Sasidhar N. Thumuluri, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Sub-K
Armed with a mission to change lives by enabling financial inclusion through innovation and excellence, Sub-K IMPACT Solutions Ltd. (Sub-K) provides access to meaningful, affordable, and scalable financial solutions to the underserved communities, with a special focus on women, by leveraging the power of technology. Sub-K seeks to create a “financially and digitally included society.” This objective is achieved through an innovative mindset and by co-creating products/processes in partnership with some of the major banking and other financial institutions.
The organisation is driven by a strong leadership team that forms its backbone. Sasidhar N. Thumuluri, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Sub-K, a thought leader and change maker, who firmly believes that the future is digital, and complete financial inclusion is achievable by harnessing the power of data and technology. From the time Sasidhar took up the leadership at Sub-K, he has incessantly pushed for product innovation and digital transformation.
“Technology is at the center of everything we do. The objective is not just to survive in the present but to be future-ready. We want to evolve into a digital supermarket for the underbanked”, says Sasidhar.
Hence, Sub-K SARTHI (Seamless, Advanced, Resourceful, Tech driven, Hybrid, Interface) was conceived as a multi-product platform offering financial access at the fingertips.
Talking about the digital push, Sasidhar recalled, “Thanks to the big digital push by the government and growing smartphone adoption, I was confident that customers were ready for disruption. Hence, we launched ReMiDE (Reimagining Microlending in Digital Environment) project in 2019 itself. As we were getting ready to roll it out, COVID-19 happened. Pandemic offered a conducive environment to test the hypothesis. Sub-K Pay App was rolled out in June 2020 on SARTHI platform for enabling digital collections as an entry point initiative under ReMiDE”.
The Digital collections of the organisations grew consistently on the App, supercharged by UPI. The Change management was implemented across the company to educate internal stakeholders on the need and urgency of digital shift. Encouraged by the results in digital collections, the team has started building an end-to-end digital journey for microloans on the App with the sole aim to make it convenient for the customers to borrow and repay. “That is where the disruption is truly valued. We will earn customers’ respect and trust when we make the process easy and convenient for them” quotes Sasidhar while speaking of digitalisation at the front-end.
Various modules were rolled out subsequently on the platform, including intelligent loan sourcing, machine learning risk tool, remote credit appraisal and virtual customer engagement. As a result, credit risk has significantly dropped, and early signs of efficiency gains also started showing up for Sub-K.
Sasidhar strongly believes – “Unless we innovate for the customers true financial inclusion cannot happen.” He adds, “There will always be customers who are digitally savvy, those who are not and the ones in the middle. There will be all kinds. What we need to do is, provide need-based assistance instead of uniform treatment to all. We aim to bring all our tools together and create an end-to-end seamless digital journey for matured customers and curated assisted journeys for the rest. Seamless financial access is our priority.”
The organisation is enhancing the App (being rechristened as Sub-K Pay+) with many new features such as ONDC powered e-commerce, bill payments, social security schemes and business enabler tools to offer more value and elevate customer experience. The goal is to offer multiple financial and non-financial products that can positively impact lives. Sasidhar further says, “It is high time financial institutions start viewing this customer segment as an opportunity beyond traditional microfinance. By embracing digital, new avenues open for serving various financial needs of these customers. Robust tech with a customer-centric operating model can make all the difference”.
