Parikshit has over 17 years of experience in Fintech and leading engineering / product teams in cloud native, mobile applications, SaaS, DevOps and Cloud Computing in Canada and USA. At StashFin, Parikshit leads the Technology build out & oversees the data science initiatives. Parikshit is an AWS certified solutions architect & an avid technology enthusiast. Parikshit started his career in Canada in the Banking sector where he was building derivatives trading & risk management platforms, he then moved on to start an enterprise mobility venture called 6DegreesIT deploying a custom big data analytics platform onto enterprise mobile applications for three $5bn+ companies. Parikshit successfully exited this company to a private equity fund based out of the US, before returning to India. Having grown up in a military family travelling all over India, Parikshit is also a certified commercial pilot.
The COVID-19 crisis led to several economic challenges during the first wave, followed by more negative impacts during the second wave. It changed India’s financial sector, be it businesses or people. In the process, the pandemic also drastically affected the socio-economic scenario. Many individuals and companies began seeking loans to either restructure or stabilise their operations, boosting digital lending. Thus, the number of consumers seeking financial solutions to fulfil their personal or business needs also increased drastically.
As per the RBI’s annual report, the share of digital transactions in the total volume of non-cash retail payments increased to 98.5% during 2020- 2021. However, loans to companies and individuals were difficult to get in a few cases. Despite of these challenges, lending currently has been growing at a rate of 5.5%-6% as compared to 12% before the pandemic struck.
Capital markets and financial technology firms are now taking centre stage. It is a known fact that the availability of credit helps the economy stabilise, especially in times of high inflation, deflation or even recession. The GDP, a measure of economic output, has consumer spending as a major component. So, the more consumers spend, the greater the GDP growth, thus boosting the economy.
The credit market has always played a major role in growth sustenance across the world. India, too, is looking to boost its credit through various banking systems. However, now neo-banking companies have stepped up, as well. Their credit line services are a much-required additional push to the economy.
Apart from being a boost to the economy and traditional banks, digital platforms offer simplicity and advantages to consumers, such as a hassle-free procedure; they never have to visit the branch or spend hours waiting in queues to complete paperwork. The platforms provide a fast turnaround and flexibility of interest on loans, which is immensely beneficial to end-users. Moreover, they empower customers by improving their financial health – leading to inclusivity, growth and independence through greater approachability and flexible solutions.
Lending platforms also offer loans seamlessly to dedicated users such as millennials, salaried employees, small and medium-sized enterprises, and credit card customers. This is made possible as the data obtained from customers is sourced from different mediums and crunched by artificial intelligence and machine learning tools.
With advanced technology at the forefront, we also have new challenges – managing software, updating interfaces, handling business restrictions, customer acquisition, fraudulent documents, bad debtors and ever-changing regulations. Despite these challenges, digital lending has successfully developed into a pivotal mechanism to fuel growth and entrepreneurship. Additionally, government schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme and the Credit Outreach Programme have come to the rescue of small and medium-sized businesses. This has further resulted in economic growth and financial freedom for crores of Indians.
This is why the outlook for digital lending is bright, paving the way for greater overall growth of the Indian citizens as well as the economy.