India is one of the largest markets and development hubs for Fintech apps. Today’s Fintech interview Series features high-tech insights from leading experts, CEOs, and founders of Commerce and Fintech companies. This roundtable interview series covers the post-Budget aspirations, suggestions, and forecasts for the coming months for the Indian fintech landscape.
Suresh Sethi, Managing Director and CEO, Protean eGov (erstwhile NSDL e-Governance) was upbeat about the announcements made during the budget. Suresh said, “It has been a truly growth-oriented budget. A strong and inclusive digital India forms the bedrock of key initiatives spanning healthcare, education, skilling, and agriculture. There is a strong emphasis on further strengthening the national infrastructure through the adoption of advanced technology, clearly setting the stage for the next wave of digital transformation in the country.”
Here’s what the Fintech leaders had to say about the Indian Fintech space.
Fintech Investments and Academic Infrastructure Will Now Go Hand-in-Hand
Swapnil Bhaskar, Head of Strategy, Niyo – neo-banking Fintech
“The union budget 2022 has set a promising future for the digital banking and startup community with a clear focus on tech-enabled development. The Finance Ministry has acknowledged the growth of fintech innovation by lending its continuous support to ensure the benefits of digital banking through the setup of 75 Digital Banking units to mark the 75 years of independence. The continued support for digital payments from the previous budget will encourage and ramp up the further adoption and promotion of digital payment platforms. However, any support for the business sustainability of such payment companies having zero MDR on UPI is not visible.
The e-passport facility is going to be a game-changer as now start-ups like Niyo can further innovate on products customized for such segments and add enormous value and convenience. Skilling programs through the launch of the Digital DESH e-portal will help the youth of India and support the development of the gig economy.
Implementing courses offered in GIFT city in Financial Management, FinTech Science, Technology will encourage the youth of today to sharpen their financial literacy and usher in a new era of financial entrepreneurs. This will also reduce the shortage of skilled tech engineers. Overall this is a progressive budget and Hon’ble Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has tried to address concerns of the industry through various initiatives announced in her speech.
We hope these are implemented in a time-bound manner so that all stakeholders can gain from it and the country can achieve its ambitious growth targets.”
World’s Fastest-growing Economy All Set to Become Cash-less and Fully-digitized with Fintech Apps
Rupesh Nambiar, Chief Finance Officer, Global PayEX
“This Union Budget’s focus on Fintechs and digital payments platform and ecosystem is a testament to its commitment to realize its vision of an economically self-reliant nation and driving a less-cash economy. Here the initiation of 75 digital banks will be a landmark move that will provide a hybrid model for those who are still experimenting with digital banking and push digital transactions in India.
Further, the completely paperless and online e-Bill System for use by all central ministries for their procurements will not only enable the suppliers and contractors to submit online their digitally signed bills and claims but also bring in greater flexibility, transparency, and obvious cost efficiency to MSMEs and corporates. By eliminating manual efforts and errors accompanying these processes, the real gains from this move will be seen in increased working capital management, enhanced transactional speed across the supply chain, as well as improved cash flow. As the Government of India lays the foundation to steer the economy over the Amrit Kaal of the next 25 years, FinTech will continue to play an important role in the country’s financial ecosystem.”
Global PayEx is an AI-powered cloud platform for working capital optimization in Accounts Receivables & Payables.
Fintech Courses Through World-Class Institutions Will Train the Workforce in India
Prabhtej Bhatia, Co-founder, Falcon
“We will be eagerly looking to see how this space emerges and will be one of the first to integrate with the ecosystem as the new digital currency will bring traceability, affordability, reach, and financial literacy across the payments ecosystem. I think the government has given a great push to boost digital payments in India – both through fiscal measures to augment the infrastructure and through specific measures like launching Digital Banking Units and bringing Post Offices to offer core banking services.
This will definitely widen the scale of digital financial infrastructure in the county and also boost the embedded finance space as there will be faster adoption of Fintech solutions from all players targeting the semi-rural and rural parts of the country. Also, this budget has identified the growing importance of Fintech in the economy with several measures such as Fintech courses through world-class institutions to train the workforce in India. This will go down as a seminal decision taken by the government in proliferating the Fintech ecosystem in the country for years to come.”
Falcon is an embedded payment digital startup.
Issuance of the Digital Currency by RBI will Accelerate Adoption of Fintech Apps for Cash-less Transactions
Avinash Godkhindi, MD and CEO, Zaggle
“The honorable FM has presented a balanced budget with a strong push for digitalization, financial technology, and digital payments specifically. As one of the very few profitable SaaS Fintech players, we believe the biggest news is the issuance of the digital currency by RBI (CBDC) which will open a wide range of options and opportunities. Additionally, the endorsement that digital payments are user friendly and economical is a big boost to the morale of FinTechs and all digital payments ecosystem players, the continued support is most welcome. The aim to take digital banking to every citizen is an extremely heartening, positive, and bold statement.
