PayU’s inFINity 3.0 Accelerator Shortlists 30 Startups, Unlocks Prosus Impact Grants for Financial Inclusion

PayU’s flagship fintech accelerator, inFINity 3.0, has leveled up to fuel the growth of fintech startups solving digital and financial inclusion challenges across India. The inFINity 3.0 cohort will be invited to co-create projects within the Prosus ecosystem and apply for impact grants of up to USD 25,000.

Announced in February 2026, inFINity 3.0 is the third edition of PayU’s fintech accelerator programme designed to help early-stage fintech startups transition from product build to market-ready, scalable businesses through a structured acceleration journey. The initiative drew strong interest from across the ecosystem, with over 600 applications. Following a highly competitive selection process, 30 promising fintech startups have been shortlisted to be part of the inFINity 3.0 cohort.

Startups focused on advancing digital and financial inclusion across underserved segments will have an opportunity to be eligible for impact grants from Prosus. Grants are available for innovations across four key areas:

• Women-led innovations - addressing gaps in credit, savings, healthcare, and safety
• Solutions for gig and informal workers - enabling income stability, credit access, and financial resilience. 
• Sustainability-led models - promoting long-term financial health and responsible growth
• Intersectional impact solutions – addressing multiple underserved segments such as women gig workers, rural entrepreneurs, and climate-vulnerable communities.

“India’s fintech ecosystem is at a pivotal moment, where innovation must translate into real, inclusive impact. Through our support to PayU’s inFINity 3.0, we aim to support founders who are building scalable impact solutions that expand access to digital and financial services for underserved communities within our ecosystem. Our focus is on enabling long-term, sustainable impact through capital, mentorship, and ecosystem access,” said Prajna Khanna, Chief Sustainability Officer, Prosus Group and Naspers Limited.

"Over the three editions, inFINity has grown into more than just a fintech accelerator - it's become our way of backing founders solving high-impact problems that truly matter. We're incredibly proud of this evolution", said Anirban Mukherjee, CEO, PayU. “By combining capital with ecosystem access, we aim to enable startups to build scalable solutions that can drive meaningful financial inclusion”

InFINity 3.0 will culminate in a Bootcamp and Demo Day in Bengaluru on April 22-23, 2026, bringing together founders, investors, and industry leaders.

The selected cohort in inFINity 3.0 will benefit from structured access to PayU’s payments infrastructure, merchant ecosystem, and banking partners, enabling faster pilots and real-world validation. The programme also includes mentorship from PayU leaders, fintech founders, and domain experts, along with exposure to investors and ecosystem enablers.

About PayU

PayU, India's leading diversified fintech platform with Prosus as an investor, operates businesses that are regulated by the Reserve Bank of India and offers advanced solutions to meet the digital financial services needs of customers (merchants, banks, and consumers).

PayU provides payment gateway solutions to online businesses through its cutting-edge and award-winning technology and has empowered 4.5 lakhs+ businesses, including India’s leading enterprises, e-commerce giants and SMBs. It enables businesses to collect digital payments across 100+ online payment methods such as Credit Cards, Debit Cards, Net Banking, EMIs, pay-later, QR, UPI, Wallets, and more. It’s a preferred partner in the affordability ecosystem, offering the maximum coverage of issuers and easy-to-implement integrations across card-based EMIs, pay-later options, and new-age cardless EMIs. PayU offers e-commerce brands with best-in-industry success rates while ensuring a seamless checkout experience.

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) Achieves 8 Crore Customers Milestone

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has just announced the attainment of a significant milestone, with eight crore customers now benefiting from its innovative and inclusive financial services.

Since its inception in 2018, the IPPB has been dedicated to providing accessible and affordable banking solutions to every corner of the nation. This remarkable achievement of reaching eight crore customers reflects the trust and confidence placed in IPPB by the people of India. The establishment of India Post Payments Bank was a strategic move to bridge the financial gap, empower the underserved population and drive financial inclusion through a combination of traditional and digital banking services.

