Good governance, innovation, inclusivity to define fintech success: Castler’s Kumar Amit

Fintech startups are in the middle of turbulent times after the RBI cracked down on Paytm Payments Bank last month, sending shockwaves across the industry. The central bank has doubled down on compliance, taking actions against IIFL Finance and JM Financial Products as well.

According to Kumar Amit, Co-founder and COO of escrow services firm Castler, good governance will define the success of a fintech and help it sustain a long-term play. “Fintech has leapfrogged massively over the last few years, which has prompted regulatory oversight. Only businesses that talk about good governance and responsible execution will survive.”

Technology adoption for financial products must be inclusive and equitable and must factor in rural India, Rajesh Mirjankar, Managing Director and CEO of Kiya.ai, added. Compliance must be looked at with a futuristic perspective instead of building something that though appears innovative, but may be marred with limitations in the future. “India is one of the best-regulated financial systems around the globe," he noted.

Premiumisation and personalisation will play an instrumental role in helping fintechs differentiate, according to Vinay Sathyanarayan, Vice President of Products of SME lending solutions provider Perfios. “Leveraging technologies like digital public infrastructure, proprietary technology or emerging themes like artificial intelligence could help bolster premiumisation and personalisation. However, this cannot come at the cost of compromising regulations,” he said.

Also Read

Innovation is a common trait among Indian and global startups: Cecilia Oldne of Visceral Capital

Harshad Satam, Head of ISVs at Google Cloud India, highlighted that improving customer experience should be a priority for fintechs. “Many fintechs are already doing a fantastic job. This is how firms can earn higher revenue and boost growth.”

Regulatory reporting is a complex challenge, according to Satam, and the regulator is working on changes to boost fintechs while protecting public interest.

Castler, which raised $6 million in funding last year, has grown substantially in the last year and is looking to introduce many innovative products, Amit said. The firm is also working on digitising the trusteeship model and adding additional layers for anti-money laundering checks.

Castler is also working on building online solutions for enabling escrow of source code, Amit noted.

Mirjankar of Kiya.ai, which provides digital services for financial institutions and governments globally, observed that India stands out as a top innovator in fintech which has helped increase the acceptance of Indian companies abroad.

Perfios’s Sathyanarayan added that digitising banking processes in the early days was a task. To this end, account aggregators played a key role in fast-tracking the digitisation process which allowed data to be symmetric, homogeneous, backed by consent, and generated in real-time without human intervention.

“Banks and NBFCs are also open to adopting moving technologies like account aggregators, ONDC, OCEN etc at breakneck speed which has been a game changer for the industry,” he added.

Satam said that Google Cloud India is working on becoming the ecosystem enabler for banks, aiming to solve problems using Google’s technology. “These are exciting times and India is a happening place at the cusp of technology and financial services.”