India FINTECH Report 2020

The global FinTech ecosystem continues to grow at a rapid pace. Lot of new startups are being founded every month around the world. The US has been a leading destination in terms of the number of home-grown in Tech startups with a massive contribution toward global VC funding.

However, in recent years, India has come out of the shadows to emerge as one of the fastest-growing FinTech hubs. Between 2010 and 2015, India saw 1216 new FinTech startups founded in this period. The period between 2015 to June end 2020 has seen phenomenal growth in new startups across
Payments, Lending, Wealth, and others.

India’s advancement as a FinTech nation is not a unforeseen. It happened with a four-point approach.

• Firstly, solving for identity in the formof Aadhaar for formalization.
• Secondly, getting everyone a bank account or equivalents (PMJDY) to store money.
• Thirdly, building scalable platform(s) to move money (IMPS, UPI, BBPS, etc.).
• And finally, allowing banks and FinTechs and wealth / insurance / lending players also to access platforms like UPI, GSTN & Digi Locker to innovate.

India FinTech Landscape

India currently has around 2174 FinTech startups.

India FinTech Investment Trends (2019-H1 2020)

Government & Regulator Initiatives

• FEBRUARY 2018: LAUNCH OF POLICY
  • Maharashtra becomes the first Indian state to launch its own FinTech policy.
• JUNE 2018: MUMBAI FINTECH FESTIVAL
  • Launches a FinTech registry for identification and information collection on the FinTech ecosystem. Furthermore, it launches an API sandbox to facilitate the creation of new products in a secure environment.
• NOVEMBER 2018: SINGAPORE FINTECH FESTIVAL
  • Eight shortlisted startups from the MFH Registry were invited to showcase their solution at the festival.
• DECEMBER 2018: ACCELERATOR 1.0
  • Launches the inaugural version of its accelerator program in which 13 startups were selected from over 200+ applications.
• MARCH 2019: FINTEGRATE ZONE 2019
  • Launches the Uday FinTech Education Platform and distribution of the second set of grants by Governor of Maharashtra.
• MAY 2019: FINTECH EDUCATION PLATFORM
  • Launches the FinTech Education Platform (FEP) that hosts e-learning modules for technical, functional, and miscellaneous skill sets.
• JUNE 2019: FINTECH INVESTMENTS & DEALS
  • FInD platform was launched for matchmaking between startups and investors.

Segment-wise Overview

NeoBanking:

Over the last decade, the Indian FinTech ecosystem has witnessed a plethora of innovations. The first wave of disruption in financial services was led by digital payment startups, followed by digital lending, wealth management, and InsurTech startups.

However, the second wave, or as we like to call it “FinTech 2.0,” is led by Neobanks that aim to redefine customer-centric consumer and business banking experiences. Problem statements being addressed include fully digitized account opening, free debit cards, instant payments, personal finance advisory, cash flow analysis & projections, GST-compliant invoicing, and accounting integration. As of publishing this report, there are about 15 neobanks in India, several of them under development or in beta stages.

Digital Lending

The maturing IndiaStack and growing API-based data availability have transformed every step of the credit value chain. Near end-to end digital lending has become a reality, with loan approval turnaround times as short as one day. Over 338 lending (consumer andSMEs) startups in India are leveraging on Aadhaar authentication, eKYC, and UPI platforms to offer quick background checks, credit scores, and instant loans to the urban, rural, and under-served populations.

WealthTech

IndiaStack has enabled Wealth Management processes with over 440 startups (personal finance management, robo-advisory, marketplaces, investment brokerage) that leverage it and build various innovative solutions. Startups leverage Aadhaar authentication, eKYC, and UPI for
transactions and fees, and eSign for document signatures.

InsurTech

InsurTech landscape is quite nascent in India. The current insurance penetration is quite low, i.e., 2.76% in life insurance and 0.93% in non-life insurance compared to the global average of 6.5%. ‘Lack of customer trust’ remains the key challenge facing the InsurTech segment, and so far, industry players have found it as a hard nut to crack. The current
InsurTech space in India is being dominated by few new-age insurers like Toffee, Digit, and Acko with their ability to attract and popularity among millennials.

Digital Payments

RBI’s Newest Proposal: A Gamechanger for India’s Retail Payments Sector The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed setting up of a new pan-India umbrella entity (NUE) for retail payment systems, which will be responsible for setting up, managing, and operating new payment systems, especially in the retail space, including ATMs, white label PoS, Aadhaar-based payments, and remittance services. The RBI has floated a framework for establishing the new entity and has invited comments on the draft framework by February 25, 2020. The new entity will also have to develop new payment methods, standards and technologies, and monitor related issues in India as well as abroad. The central bank said it would have to operate clearing and settlement systems and manage risks such as settlement credit. The proposed entity can either be a for-profit company or a non-profit organization, the RBI said.

Report By MEDICI & IAMAI & FCC

About MEDICI:

MEDICI is the world’s leading FinTech Research and Innovation Platform. MEDICI is a partner to banks, tech companies and FIs globally with over 13,000 FinTechs on the platform, enabling FinTechs to scale and create global economic impact.

About Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI):

IAMAI is a young and vibrant association with ambitions of representing the entire gamut of digital businesses in India. It was established in 2004 by the leading online publishers, and in the last 16 years has come to effectively address the challenges facing the digital and online industry including mobile content and services, online publishing, mobile advertising, online advertising, ecommerce and mobile & digital payments among others.

About Fintech Convergence Council (FCC):

FCC is formed under Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and represents the FinTech industry and traditional companies in the BFSI space. The purpose of the council is to encourage collaboration, seek complementarities and build synergy between leading BFSI companies and the emerging FinTech start-ups.