India is witnessing emergence of a new breed of tech-oriented investors, experts say at TechSparks 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the priorities of young consumers on how they spend and invest their money and fintechs have started to meet their demand through curated offerings.
Largely driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a perceptible change in consumer behaviour on savings and investments. This coupled with stock market
At a panel discussion on the topic, Tapping the $60 B wealthtech opportunities in India on the second day of TechSparks 2021, the flagship event of YourStory, participating fintech startup founders spoke about the changing customer behaviour.
Kavitha Subramanian, co-founder, said, “There is a massive flight of wealth into financial assets unlike in the past which was largely into physical assets.”
Indians have traditionally invested in real estate and gold, but now new investment segments are beginning to gain momentum. As Kavitha noted that consumers are understanding the value of returns from equity markets and she believes that these trends are here to stay.
This shift is also aided by the fact that there is a segment of young people who have started to save early.
Akshay Mehrotra, co-founder & CEO, , said “People are not wanting to spend a large amount of money upfront so they are going for the buy now pay later option.”
According to Akshay, people have seen an increase in wages, especially those who have upskilled themselves. This has resulted in professionals looking at mutual fund schemes at an early age which is more of a saving cum investment instrument.
The stock markets have also become a strong outlet for investment by the new-age consumers.
Ujjwal Jain, founder & CEO of , said, “Wealth management was largely a push-based industry but now people are looking at the secondary source of income where it is the question of not just saving money but also deploying in the right manner.”
This also serves as an opportune time for the fintech startups focused on wealth creation to look expanding the pool of consumers, which goes beyond the residents of the metros.
As these fintech startups look to address the needs of their customers, it is also important they have a better understanding of their needs.
Kavitha said they are constantly interacting with their customers where they help them learn and understand the various facets of stock market investments or trading. This has led to a huge focus on content and education by Upstox.
On the other hand for somebody like WealthDesk, it is always the question of how to ensure wealth creation in the accounts of their clients and create products toward this.
The rapid shifts in consumer behaviour and consumer behaviour would also require a different approach by these fintech startups.
On the future trends, Kavitha believes there will be massive retail participation into the stock markets driven by tech startup IPOs. She, however, cautioned that the element of trust will play a critical role.
According to Ujjwal, the democratisation of technology will only improve the reach of people towards investments into stock markets.
This would also mean a strong uptick in credit growth as Akshay believes that the increase in wealth only increases the ability to take credit.
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