India has a shit ton of startups in the Fintech industry trying to disrupt various areas like banking, loans, trading, etc. I was very bullish reading news articles and personally experiencing how much digital payments have taken over the country. When I actually dealt with a few scenarios that took me through the current scene it felt like we are still stuck in 2010s when the world has moved so much ahead. I am optimistic that Indian big banks will disrupt or die a tragic death and the Fintechs in India are probably going to see a rude wake up call. Rant š I as an NRI haven't had to do any major bank related things over the past 3-4 years. I do my transfers over xoom (owned by PayPal), have an Indian bank account that works and an Indian sim tied to the bank account that works in the US. So far everything worked just fine. My friends have forced me to get an NRE/NRO account for compliance and future proofing purposes. Right from the start it's a fing mess. SBI, ICICI, HDFC all have complex documentation that's either confusing or conflicting or hard to find on their websites. I go with ICICI because my friend said they don't need me to mail any documents. You don't get to schedule a call, they call after you submit an initial form at whatever time. You have to work with a person to fill the damn form which is self-explanatory, you are forced to select pro account (I guess the agent on phone gets an incentive) and can change later to normal. The stupid form also acts up with some address formats. Now we finish the form and send needed documents via email, you get an email saying wait for x days for someone to check the docs and move forward. In 2022, how many people can sign the same way as you signed on your passport or pan card. I for sure don't. I rarely need my pen these days forget remembering my signature. So there's delays in opening an account because they want me to match my sign exactly with my passport (no minor Nick's/bends). Moving onto 3-5 days after I finish my docs, sign, etc. I get an email and text message saying the account is approved. No info on when I get my cards, checks, account login, etc. A few days later I get mail from a courier asking me to verify my address, email n number to ship my checks (no info on cards). Now this courier email is stupid fishy (but later confirmed to be a legit service with a bad name and worse email etiquette). Then a day or so later I get an email saying I will be hearing from a courier about my cards n checks, whatever. Moving another 2-3 days later I get a message on my phone with my banking username, link to create password n login instructions. This starts with a website that is overloaded with widgets, info, ads, etc. (Ads related to ICICI). Login experience wasn't bad but the site is ugly as hell and the emails they send for each action confirmation have ads in them. I later talk to my parents and they apparently get 5-6 emails on average each day from the bank related to marketing, promos, etc. (Even after unsubscribing). Apparently this isn't an ICICI only issue, Amex, Axis, SBI also spam customers. My dad has email filters that help but imagine how worse the experience is for someone who isn't savvy or has bad email hygiene. Account form start to funding and usage took me 2+ weeks. (I excluded the duration it took for signature verification) Anyways other issues: - LIC legacy app n site, not very digitized by today's standards, agent experience can be a hit or miss. Very asset rich, Controlled by public officials who are known to be lethargic and not very innovative to a large extent. Expecting huge scams here too. - ever heard of cred, they are another multilevel marketing scheme disguised as a Fintech. They basically act like CreditKarma + building better debt/financial management habits app but all they do is give you points that can't be redeemed to anything useful unless you are a heavy spender and aim at building a way (they current burn more cash than what they make, but they make some cool ads) to sell your data to partners. Their app is fine but the biz model is like a scam. - PayTm: OMG the ads overload and # of permissions the damn thing asks me for. Also the # of times the transaction issues happen has made me switch to phonepe - GPay: it's ok. It works mostly but it doesn't let me know proactively if I am hitting any caps like # of transactions per day or amount per transaction until after I attempt it. I'm assuming theyd fix that some day. - PhonePe is fine. - Policy Bazaar was great, recently they made a lot of features paywall or talk to agent or sell/share info to partner types. A future CreditKarma competitor imo. - Rupeek, damn they are overselling their business of giving out loans using gold as a collateral as a tech company. Their app is good but they are winning because the # of agents supporting the customer journey is insane, talk to any insider for more scoops. - Web3 shartups. I lost count of how many there are and still have no idea how they add any value to India today or in the next 3-5 years. Waiting to see someone educate me. - YouTubers who sell crypto sham apps. Binance was over sold by influencers who now went quiet after the crypto dip. - Most Indian banks have routines scams where some rich guy gets a loan that he will most likely default on and either fly out of the country or do another legal scam and retain wealth without paying back the banks. This has occurred in the past quite often, this will occur in the future quite often. No change expected. - Chit funds, helps middle class sometimes but the business model is predatory in many ways. - Zerodha. I like Nithin Kamath and the product too. It's fun and has decent UX. No issues so far. - Pine labs: their terminals work fine. I have some more competitors showing up though. - Diversity, Equity, inclusion finance startups doing small medium business loans. Hit or miss. The ones established by good ones will continue to flourish without VC funding but anything with VC funding in this space I'm cautious and think they will fail. India most loans range between subsidized 0% to ~30% hand loan type in this category. - many many more examples What are your thoughts? TC: 280 (before stock fell)
The people working in SBI and ICICI banks are the most incompetent people I have ever seen in my life. Iāve even come across fraud at SBI. As an NRI, life is a struggle in India every single day because everything takes 5-10x more time to get done.
Not everything is slow these days but I agree with you on incompetence. Too much red tape when it comes to the banking sector in India. Govt. is truly helping a lot of poor and lower middle class people with state banks but for the rest of the population these banks are just setting low standards that private players use as benchmark to not try delighting customers or raising the bar.
ICICI is a predatory bank, OP have you tried Axis ?
For a normal customer (Indians in India), the traditional banks have a decent CX majority of the time (outliers still exist)
Who hurt you?
Zzzz
Fintech bust is already underway. Klarna is raising at -90%. Indian fintechs won't be spared either. I see liquidation, consolidation and hopefully an emergence of more sustainable business practices in the ones that survive.
Fintech and Edtech are two most common startups these days. It was the market to be in, but with investors focusing on profitability, their true colors are getting exposed. Only the ones with legit business plan will survive
Too long to read. I pray to the lord that you get whatever you are seeking OP.
tl;dr?
Indian Fintech has a lot of bloat and traditional finance firms in India are stuck in 2010s. UX sucks in traditional and in new users get scammed
So no diff than the Fintech boom for the US? It's a cycle