We want to build a full fintech ecosystem in India, says PayU’s Anirban Mukherjee at TechSparks 2021

India’s fintech segment is witnessing exponential growth, and is among the fastest-growing markets in the world.

COVID-19 pandemic saw a huge surge in online transactions, and put forth fresh challenges, leading fintechs to innovate to ensure seamless digital transactions for all users, including micro, SMBs, and customers from beyond metros and rural India.

PayU India, one of India’s leading fintech players, has a merchant base of 3.5 lakh+ SMBs, and is leaving no stone unturned to leapfrog into the next phase of its growth journey.

“PayU is trying to build a full fintech ecosystem in India. We want to be one of the leading providers of digital payments and provide digital credit to the new generation of Indians. We want to build broader financial services, continue to invest in digital wealth, the gold ecosystem, offline to online commerce… we want to build a full financial services ecosystem where customers and merchants can come and get the most modern and digitally-enabled products and services that truly meet their needs,” said Anirban Mukerjee, CEO, PayU India, in a fireside chat with Sandeep Laxman, Head - Fintech, Amazon Internet Services Pvt Ltd.

“We think of ourselves as somebody who operates in B2B, B2C, and also B2B2C. We want to render a lot of these services through partners like consumer tech companies, banks and also ourselves,” Anirban added. 

Reiterating the importance of technology in frictionless transactions, Anirban said: “To win in India you need an end-to-end digital platform, offering sachetised products in a contextual manner. But, at the heart of that are world-class technology and data platforms.”

Anirban and Sandeep discussed the role of AI and machine learning algorithms to identify the creditworthiness of merchants who may not have enough data with them. 

Digitisation and inclusion

Acknowledging their commitment towards the government's Digital India mission, Anirban said they were motivated to solving “for the needs of new India” by the “vision document laid out by the RBI”.

Speaking about the support financial services have received from the government and RBI, Anirban said, “Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, and mobile started digitisation, followed by UPI, Bharat QR, real-time interbank payments, etc. Today, small merchants are accepting digital payments without hesitation. They didn’t see the full value earlier but today, every merchant is starting with a simple QR and eventually upgrading to other solutions.”

He said PayU wants to offer the best solutions to Indian merchants at the lowest possible costs. The idea is to provide world-class solutions to both enterprise and SMB merchants. “Our company DotPe helps offline merchants go online and build a digital dukaan.”

Sandeep spoke about Amazon’s annual event, Sambhav, wherein they support and help SMBs digitise. 

Anirban referred to the AWS efforts, stating: “With the ability to offer payments to millions of merchants at a fraction of what it costs anywhere else, AWS is central to our mission. A lot of our AI work happens through AWS; in a way, AWS is accelerating our mission.”

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Financial inclusion via financial education

The CEO of PayU India said the fintech startup does quite a bit to educate first-time merchants and help safeguard them against any abuse of financial fraud.

“We also help consumers understand the usage of cards, safeguarding OTPs, and other financial information, but we need to do much more. We are putting out videos and other educational materials as a step ahead in that direction,” he said.

The idea is to go beyond basic financial education and help smaller merchants understand things like building credit history, managing finances, and cash flow better, etc. 

Reiterating the importance of digitising necessary everyday payments and equipping all neighbourhood shops with QR codes, Anirban said, “Get in touch with me if you have solutions that can truly accelerate the adoption of digital payments and digital financial services in the country.”

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