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The fintech market is witnessing a significant change on the back of growing digital penetration in India. Fintech in the banking and financial sector offer services in the form of products, applications, processes and models. The use of smartphones for mobile banking and investing services is providing an impetus to the market.
According to Times of India, Digital payment transactions reached a number of 11.62 billion between April and November 2017, and is expected to increase to 18 billion in the coming fiscal year. It became possible because of the combination of cheap mobile data rates and the technological ease of digital payments. These numbers also boiled largely down to the initiatives by the government to boost financial inclusion and promote a cashless society.
Fintech Adoption Index (2017), a survey of more than 22,000 digitally active consumers ranks India at second place (52%) behind China (69%) in terms of percentage of digitally active population. Keeping in mind the speed with which India's payment landscape is developing, it won't come to surprise if India takes over China in the not-so-distant future. 2017 was indeed a revolutionary year in the fintech space and one can expect the same in the upcoming year. With over 400 companies including more than 200 start-ups, India is rapidly emerging as a fintech products hub.
Considering the pace of development, we bring you a list of 10 most trusted fintech companies in India that are riding high on the fintech wave.
Paytm is India's largest mobile commerce platform which provides services like mobile recharge and bill payment utility. In a very short span of time, Paytm has scaled to more than 60 million orders per month and has become full market place to consumers on its mobile app. It has more than 200 million registered users.
Launched in 2016, Bharat Interface for Money is an initiative to enable fast, secure, reliable cashless payments through your mobile phone. BHIM is interoperable with other Unified Payment Interface (UPI) applications, and bank accounts. This app registers your bank account and set up a UPI PIN for the bank account. The mobile number is the payment address (PA), and one can simply send or receive money from family, friends, and customers through this.
It offers mobile payment services to enterprise clients. The company also allows merchants to accept plastic card payments through phones, thus getting rid of the cost of integrating POS. At present, the company has over 30,000 merchants, which includes McDonald's, Reliance Life and Asian Paints. Its investor includes Meru Capital, Matrix Partners India, DSG Consumer Partners, OLA and US hedge fund Falcon Edge Capital.
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is an instant real-time payment system which facilitates inter-bank transactions. UPI is built over Immediate Payment Services (IMPS) for transferring funds. Unlike other traditional mobile wallets, it doesn't store money. On the contrary, it directly withdraws and deposits funds directly from the bank accounts whenever a transaction is requested. It uses Virtual Payment Address, Account Number with IFS Code, Mobile Number with MMID, and Aadhar Number, or a one-time use Virtual ID.
Headquartered in Bangalore, Capital Float is the trade name of Zen Lefin Pvt. Ltd., a non-banking finance company (NBFC). It is an online platform that offers working capital finance to SMEs. The platform provides flexible short-term loans that can be used to service new orders, optimize cash cycles or purchase inventory. Borrowers can apply online and choose desired payments terms and get funds in their bank account in one-week times with minimal hassle.
Founded in 2009, MobiKwiK provides a mobile phone-based payment system and digital wallet to more than 2,50,000 online and offline avenues. Customers can add money to an online wallet that can be used for payments. The company launched its MobiKwiK Lite mobile app in November 2016, designed for users of older 2G mobile networks and for those in areas with poor internet connectivity.
Faircent is among the pioneers in the peer-to-peer lending marketplace for loans. With their partnership and technology platform, they enable lenders and borrowers to interact amongst themselves to adopt a mutually agreeable rate for their transactions. Faircent.com was listed in the 2016 NASSCOM Emerge 50 in 2016.
Oxigen is a trusted brand in the payment space and boasts of a wide retail network across India. It runs Oxigen wallet which is the first and largest payment solution provider in India. The company has over 20 million users and a network of 15,000 online and offline merchants, 170+ Banks and 15,000 modern trade partners across the country.
Lendingkart is a non-deposit taking Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC), providing SME lending in India. It offers a credit evaluation platform that helps small businesses and entrepreneurs with working capital finance. It uses big data scoring and analytics to evaluate a customer's business.
The company provides mobile point-of-sales payment solutions in India. It offers card swipe device and a mobile application for businesses and financial institutions to complete various financial transactions with their customers. Ezetap's solution features remote pay, universal payment acceptance, multi-bank EMI, on-us routing, multi-TID, smart charge slips etc.
Nowadays banks do not see fintech companies as disruptors anymore. They are more like partners who paired-up to take on the challenges of a new digital India. This integration combines the strengths of both the administration of fintech with the strength and reach of traditional banking.
Supporting this, the number of consumers are increasing who are ready to incorporate technological innovations in their daily lives, mobile data is getting cheaper, government regulations are leading the charge and private players are making major investments.
