The story of the ‘Fin’ pool!

So, the writing is on the wall! The Indian Fintech market currently valued at $31 Bn is expected to grow to $84 Bn by 2025, at a CAGR of 22%.?A recent report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and FICCI estimates India to be strongly poised for flight and is headed towards a fintech sector valuation of USD 150-160 billion by 2025.

The Indian Fintech industry ecosystem spreads into various pockets, including Payments, Lending, Wealth Technology (WealthTech), Personal Finance Management, Insurance Technology (InsurTech), Regulation Technology (RegTech).

UPI is poised for significant growth as national and international players sweat it out in the ring Paytm, Amazon and Google run interlocked as they dominate the Indian financial industry, with a heavy emphasis on the development of the payments infrastructure through investments.??

A species on the rise is the segment of Neo-banks in India with over 15 Neo-banks already holding sway in India, while several incubate in beta stages.?The Financial sector in India has slowly seen a curious alchemy of sorts as several private banks partner with these Fintechs. The resultant amalgam looks promising with each hoping to better means of service delivery.??

With so many contenders in the bout, the cynosure of all attention becomes the king-the customer and the main arsenal, all challengers realize would be the??modes of customer acquisition. Banks are high on the customer ammo and the new disruptors will find it difficult to acquire them cost-effectively. Fintech start-ups would still build the most important asset of any business from scratch: customers.

The new entrants would need to get their act together soon and pass the litmus test of increased gross margins even as customer acquisition costs are kept low. It would be prudent to look at how eBay, at the peak of the dotcom boom was able to reduce PayPal’s cost of customer acquisition by more than 80 percent.

Fintech aggressors will need to find ways to attract customers cost-effectively. The all-important question that rises is ‘How?’

Leveraging influencers to cut the noise and grab the attention appears to be a good ploy. CRED with its heavy line-up of celebrities broke the mist of info-loaded rational ads that did nothing for brands. From leveraging yesteryear stars and using them in cheeky ways, it sure broke the clutter and caught the attention of their clearly defined target audience: the urban high spender off credit cards. Sure, he sits up and notices the whacky straight drive Neeraj Chopra delivers with his javelin and CRED sure wins the match with this highly intrusive service which makes light of your debt load. And just one angry outburst of ‘the wall’ Rahul Dravid on the streets of Bangalore and Neeraj Chopra makes sure CRED downloads on the internet’s a bigger viral outbreak than the portentous pandemic.?