1) Mr. Anand Kumar Bajaj, Founder MD CEO of PayNearby (PayNearby is India’s largest branchless banking network)
“While the pandemic and increasing internet penetration across India accelerated the demand for digital banking, the need for breaking through untapped markets has compelled traditional banks to go branchless too. This is reflective of the exponential growth that BCs (Business Correspondents) have witnessed, especially in the last two years. While the growth has been marginal throughout the decade -2010 to 2020 – the industry has observed a growth spurt to the tune of 100% in the last year alone.
BCs have effectively been bridging the gap between the banking institutions and the unbanked masses in the hinterlands. Through a robust digital infrastructure coupled with adequate handholding that builds trust and confidence, the BC network is creating access points across semi-urban and rural India for banks to offer a range of financial products that are building the future of banking for the real Bharat. The sharp growth witnessed through the last year across various platforms, inclusive of Points of Sale (PoS) terminals, Micro ATMs, and a huge chunk of the households that transacted digitally during the lockdown can be attributed to the BC network.
Additionally, RBI implementing a geo-tagging framework to provide users with precise locations of existing touchpoints is a great move, eventually inching India towards the larger mission of digitization.”
2) Mr. Bhavin Patel, Co-founder & CEO of LenDenClub (India’s largest Peer-to-Peer lending platform)
“It was imperative that FinTech companies and other financial institutions be treated equally in the policy framework. The recently established comprehensive regulatory framework for NBFCs catalyzes the sector, allowing for a proper structure and a few restrictions that favour NBFC clients for their safety. As an innovation facilitator, the RBI has done a remarkable job of setting out the latest report of the ‘Working Group on Digital Lending,’ which has crafted laws that will further accelerate the expansion of the digital space and foster healthy competition among industry players. Furthermore, their proactiveness has fostered India to head the global fintech hub this decade.
The Reserve Bank of India’s conscious efforts, such as creating a FinTech department, setting up 75 digital banks, and creating a comprehensive regulatory framework, indicate that it expects FinTechs to boost financial inclusion with innovative products and services that the sector has been developing. It is a significant responsibility for us and other fellow FinTech service providers to maintain the RBI’s trust through honest efforts and the development of robust infrastructure, which will result in an advantageous position for customers and, therefore, for the broader ecosystem.“
3) Mr. Mandar Agashe, Founder and MD of Sarvatra Technologies (, India’s premier banking technology solutions provider offers cloud computing platform for 100+ co-operative banks such as i.e.; UCBs, SCBs, DCCBs, RRBs, Credit Societies as well as leading banks like IDBI, ICICI, Equitas, even payment players like Google Pay)
“Inter-linking of fast payment systems of different countries for instant and low-cost cross-border remittances is one key area highlighted in the report. Like connecting India’s UPI and Singapore’s PayNow that will go live in the current year, we should explore similar partnerships to deepen collaboration with overseas partners especially with countries where many Indian working population reside.
Like in UPI, such tech integrations will go a long way in building robust payment solutions that can be taken to global markets, while collaborating with local payment system operators. Also initiatives like DigiSaathi, UPI123Pay, and increasing transaction limits of UPI and IMPS will strengthen the digital payment systems with enhanced security. While the pandemic has led to a shift in the rise of digital adoption, we believe digital payments will continue to advance in the coming years owing to substantial changes in behaviour, integration of new technologies and awareness building measures.
Additionally, the FI-Index is a comprehensive manifestation incorporating inputs from banking, investments, insurance, postal, and the pension sector. It will help the entire BFSI fraternity, including the technology companies to develop the right product set for a specific target audience and market. The fraternity can thus reach the last mile with products that are relevant, affordable and secure.”