Fin Tech

Buoyed by a large untapped population and the anticipation of better clarity from regulators, alternative lending platforms are poised for massive growth in the future. We introduced alternative credit decisioning (ACD) models in a previous post. The efficacy of such models hinges on the type of data that is fed into them—an area of innovation which a new breed of tech-savvy financial services players are exploiting.

Post demonetisation, there has been exponential rise in digital payments via Unified Payments Interface (UPI), prepaid payment instruments (PPIs), Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS), along with well-established ones such as National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT), Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and cards.

Maximum Merchant discount rate (MDR) that can be levied for debit card transactions, both in percentage and absolute terms was issued by RBI in it's guidelines. PwC discusses the key inferences and how the country could witness increased growth in the number of FinTechs in the way forward for the digital payments transformation.

A digital identity solution based on blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT) is economical, immutable, secure and easily accessible, while providing a legitimate audit trail. DLT not only provides a transaction medium but also acts as a repository of all transactions in hashed digital packets called blocks.

Chatbot is a platform designed to understand, learn and converse like a human and answer ad-hoc queries in real time. Developing cognitive capabilities and deeply customised offerings is key to moving to the next level of conversational banking.

The Internet of Payments space is an appealing prospect for not only software and hardware developers, but also for banks and other FinTech companies that can help drive innovation in the payment space through the use of NFC chips, payment apps, sensors, tracking devices, etc.

Key inferences from the P2P lending guidelines and way forward for P2P lending business in India. In light of the formal regulatory status accorded to P2P lending players, PwC expects growing interest in this business from a large number of FinTech players and investors.

Over the last few years, the cloud has garnered a lot of interest from the banking industry. While the cloud has the potential to transform the ways banks conduct their businesses, it is critical that banks take note of a few myths before embarking upon a cloud-driven growth strategy.

Alternative lending is fast becoming a major source of capital for small merchants who would otherwise not have had the means to obtain bank loans on regular terms. Digital wallet companies are offering business loans to small merchants, chiefly those selling on the e-commerce platforms of their parent companies.