With a commitment to financial inclusion, IPPB has played a pivotal role in empowering individuals across diverse demographics, including those residing in remote and underserved areas. The bank's focus on digital banking services has facilitated seamless transactions, making banking services accessible to a broader spectrum of the population.

“We are thrilled to announce that India Post Payments Bank has reached the milestone of 8 crore customers. This achievement is a testament to our mission of making banking services available to every Indian, regardless of their location or socio-economic status,” said Shri Easwaran Venkateswaran, MD & CEO (Interim) and COO of IPPB.

Last year in April, IPPB collaborated with Airtel to launch WhatsApp Banking Services for its customers, enabling them to access banking services on their mobile phone.

In December 2020, IPPB unveiled a digital payment app ‘DakPay’, as part of its continuous efforts to provide Digital Financial inclusion at the last mile across India.

The IPPB’s customer-centric approach, coupled with a wide network of post offices, has significantly contributed to this milestone. The bank remains committed to furthering financial inclusion, introducing innovative products and enhancing customer experience in the coming years.

"As we celebrate this achievement, we express our gratitude to our customers, stakeholders, and the dedicated team at the IPPB & Department of Posts for their unwavering support. The journey towards a financially inclusive India continues, and the IPPB remains at the forefront, driving positive change through accessible banking services, " said the press release by Ministry of Communications. 

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has been established under the Department of Posts, Ministry of Communication with 100% equity owned by Government of India. IPPB was launched on September 1, 2018. The bank has been set up with the vision to build the most accessible, affordable and trusted bank for the common man in India. The fundamental mandate of India Post Payments Bank is to remove barriers for the unbanked & underbanked and reach the last mile leveraging the Postal network comprising 155,000 Post Offices (135,000 in rural areas) and 300,000 Postal employees.

The IPPB’s reach and its operating model is built on the key pillars of India Stack – enabling Paperless, Cashless and Presence-less banking in a simple and secure manner at the customers’ doorstep, through a CBS-integrated smartphone and biometric device. Leveraging frugal innovation and with a high focus on ease of banking for the masses, the IPPB delivers simple and affordable banking solutions through intuitive interfaces available in 13 languages.

It is committed to provide a fillip to a less cash economy and contribute to the vision of Digital India. India will prosper when every citizen will have equal opportunity to become financially secure and empowered. Our motto stands true – Every customer is important, every transaction is significant and every deposit is valuable.

Website: www.ippbonline.com

Inclusive Finance Startup Navadhan Raises $1.5 Mn from Varanium, Anicut

Right to Left – Vijay Haswani, Nitin Agrawal, Anirudh Ramakuru, Amit Biswal (Image - businesswireindia.com

Mumbai based fintech startup Navadhan Capital has raised USD $1.5 million in Seed round led by Varanium NexGen, a fintech focussed fund, and existing investor Anicut Capital. Gemba Capital also participated in the funding round, said a press release via BusinessWire.

Navadhan Capital is an inclusive finance startup with Digital-first approach serving small-holder-farmers and small businesses in India.

The startup will use the freshly raised funds will to further build its — AceN Tech Platform, which connects rural small businesses (MSMEs) with NBFCs and Banks. It has enrolled over 2 lac customers and disbursed over Rs.100cr in partnership with 15 lenders like Ugro, Vivriti, Northern Arc, Caspian, Unitus and TruCap.

Founded in 2019, by Nitin Agrawal, Vijay Haswani, Anirudh Ramakuru and Amit Biswal, Navadhan had earlier raised pre-Seed funding of 1.37 million, in March 2021, from Anicut, Sarah Djari and Others. This was then followed by equity funding of undisclosed amount from BOPA (Base of Pyramid Asia) in November last year. Other angel investors in Navadhan include Prasanna Rao (Arya.ag), Sarah Djari (Impact Fintech PE).

To date, Navadhan has raised a cumulative funding of $16 million in equity and debt lines, partnering with NBFCs.

Navadhan is a confluence of 'Nava' (new) and 'dhan' (wealth). The startup aims to 'augment wealth creation' for under-banked households by improving access to finance so that they can leverage their income generating opportunities. Navadhan is offering its financial inclusive services to the missing middle between micro-finance and traditional SME lenders in India..

