Our entire lending business is app-based: FINO's Rishi Gupta

FINO Paytech Ltd, a financial inclusion software solutions and services company, was founded in 2006 and acquired the prepaid mobile payment business of erstwhile Nokia Mobile Payment Services in India three years ago. Earlier this year, it got in-principle nod from the Reserve Bank of India to start a payments bank.

As it gears up to launch its payments bank, managing director and CEO shared the company's strategy in an interaction with VCCircle and talked about competition in the sector.

Gupta, who was named MD and CEO in February, believes that payments banks will help 700 million to 800 million people to become a part of the banking system and that getting people to use those bank accounts will be the first step toward financial inclusion. "What we need to do is go to the next level, which is for transactions to occur when payments banks come in," he said.

FINO, he said, has been working for the mass market through its network of agents and will continue to do so. "When you look at the DNA of our company, our strength has been to set up rural infrastructure and cater to the unbanked segment," he said.

Gupta wouldn't talk about the divestment by foreign shareholders to meet with RBI norms. But he pointed out that FINO, which has an investment from ICICI Bank, will continue to serve as a banking correspondent for all its banking partners.

He also shed lights on how FINO has used technology to meet the banking needs of the poor. "Our entire lending business has come down to an app-based system and we have even developed wallets for our clients. I can't see anybody not being touched by technology," he said. "A digital ecosystem will be created within the payments ecosystem," he added.