Visa’s new initiative helps decode the buzz around fintech solutions and the way forward

The Indian fintech sector is expected to reach a valuation of Rs 6,207 billion by 2025, while expanding at a compound annual growth rate of around 22 percent during 2020-2025, according to a YourStory report. The figures highlight the phenomenal rise of a sector which was aided by consumers' preference for more personalized financial services, an emerging startup ecosystem, a technological revolution and steady adoption of digital solutions. Parallelly, fintechs are one of the key drivers to further financial inclusion in the country and have enabled easy access to credit for businesses of all sizes. With continuous innovation, fintechs, especially startups, have bridged the gap in access to commercial credit and helped many small-scale businesses give wings to their dreams.

Given the potential of fintech solutions to drive impact and foster innovation, Visa, the leader in digital payments, is set to launch its new program for startups and fintechs in India on June 24, 2021. With the sector garnering a lot of interest not just from entrepreneurs, but also venture capitalists and government entities, the program aims to help enhance product propositions and develop better user experiences.

“The digital payments landscape in India is at the cusp of accelerated transformation and adoption. As seen in the last year, the way consumers and businesses pay and be paid has changed the pace of digital payments growth tremendously. With innovative methods of making and receiving payments at a faster pace, fintechs and startups are driving this innovation by creating seamless digital experiences,” said Arvind Ronta, Head of Products, India and South Asia.

Commenting on the new initiative, he further added, “We are delighted to launch Visa Fintech Initiative: India to reach out to startups and help them leverage Visa’s world-class capabilities and products to enhance user experiences with their innovative solutions. As Indian fintechs mature and aspire for global growth and scale, Visa can become the preferred partner for many as they leverage our global depth and breadth of expertise. With our global expertise and technology, we look forward to partnering with startups and together create innovative solutions for the Indian payments ecosystem.”

The Visa Fintech Initiative: India kicks off on 24^th June and aims to bring together multiple stakeholders from the financial services industry to suggest solutions that could rein in common pain points, while helping the industry to explore new opportunities for growth.

Conversations to gauge impact of fintech solutions

As Indian fintechs mature and garner interest from investors, it is important for them to provide value to investors. So, when aspiring for global growth and scale, fintechs may well turn to Visa as their partner of choice. Given its global depth and breadth of expertise in building scalable, technology-driven solutions, Visa has always believed in fostering a culture of innovation. With this initiative, fintechs will get a chance to hear from leaders in payments from and outside India.

The series will comprise seven webinars. The first - 'Solving for the multi-trillion dollar credit opportunity in India' – is slated for June 24, 2021. During the discussion, Arvind Ronta, Head of Products, India & South Asia, Visa and Hamish Moline, MD (Asia and Global Payments) at Zip will share their insights on how the fintech space could solve for digital financial inclusion and drive impact for sectors like MSMEs, while tapping into the multi-trillion dollar credit opportunity that India represents.

The panelists will deep-dive into the nuances of the informal economy in India and how fintech startups cater to this underserved segment to digitize easily and quickly. The discussion aims to bring out some of the key trends that are likely to rule the financial services space as the COVID-19 pandemic alters behaviours and trends and what these prospects could mean for the microfinance industry.

The panel discussions that will follow will cover various paradigm shifts that the sector has witnessed over the years, what they could mean for the country’s financial services segment and how fintechs can solve for varied payment needs. The audience can look forward to exploring topics like:

• How embedded finance is changing the face of fintech space
• What tokenisation means for future services
• Why Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) signals an expanded credit universe
• Where do fintech ventures stand on regulatory guidelines and compliances
• Why the Indian workforce needs to upskill to keep up with the fintech evolution
• The dynamics betweewn banks and fintech ventures

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Microsite: Decoding the future of fintech (yourstory.com)