With the beginning of 2022, MSME segment has achieved full recovery: Ved Prakash Yadav

Adgully is back with a new edition of its annual feature – TRENDING NOW – where we present the strategies and views of a cross-section of industry leaders as they go about reclaiming lost time and market opportunities and build for a stronger future, armed with the lessons of the pandemic period.

Over the last few weeks, Trending Now has been bringing insights from industry leaders on how their organisations are geared up to seize the opportunities in 2022, break through the Covid disruptions and find growth and remain resilient.

In conversation with Adgully, Ved Prakash Yadav, CMO & VP (Growth and Marketing), Khatabook, speaks about the emerging trends in the Fintech sector in 2022, challenges and opportunities emerging in the year ahead, growth of the MSME sector, and more.

What are the trends that you expect to dominate in your sector in 2022?

With the increasing number of players in the Fintech sector, visibility of a brand and education about the new age digital services have become significant in deriving a brand’s success. Being relevant and reaching out to the right target audience through multiple communication channels with the right messaging has become extremely crucial. Leveraging digital media to deliver customised messages in regional languages is one of the important trends that has emerged. Relevant localised communication through a multi-channel approach has allowed us to engage effectively and appropriately.
Another trend that is emerging is the utilisation of data analytics and predictive analytics for marketing. A technology trend that made its way is increasing usage of artificial intelligence in advertising. Advertisers are applying AI to target the right set of audience, create more personalised experiences, turning around the overall conversion rate for their businesses. We are customising engagement campaigns and lead generation modelling. The use of AI is helping us optimise our marketing spend. We can reach the right users at minimum ROI. Because of the optimum utilisation of deep-tech at Khatabook, we have a lower customer acquisition cost than most other players in the industry.

What are the challenges and new opportunities that you see emerging in the year ahead?

A key challenge is user education. While we can create brand awareness and recall, the engagement comes from the user trying out new digital financial services that were never exciting before. Hence, digital literacy is key to widening the fintech footprint and promoting financial inclusion amongst the Indian population. As a marketer, you need to widen the scope of traditional “Marketing Communications” blueprint. Communication has to go beyond what brand is and what it does to the basics of digital FinServs and why it is beneficial.

How is this year’s turnout expected to be in this sector as compared to the last two years? How strong will this sector’s growth and recovery be compared to the last two years as well as the pre-Covid period?

We have reached a milestone of over Rs 1.9 trillion monthly recorded transactions across platforms. This indicates a growing demand for technology solutions by Indian MSMEs. With the beginning of 2022, the MSME segment has achieved full recovery. With positive policy developments and ongoing strong digital adoption trend, the year 2022 is expected to bring further acceleration in the fintech industry. However, we do need to make sure that we continue to cater to the Indian MSME segment by providing them relevant, need of the hour solutions.

Khatabook platform has penetrated the grassroots of India and has a user base spread across nearly every district in the country. Close to 25% of users on Khatabook are using the app in their preferred regional language. Significant growth in user base, over 50% MOM, on Khatabook platform, remains organic, indicating Indian MSMEs’ strong inclination towards digital adoption. Localised, relevant digital solutions will be driving the Fintech adoption acceleration in the coming years.