Elets Technomedia with The Banking and Finance Post magazine, organised the Elets 12th NBFC 100 Tech Summit in Mumbai on 24th November 2022 with robust industry support. The theme of the summit was “NBFCs, Building New Bharat with Technology.”
The conclave featured over 15 knowledge sessions along with the panel discussions, and the technology presentations. The event drew over 40 top technology leaders, convened on a single platform for a single-day collaborative learning session, to examine the latest innovation, challenges, and development opportunities in the NBFC sector.
We at Elets highlighted the role of NBFCs through the NBFC100 Tech Series, and with the 12th chapter this year, we also highlighted the steadily growing importance of NBFCs in financially empowering Bharat.
The host partner of the summit was Sa-Dhan (the association of community development finance institutions); Supporting partner: FIDC (Finance Industry Development Council); Debt collection digitsation partner: Credgenics; Risk Analytics Partner: Provenir; Voice- AI Partner: REZO.AI; Networking partner: SkaleUPl; CRM Solutions partner: TALISMA.
Henceforth to grace the summit, we have invited some of the eminent speakers as our keynote speakers from the leading NBFCs around the country. To name a few, we have Amit Sharma, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Satin Housing Finance; S Aryendra Kumar, Executive Director & Chief Executive Officer, IKF Home Finance Limited; Jugal Mantri, Chief Executive Officer, Anand Rathi Global Finance; Mehernosh Tata, Chief Executive Officer, Edelweiss Retail Finance; Alok Aggrawal, Managing Director & CEO, National Trust Housing & Finance; Nirav Choksi, Co-Founder & CEO, CredAble; P K Sinha, Executive Director, Power Finance Corporation Ltd; Steve Hardgrave, CEO, Co-Founder, Varthana; Rahul Gupta, Chief Executive Officer, Avanti Finance, G S Agarwal, Chief Financial Officer, Shriram Housing Finance Ltd and many more.
The summit started with the welcome remarks by Dr. Ravi Gupta, Founder, and CEO of Elets Technomedia Pvt Ltd, and Editor-in-chief of The Banking & Finance Post magazine, where he stressed on the penetration of financial services using IT in Tier 1, Tier 1, and Tier 1 cities.
Some of the significant statements made by the leaders across the NBFC sector during the summit:
Mahesh Thakkar, Director General, Finance Industry Development Council (FIDC), stated that, “In the pre-budget meeting with the finance minister, we discussed the macro issues of the NBFCs. NBFCs are committed to building the Atma Nirbhar Bharat funding to the unfunded. We also said this sector after covid has bounced back stronger from the challenging phases. And are displaying immense resilience and financial strength.”
S Aryendra Kumar, Executive Director & Chief Executive Officer, IKF Home Finance Limited, said “Covid has created a lot of disruption in technology, and there was a reverse migration that took place. So, that disruption had made Bharat inclusive, and a lot of companies have started flowing credit there. We, as a housing finance company, engage with the customers, and find out what is the deficiency and how we have to rectify that. Digitisation has been a new normal for us, and we have digitalised 75 per cent of our processes.”
Rahul Gupta, Chief Executive Officer, Avanti Finance, said, “Around half of India’s population is employed in agri-allied services, and 60-65 per cent of our rural populations are also employed in agri-allied related employment. 86 per cent of the people are smallholder farmers, and 70 percent of them doesn’t get access to any formal financial services. So, unless you haven’t focused on ways of dealing with that problem, the idea of building an inclusive economy will not happen.”
G S Agarwal, Chief Financial Officer, Shriram Housing Finance Ltd, said that, “Shriram has created a market and financial channel for unbanked areas. Shriram Housing Finance was formed to cater to the housing needs of the affordable segments. Shriram is now focusing on digitalising the entire ecosystem and they are launching a super app, where the customer can have access to all the products offered by the group in a single click.”
Rishabh Goel, Co-Founder and CEO, Credgenics, said that, “The collection process has definitely changed over the years. During the time of Covid, there was a forced adoption of digitisation across the segments. When I say forced, I mean that people had no option but to do it, since the physical world and the touch points were not there. When the pure covid phase came in, automatically, collections also became digital and borrower-centric. The whole notion of collecting money physically was changed.”
Amit Sharma, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Satin Housing Finance, said that, “Before covid and post-covid, there was a phase in which we all were locked down. So the only recourse to the collection was that we could just speak on the phone. And here comes the technology where the eNACH or NACH was running. And we could basically bank on the EMIs if the customers had their account funded. Somewhere technology helped us in getting our money back.”
Ashutosh Mishra, Chief Risk Manager, NABARD, says that, “We work with the businesses to make sure we design products in tandem. We work to optimise the technology building in risk capabilities within the organisation so there are several things that a customer wants, like speed, the transparency and personalisation. And as a risk manager, i would want the risk manager to work with technology with product to make sure that these three attributes are built into the product and processes. That is how the risk management will become the true partner in taking forward the organisation and will also not loose the role of protecting the organisation.
Dr. Rashi Gupta, Co-Founder, and Chief Data Scientist, Rezo.ai, said that, “The customer is the boss, and we live and work by this motto with the enterprise to get them to talk with the customer. With AI and ML we try to connect the dots and can reach out to them when they are comfortable and are willing to give feedback.”
Bala Chendil P, EVP & Business Head-Digital Acquisition, Ambit Finvest, said that “Over the last few years, a couple of technology has shaped the UX experience in India. And when I say UX, it is not restricted to the end customers, it’s for internal customers too. I strongly feel if the employees of an organisation don’t adopt digital capabilities, it is unlikely they will take it to the last mile.”
Pankaj Gupta, Chief Business Officer, Godrej Capital, said that, “Broadly, we have all products in place. Having said that, there are innovations happening. One of our innovations was to design your EMI for housing finance customers. All products are there and innovation can happen as and when there is a need.”
Prashant Deshpande, CISO & CDO, Shriram Transport Finance, said that, “Shriram Transport Finance Company is India’s largest financier of commercial vehicles. We are planning to introduce a super app for our financial products called Shriram One’ and will have a separate digital team for this. We are not in a hurry to implement whatever is available in the market. I think we should understand the context and then implement the technology. Customer needs should always be our first priority. During the pandemic, we understood the importance of paperless and cashless mechanisms and implemented blockchain technology for bank accounts.”
Brijesh Singh, Additional Director General of Police, Government of Maharashtra, said that, “The BFSI sector has witnessed a phenomenal transformation. Amazing innovations are happening in the sector. The European Union (EU) has passed the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on data protection and privacy. In India also, the BFSI sector should be ready for the GDPR as it makes privacy protection easier.”
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