Panelists’ speak
VENKATESH HARIHARAN, Director, iSpirit
In four-five years, India will have one of the most modern banking ecosystems. Be it Aadhaar or UPI, worldwide banking organisations and personnel are impressed by the vision and tremendous change coming in.
SACHIN SETH, Partner, EY India
Among banking players, weaker ones would be confined to looking at the back-office and compliance part while others with a better overall grip can use technology and raise their performance to give a fintech kind of customer experience.
MUKUL VARSHNEY, Director, John Deere
NBFCs today offer ease of access, ease of transaction and good governance. Here it is important that NBFCs be exempt from the Moneylenders Act. We have been instrumental in getting the exemption process through in many states.
VINEET DHAR, Head Retail, ICICI Bank
India-II is now as connected as the other India, which is a sea change. Look at the case for housing for all. Subsidies and incentives are playing their part, but the key is the rural and small-town mindset which is about never defaulting.
L N DESHMUKH, ex-GM, Bank of Maharashtra
Branchless banking is a very nascent concept. People here generally prefer to go to a branch, time consideration notwithstanding. The business correspondent model with personal interaction will have specific utility.
VEENA MANKAR, Director, IDFC
For better product offering and earning sustainability, partnerships will be important for the correspondents— with insurance companies, mutual funds, India Post and so on. However, distribution will still require a physical connect.
SUDIPTA ROY, Head Cards, Payments and Personal loans, ICICI Bank
The next wave of ePayments in China came via AliPay and WeChat (Alibaba and TenCent) pay wallets, which processed more than USD 3 trillion. Today China is probably the most advanced payments ecosystem in the world— be it cards or e-wallets.
VIKRANT PONKSHE, ex-MD and CEO, Cosmos Bank
While opportunities in the micro finance and e-payments space are huge, player sustainability factor is also important. There is a good basis for consolidation, essentially mergers and acquisitions.
MANOJ NAMBIAR, MD, Arohan
Women form 95 per cent of our clientele and we find them disciplined and prudent in their approach. They take loans based on requirement and not on eligibility. They are honour-conscious and would take pains to avoid default, which is what we call social collateral.
NAVEEN KUMAR, Associate Professor, NIBM
Traditionally, technology platform had been an issue. Now advancements are huge and therefore the viability of e-payments, both as a transaction mode and as a business, is massively up.