Indian Fintechs Expect Rapid AI Adoption Despite 84% Respondents Yet to See Financial Payoffs From AI Investments: PwC Survey

• 71% of fintechs are building for 'Disciplined Consolidation' - a scenario where AI advances while capital tightens amid industry consolidation.

India's fintech industry is bracing for a tougher, more consolidated future even as it waits for AI to prove its worth on the balance sheet. As per PwC India’s latest report titled ‘Fit for Future: FinTech 2030,’ 84% of respondents cannot yet point to measurable, AI-driven results in their financial statements. Yet fintech leaders continue to invest in AI aggressively which shows that the industry is expressing optimism in its expectations while resourcing itself for caution.

The survey, conducted among fintech founders, industry leaders and ecosystem participants, shows respondents continue to invest in AI on the basis of its perceived strategic importance rather than proven returns. 48% of leaders named proprietary intelligence as their top strategic bet for the future, with customer experience enhancement emerging as the leading driver of AI agent adoption over the next three to five years (cited by 30% of respondents), followed by cost reduction and productivity gains at 22%.

Rajan Pental, Leader – Financial Services, PwC India said, “Fintech leaders clearly want to believe in an enabling capital environment and rapid AI adoption, but very few are confident enough in that outcome to bet their business on it. Instead, they are preparing for consolidation, tighter capital and tougher governance. That is our survey's clearest signal about how the industry is actually thinking about the next four years."

The survey results reveal a clear split between what the industry expects and what it is actually preparing for. 74% of respondents expect an "enabling" capital and regulatory climate by 2030. But 71% said they are actively building for "Disciplined Consolidation" — a more cautious scenario marked by tighter capital and stronger governance requirements.

Vivek Belgavi, Partner and Leader – Financial Services Advisory, PwC India, said, "India's fintech story over the last decade was built on formalisation, digital onboarding, distribution at scale and growth capital. The next decade will run on a different playbook: programmable digital infrastructure, proprietary intelligence, orchestration over distribution, and trust built by design. The winners will not simply be those who scale fastest, but those who build the most resilient and differentiated institutions."

The report identifies several themes shaping the future of fintech:

• Trust and fraud, not regulation, are seen as the biggest barriers to scaling agentic AI. 41% of respondents cited customer trust and adoption as the greatest barrier to scaling agentic payments, followed by fraud, security and risk management at 33% — a combined 74%. Regulatory uncertainty accounted for just 11%.
• Consumers will share their data freely but will not tolerate added risk. 93% of respondents said customers would allow an AI agent to access their financial data for better recommendations. Yet only 7% said customers would still use an AI agent if it slightly increased fraud risk, even if it saved time.
• Liability for AI-driven errors remains unresolved. When asked who should bear responsibility if an AI agent makes an incorrect financial transaction, no single answer received even a third of respondent support, reflecting how unsettled accountability remains in agentic finance.
• Embedded lending stands out as the industry's preferred long-term opportunity. 77% of respondents named embedded lending as a durable value pool for 2030, 50 percentage points ahead of the next-ranked category, while consumer payments and UPI-adjacent models were seen as the most saturated or overhyped business models today.
• Trust ranks as a low near-term priority despite being a top consumer concern. Trust and transparency were rated the most important attribute for the new-age, digitally native consumer by 55% of respondents, far ahead of lowest cost (10%). Yet designing for consumer trust and volatility ranked last among strategic priorities, cited by only about 10% of respondents as a top 18-month focus.

The findings are based on a primary survey conducted by PwC India with 31 respondents using a structured questionnaire as well as live polling across three moderated discussion areas: Innovation Frontier, Regulation and Compliance, and Value Creation and Investment Lens. Respondent organisations included payments platforms and gateways, consumer fintechs, global payment networks and issuers, cross-border payments businesses, NBFC-adjacent lenders, infrastructure providers, and venture funds.