India’s fintech ecosystem has seen huge growth over last 2 years: Parth Joshi

As the year 2021 draws to a close, it is time to recap the major developments across the industry. As in the previous years, Adgully has been reviewing the year 2021 for M&E, Advertising, Digital, Marketing, PR & Communications along with leading names in the industry.

As opposed to the severe disruptions brought about by the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the year 2021 was more about resilience and rebuilding.

Parth Joshi, Chief Marketing Officer, BharatPe, highlights the key developments in the fintech industry in 2021, the shift from a cash-driven economy to digital payments. He also foresees continued focus on digital communication channels.

How has the Indian consumer embraced digital payments and transactions in the last 2 years? What were the key consumer behaviour trends that you noticed in the fintech industry?

India’s digital payments infrastructure has evolved rapidly over the past years. The shift from a cash-driven economy to digital payments has been catalysed by a number of factors – including increased adoption of smartphones and access to internet. Also, demonetisation has accelerated the adoption of digital payments.

Over the last couple of years, we have witnessed huge acceleration in the adoption of digital payments, not only in Tier-1 cities, but also in Tier-2/3 and 4 towns and cities. The consumer behaviour underwent a huge transformation during the times of the pandemic. Consumers adopted digital payments, more than ever before, owing to the health concerns around handling cash. UPI has seen an exponential increase in adoption and has become ubiquitous to payments. This has been possible owing to the ease of use, security as well as convenience around UPI payments.

I believe the consumers have become more receptive of the Fintech offerings over the last 2 years. From BNPL, UPI, digital lending, to insurance and investments – increasing number of consumers have explored a wide-range of Fintech products and also adopted them as an integral part of their lives.

Today, fintech players are rapidly using AI, digital payment systems, virtual assets, software solutions, and AR, to deliver better products like contact-less banking, digital-only customer service, and tap and pay payments, to consumers.

What are some of the challenges that you faced? What were the new learnings?

The past two years have been transformative for the fintech industry. As a marketer, the biggest challenge as well as learning was in the adoption of digital payments in the MSME sector. The local shopkeepers who heavily rely on cash, were not receptive of digital payments during the initial years. Also, it was a challenge to create awareness about our other Fintech products like business loans and POS. The second challenge for us was to build trust in the shopkeepers. We understand that we deal with people’s money and trust is the key to growth of our business.

One new learning was that digital platforms also work well with the offline retailers, who are digitally savvy and well-informed.

What is your outlook for the year 2022? What new trends can we expect?

India’s fintech ecosystem has seen huge growth over the last couple of years. The pandemic continues to accelerate digitalisation across the full breadth of the financial services industry. I believe that the Indian fintech market is poised to grow multi-fold in the coming years. The fintech industry will spend on technology, talent and innovation. Banks will also continue to invest heavily in technology.

From a marketing standpoint, I foresee continued focus on digital communication channels. With India on the verge of another set of curbs owing to fear of third wave, we anticipate a further increase in adoption of UPI and digital payments. Also, e-commerce and start-ups in edutech and healthtech domains are set of to do well.