market expected to reach $2.4 billion by 2020, the next five years look bright in terms of the growth prospects. The biggest factor that could propel the growth further would be collaborations between the dynamic fintech sector and the traditional banking sector as together they can bring the best of both worlds and offer unique products to a huge population of India which is underserved currently.

 

Staying clear in one’s objective will help stay ahead of competition

 

Fintech is a broad domain and unfortunately in India, it has always been associated with payments. Slowly there is growing awareness about fintech players in lending and insurance too.  There aren’t many players now but yes, India is huge market to tap into. More the players, more the awareness on the category so we do welcome competition. It’s not about survival but it’s about building the successful business, if one is clear in this objective, he/she would stay ahead of competition.

 

Fintech companies are opening up opportunities for business segments which have long been considered vital for India’s growth but still could not tap into the financial ecosystem. With numerous fintech players already creating their niche in this industry, the initial challenge is acceptance of their innovative solutions by existing eco-system players. Unlike global scenario, knowing the diversity and breadth of Indian market, we foresee a collaborative approach working best for all players.

 

Hiring strategy

 

Fintech startups prefer passionate minds that are ready to look beyond conventional job responsibilities. To ensure that, many have a cross functional panel interview process that assesses the candidates and decide their acceptability in the organization. At Rubique, a fintech founded by Manavjeet Singh, they encourage an entrepreneurial mindset where one can work on a blank canvas and go beyond his/her limitations to make it a success. “Here, everyone is an expert. We are also on a look out for candidates who are hungry to grow and learn. Therefore, we swear by a no-hierarchy and an open feedback culture. Presently we have more than 88 members in our team,” explained Singh.

 

Catering both to individuals as well as SMEs, so far, Rubique has been facilitating best deals across a wide range of loans and credit cards. Recently, it increased its gamut of services by foraying into insurance and has even partnered with Bajaj Allianz&Tata AIG to offer insurance solutions to its customers.

 

Fintech industry of India in the next five years

 

The demonetization led to a decrease in the purchase of the assets and hence the loans attached to them witnessed some down trends, but this was a temporary phenomenon and was a transitional phase from a cash economy to a digital one. In fact, demonetization led to an upward trend in the credit cards and loan applications. However, there is still a long way to go for India to become a cashless system as access to banking facilities and opening accounts have still not reached many parts of the country. Moreover, to become a cashless system, an economy needs a strong online system, availability of internet and knowledge about technology. Fear of online transactions among people and lack of digital infrastructure in India are among few obstacles that need to be tackled to make India truly cashless.

 

“Fintech is a broad domain and unfortunately in India, it has always been associated with payments. Slowly there is growing awareness about fintech players in lending & insurance too.  There aren’t many players now but yes, India is huge market to tap into. More the players, more the awareness on the category so we do welcome competition. It’s not about survival but it’s about building the successful business, if one is clear on this objective, he/she would stay ahead of competition,” shared Singh.

 

Challenges faced by fintech start-ups

 

According to the recent study presented by JP Morgan, Fintech companies have managed to cater only 23% of the elite affluent sections of the Indian Economy where as the remaining major portion remains untapped. The lower and middle income sectors largely comprising 47% of the population which should also be a potential target market. There are 1500 fin-tech companies distributed amongst Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. Out of the plethora of services that are provided by these fintech companies, payments and credits are widely attracted while Savings and Insurances are far behind.

 

IRDAI and SEBI, the members of regulatory bodies stated in a paper submitted to the RBI quoting that “India has a large untapped market for financial services, technology and start-ups as 40% population residing in the semi urban and urban areas are not connected to the banks, 87% have payments are made in cash and increase in the mobile usage by 64% marks the growth potential of Fintech cannot be overstated.”

 

Fintech start-ups are opening up opportunities for business segments which have long been considered vital for India’s growth but still could not tap into the financial ecosystem.

 

According to Singh, with numerous fintech players already creating their niche in this industry, the initial challenge is acceptance of their innovative solutions by existing eco-system players. “Unlike global scenario, knowing the diversity and breadth of Indian market, we foresee a collaborative approach working best for all players,” concluded the young-preneur.