With more than 400 companies including 200 startups, India has quickly emerged as a fintech products hub. In 2015, these ventures attracted US$420 million in funding, according to a report by the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM). By 2020, the transaction value for the Indian fintech sector is estimated to be approximately US$73 billion and the domestic fintech market is expected to grow 1.7x, making it worth US$8 billion.
Payment processing, including transaction gateways and platforms, online and mobile wallet, ATM and POS services, remittance, and cash cards, accounted for 34% of the Indian fintech landscape. This is followed by banking (accounting and treasury management, core banking software, risk management, mobile banking), which accounted for 32%. Finally, trading, public and private markets accounted for 12%.
Deloitte’s 2016 global fintech hubs report, highlights India’s high volume of technical expertise and low cost of entry as the key drivers to the country’s fintech growth. In addition, government programs have been developed to make it easy for startups to do business as well as providing them with financing and tax benefits.
According to Neha Punater, a partner for fintech at KPMG in India:
“Fintech in India has the potential to catch up with its global counterparts as the various ecosystem players come together to orchestrate a much-needed change in the industry. We have the talent and the funding to support this change.”
Today, we take a look at some interesting India’s fintech companies.
One97
One97 Communications Ltd. is one of India’s leading mobile Internet companies, operating Paytm, a popular payment solutions provider to e-commerce merchants and a mobile wallet approved by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Headquartered in New Delhi, One97 employs over 4,500 people with regional offices in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai and Kolkata, and global presence in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
One97 has raised US$585 million in funding so far from renowned investors including Alibaba Group, Ant Financial, SAIF Partners, Mediatek, Sapphire Venture and Silicon Valley Bank.
Policybazaar
Founded in 2008, Policybazaar is a comparison platform for insurance products focusing on life insurance, health insurance and motor insurance, among other products.
The platform compares insurance products of various insurance policies based on the price, quality and key benefits, enabling consumers to gain accurate information in order to make the best choices.
Policybazaar has raised over US$69 million in funding so far.
MobiKwik
MobiKwik is a mobile payments network connecting millions of users with over 250,000 retailers. It enables users to discover retailers such as brick-and-mortar stores, e-commerce and m-commerce services, billers and telcos, and pay them with a tap.
MobiKwik powers payments for Uber, IRCTC, Big Bazaar, GoDaddy, MakeMyTrip, Cleartrip, eBay and Jabong, among others. The company has raised over US$126 million in funding from investors that include Sequoia Capital, American Express, Tree Line Asia and Cisco Investments. It received the PrePaid Payment Instrument license from the RBI in July 2013.
BankBazaar
BankBazaar is a comparison platform and marketplace providing instant customized quotes on loans, credit cards and insurance products. The company serves over 50,000 customers, covering over 1,300 cities in India. It has over 30 partnered banks and financial institutions including ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, CITI, Standard Chartered, PNB HFL, LIC HFL, DHFL, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank and others.
BankBazaar has raised over US$79 million in funding from investors that include Amazon, Sequoia Capital and Walden International.
Rubique
Founded in 2014, Rubique is an online marketplace for financial products for individuals and SMEs.
Built on a proprietary matchmaking algorithm, Rubique’s marketplace lending platform offers features that include real time processing and online approval by direct integration with financial institutions’ systems reducing the processing time significantly.
Data analytics performed on hundreds of data points on Rubique’s platform assesses the creditworthiness of customers (loan origination qualification) bringing predictability by giving him eligible offers to choose from.
Rubique has raised US$3 million in funding so far.
Fintellix
Fintellix, formerly iCreate, is a compliance, risk and analytics products and solutions provider serving the global financial services industry.
The Fintellix platform is an integrated and scalable banking data management infrastructure, which plugs into the multiple data sources to enable regulatory reporting, risk management and business analytics.
The company is headquartered in Bangalore, India and has offices in Mumbai, Manila, Johannesburg, Dubai and New York.
FINO PayTech
FINO PayTech designs and implements technology solutions for banks, micro finance institutions (MFIs), insurance companies, government entities and consultants in India. Its products include:
- FINO Tijori, a biometric smart card based no frills saving account product that enables banks and MFIs to offer financial products, such as loans, remittance, and insurance to their customers by issuing multi-application smart cards;
- FINOSaral, an end-to-end loan management solution that enables each branch of a bank or MFI to reach out to a large number of loan applicants and process the loan applications; and
- FINO Tatkaal, which provides a technology platform and processing capabilities for remittance transactions.
- FINO PayTech was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Mumbai with offices across India and New York.
Featured image: New Delhi, India, via Wikipedia.
