Fintech startups changing rural India's landscape post-pandemic: The story

There has been a significant shift toward putting more emphasis on rural development after the pandemic. In order to alleviate distress and improve employment and other opportunities for rural residents to make a living, the Ministry of Rural Development has implemented a number of new policies.

Aside from that, there are numerous platforms, particularly fintech companies, that are actively changing the landscape in rural India. These platforms are doing things such as providing funding for small businesses and settling the business landscape, creating digital awareness and encouraging people to conduct transactions online and providing employment opportunities through training.

Below is a list of FinTech startups that are contributing significantly to the ecosystem and should not be overlooked.

1. Biz2X: Biz2X is a SaaS platform that enables financial institutions to provide a customized online lending experience for their small and midsize business customers. Biz2X assists banks to streamline their lending processes, including authentication and paperwork management, by providing proprietary technology that helps make fast credit decisions and disburses loans within days, instead of weeks and months.

Particularly in the SME lending sector, a major bottleneck to the growth is the lack of adequate access to finance. Most banks find MSMEs and their credit history unsatisfactory to provide financial aid. Being one of the biggest contributors to the economy, MSMEs have to deal with multiple financial problems and remain stuck in a financial cycle of getting a loan approved while knocking doors from bank to bank.

Moreover, in the traditional banking system, the average “time to decision” for small business and corporate lending is between three and five weeks.

The average “time to cash” is nearly three months. Thus, Biz2X leverage tech to help banks make their loan processing more efficient and enable them to give out smarter loans. The Biz2X Platform offers end-to-end loan management features loan level pricing, a risk analytic tool suite, credit policies configured to banks’ needs, cross-device compatibility among others.

2. Aye Finance: Aye Finance is the only scaled, pan-India player providing unsecured small-ticket business loans to a large credit-starved micro-enterprise segment. Aye has cracked this difficult-to-lend segment with its unique cluster-based credit appraisal approach & optimally digitised phygital model.

Headquartered in Gurgaon, it has 311 branches across 20 Indian States and has a team size of over 4500+ employees.

3. BankSathi: BankSathi aids financial institutions and clients in achieving their desired business objectives. Based on what they want, what they can't do, and some basic information, this platform offers customers from rural and semi-rural India options for investments.

Customers can choose the best option and are directed to financial institutions that offer the services they need thanks to this. If you want to have an impact on the real "Bharat," educating and raising awareness in rural India is something to be proud of.

Its goal is to help people establish fundamental rules for managing their finances and taking control of their money. In order to achieve these objectives, BankSathi not only hires individuals from rural India but also trains and prepares them for employment. People do not have a sufficient understanding of money to use financial products wisely. The aim is to inform and raise public awareness of different financial products and services.

4. FidyPay: The lack of trust was caused by the idea that since the majority of payment processors were located in large cities, they could only serve that population and couldn't meet their particular needs. FidyPay is distinctive in that it recognises that not everyone is at ease making online payments, can afford a smartphone, or even has access to an internet plan.

Solutions offered by FidyPay include micro-ATMs, money transfer services, links, UPI, QR codes, autopay, PoS solutions, and micro-insurance services, among others, that can make banking possible in smaller cities and towns.

Primary customers are SMEs and MSMEs, it also works with local governments and residents in lower-tier cities to spread awareness of digital payments. It is anticipated that more people in rural and semi-urban India will adopt digital payment as smartphone penetration rises quickly and data plans become more affordable.