With technology in place for reaching out the fintech space will continue to expand its footprint, with many players in the foray. This means that personalising customer experience is the topmost priority for any fintech player to compete in any domain says Rahul Sekar, Cofounder & CTO, Shubh Loans in an interview with Rashi Aditi Ghosh of Elets News Network(ENN).
●Shubh Loans has recently received the NBFC certificate from RBI through the company’s subsidiary Ekagrata. What tech-based deployments have you made post this development?
With Ekagrata, our customer journey is much more seamless and we are able to automate many parts of the journey including disbursals, repayment reconciliation etc. The technology leverages banking APIs, payment gateway integrations, eNACH, state-of-the-art Loan Management System etc. Some of these technologies are still very new in the market and Ekagrata being a new NBFC is able to adopt very quickly. On the risk side, we are able to run small experiments by building more financially inclusive products for lower income segments. Ekagrata is enabling us to provide superior experience to our users.
We recently bid adieu to 2019. What are your expectations from the Fintech & NBFC sector in the year 2020?
As the Fintech sector turns 5 this year in India, we have come a long way in achieving financial inclusion in India. More than 50% of us are using fintech at some level in our daily life. I do think this usage levels will continue to grow, with more consumers adopting Fintech in most of their financial transactions. Digital payments and lending have dominated the fintech space in India over the past few years. I see other fintech products like online Investment products also gaining momentum this year. With technology enabling the possibility of small ticket sizes we can now offer direct plans and SIPs for as low as Rs. 100/month.
MSMEs in India still don’t have access to formal credit and this space will come into its own in adopting Fintech this year. Online finance, insurance and other products designed to cater to MSMEs will see more activity in the next few years.
- Would you like to tell us about the changing trends in Fintech and NFBC sector?
With technology in place for reaching out the fintech space will continue to expand its footprint, with many players in the foray. This means that personalising customer experience is the topmost priority for any fintech player to compete in any domain. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technologies will evolve and be deployed by many companies to tailor their services to address customer requirements suitably.
India’s financial landscape will see structural changes with banks being viewed more as virtual spaces rather than physical entities. Branchless banking may soon be a reality. However, Open Banking APIs are yet to be outlined and once we have clarity on this, there is more scope for completely changing the design of financial transactions.
I also see data sharing platforms becoming a reality soon with alternate data taking center stage in designing the customer experience.
● In your view, which technologies are changing the face of the NBFC industry?
Data continues to be the holy grail for fintech. While alternate data availability is no longer a bottleneck, how a company uses this data will determine its success. Using AI, ML and data science tools we need to arrive at risk models that enable us to reach out to the customer based on individual need.
We also will see companies offering a complete suite of financial products to cater to the needs of customers, to help customers identify and reach their financial goals.
● What is your vision for 2020?
Use technology as an enabler to deliver meaningful financial inclusion to Indians.
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