The plan to create 75 digital banking units in 75 districts is great.
Possibly the best way to execute this would be for scheduled banks to partner with FinTechs to roll out these effectively. The Union Budget 2022 has various encouraging initiatives that will propel aspiring entrepreneurs and boost Fintech and startups. To further ease the business environment for startups, the government has announced the existing tax benefits for startups to be extended by one more year up to 31st March 2023. Overall the FM has presented a growth-oriented budget focusing on capital expenditure that will go a long way in providing the much-needed support for India’s long-term growth story and help create employment opportunities for the wider section of the society.”
Zaggle is a B2B2C SaaS FinTech company.
Great Boost to the Start-up and Fintech Ecosystem
Baldeep Singh Pahwa, General Manager & Country Head, Constellar India
“Looking at the emphasis given to the fintech industry in today’s union budget, it seems that the government considers the fintech sector as the bloodline of the Indian economy.
The government’s move to empower post offices with core banking segments will benefit the growth of the rural economy, farmers, and senior citizens across the country. While digital transfers of funds have grown rapidly in urban India, it is now time for rural India to grow at 3x speed, which necessitated access to net banking, mobile banking, and other ATM services between post office accounts and bank accounts were needed. 75 Digital Banking units set up by scheduled commercial banks in 75 districts across the country will strengthen the digital ecosystem in those areas that lack financial inclusion. With a boost to the start-up and fintech ecosystem, we will see huge investments in the said economy.
The budget has reiterated the importance of the need to accelerate on the growth path. Policy initiatives have been good and we look forward to progressing on the implementation front in a time-bound manner.”
Constellar India is an exhibition body currently hosting India’s largest fintech festival – Fintech Festival India in partnership with Niti Aayog.
We Are on Course to Become a $5-Trillion Economy!
Snehil Khanor, Co-founder & CEO, TrulyMadly
“The budget’s increased focus on pushing forward the entire startup ecosystem is admirable.
With initiatives, such as a tax incentive for three consecutive years out of ten years from incorporation will continue the early-stage acceleration of startups and fuel the entrepreneurial growth in India. Additionally, the surcharge cap of 15 percent on long-term capital gains from shares of unlisted companies will promote investments in the start-up ecosystem by private equity and venture capital firms. We strongly believe that the entire movement towards digitization supported by initiatives, such as the initiation of digital banks and e-bills will be a fillip for startups and achieving the Prime Minister’s dream of a $5-trillion economy.”
The Union Budget Has Provided Great Incentives for SMEs, Youth and Women in Fintech
Anurag Sinha, Co-founder & CEO, OneScore & OneCard
Considering we have not yet emerged out of the shadows of the pandemic; I believe the Finance Minister has done an excellent job in striking a fine balance in being fiscally prudent and growth supportive. The budget has laid out a host of top-notch measures offering a huge push for infrastructure besides incentivizing manufacturing and addressing key growth driving cohorts such as MSMEs, youth, and even the startup community.
The budget has laid considerable focus on public investment and capital expenditure; however, on the other side, it is quite conservative in its tax growth estimates. The budget, however, contains several significant reform measures and fiscal initiatives that will boost social and economic development.
Promoting digitization across sectors and levels is indeed a welcoming move that would not only speed up the processes but also bring much-needed transparency and uniformity to the system. Introducing digital currency is a dynamic decision taken by the government and would really help the economy in coming at par with developed economies. It would also streamline the current financial infrastructure, making it cheaper and faster to conduct monetary transactions. Further to promoting digital currency, the move of introducing 75 digital banking units in 75 districts will significantly strengthen the financial infrastructure across the country. All in all, with an outlay from India at 75 to India at 100, I believe this Budget is futuristic and focuses well on economic revival while ushering in the next era of growth for India.
Charles Tan, Head of Marketing at Coinstore, said, “We were always optimistic about India’s regulatory environment and that’s the reason we decided to launch local operations in India last year. The tax announcement on crypto-related income will not only give legal status to crypto in India but will take out the regulatory fears from the minds of the crypto investors. The digital rupee launch by RBI is a very interesting development as it makes the RBI’s stance on digital assets crystal clear. In India, we are now moving from an unregulated tag to a government-monitored crypto market, which will benefit all the stakeholders of the industry.”
Thank you for sharing your insights with us.
[To share your insights with us, please write to sghosh@martechseries.com]
