Tech has to lead and regulation has to follow:  PhonePe’s Sameer Nigam 

At the Global Fintech Festival in Mumbai, WalMart-owned Phone Pe’s Sameer Nigam said India’s path to financial sustainability has come from striking a balance between regulation and technology and that a regulatory framework plays an important role in developing the health of India's Fintech ecosystem. “By definition tech has to lead and regulation has to follow. I found regulators to be extremely approachable. But we need to figure out how to make sure the entire industry doesn’t get hurt. Timing is key when it comes to regulation around fintech start-ups. In payments, we're actually ahead of the curve as a country,” Sameer Nigam, founder and CEO, PhonePe said.

He adds that India’s start-ups have performed incredibly well when it comes to solving for fintech-related problems. “There are 10-12 launches happening right here. Indian start-ups are fostering innovation. Everyone wants private sector corporations but, in many cases, when regulation comes, it wipes out the margins with it. Who’s making sure start-ups are viable. The regulators need to make sure that viability of these start-ups isn't lost,” he adds.

At PhonePe’s stock trading platform Share’s launch Nigam said that the company’s payment, advertising, banking and insurance businesses will reach breakeven by the time the company becomes operationally profitable at the group level. “We don’t have to spend much on the marketing side there. I think at the group level, we have enough capital to deploy on Pincode and Share Market, and let them grow while we still hit EBITDA positive by 2025. I think it's doable,” Nigam said.

Vivek Joshi, Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, said he would like Indian start-ups to push more on the financial inclusion front. “There are a few people who are using this ecosystem like UPI, for example. Even if we’re gung ho with the progress India has made, we’ve just started. Start-ups need to think how to reach people who are still not in the UPI ecosystem. Can you make it more palatable for the person to understand and learn? Another point is about customer safety. That's one area where fintech companies should work,” he said.

Joshi added that excessive marketing for predatory lending by start-ups can be done less and more focus can be given to improve inclusion.