Navadhan has innovative stage-wise delivery of multiple credit products aimed at meeting varied credit needs based on their cashflows - linked to seasonality and peculiarities of micro-markets.

Paytm Partners With SBI Card and NPCI to Launch Next-Gen Co-branded Rupay Credit Cards, 3 Homegrown Brands Join Forces to Drive Credit Inclusion

Brings welcome benefits, spend-based cashback points and milestone benefits for the most rewarding experience

Drives convenience by enabling customers to use the Paytm SBI Card on RuPay network, where UPI payments through credit cards will be live shortly.

Aims to expand access to credit and foster financial inclusion by bringing ‘new to credit’ users into the formal economy

One97 Communications Limited (OCL) that owns the brand Paytm, India’s leading payments and financial services company and the pioneer of QR and mobile payments today announced that it has partnered with India’s largest pure-play credit card issuer SBI Card, to launch Paytm SBI Card on the RuPay network.

The Paytm and SBI Card partnership, which began in 2020, is now expanding with the addition of National Payments Corporation of India's RuPay, as all three homegrown brands join forces to further drive the growth of inclusive, digital-first financial services in India. The next-generation co-branded card redefines the credit card experience by offering exceptional rewards and benefits for its users.

As a Welcome Benefit, customers can enjoy exclusive privileges worth up to ₹75,000 with a complimentary Paytm First Membership that also includes OTT platform membership, flight tickets discounts through Paytm app. Designed for the digitally savvy, the cards offer rewards and savings when used on the Paytm App and millions of online and offline stores. Cardholders receive cashback of 3% on Paytm SBI Card on booking movie and travel tickets on the Paytm app, 2% cashback on all other purchases on Paytm App, and 1% cashback on spends elsewhere.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and CEO, Paytm said, "India is at the cusp of the next payments revolution where credit will become the mainstream payment choice. Together with SBI Card, Paytm RuPay Credit Card will be a great choice for consumers. Our users are already savvy on QR code-based payments and with RuPay credit cards working on UPI QR codes, transactions through mobile phones will get a further boost, marking a new era in digital payments."

Bhavesh Gupta, President and Chief Operating Officer, Paytm said, “We are delighted to take our valuable partnership with SBI Card to the next level with the launch of our innovative co-branded credit cards powered by the indigenous RuPay network, catering to the ever-evolving needs of India’s youth and professionals. With this partnership, we aim to revolutionize the way credit is consumed in India, by bringing 'new to credit' users into the formal economy by offering a seamless and rewarding experience.”

According to Rama Mohan Rao Amara, MD & CEO, SBI Card, “We partnered with Paytm to launch this card with the intent to make credit cards more accessible to young and digitally-evolved customers. Paytm SBI Card has become one of the popular cards in our portfolio and with its launch on RuPay network we are further strengthening product value proposition. With RuPay’s extensive reach across India and acceptance of RuPay credit cards on UPI, customers can leverage this card to derive maximum value from their spends.”

Speaking on the development, Praveena Rai, COO, NPCI, said, “We are delighted to partner with Paytm and SBI Card for the launch of this credit card on RuPay’s expansive network. We believe this card will emerge as a keystone credit solution for customers. Since NPCI’s launch of credit card services on UPI, we are constantly working towards providing unique, value-based RuPay credit cards. It is exciting to see RuPay progressively establishing itself as a modern, contemporary, and youthful brand by offering customized value propositions backed by cutting-edge technology.”

The co-branded credit cards are set to delight consumers with exclusive Paytm First membership worth ₹750, which comes along with numerous exciting offerings. The Paytm SBI Card comes with 3% cashback on travel, and movie purchases through the Paytm ecosystem.

Cardholders of either variant will be entitled to 2% cashback on all Paytm ecosystem spends and 1% cashback on all other purchases except wallet reloads and fuel expenditures. They will also receive the added benefit of a 1% fuel surcharge waiver and ₹1,00,000 cyber fraud insurance coverage in the case of ‘Platinum’ cardholders.

About Paytm:

Paytm is India's payment Super App offering consumers and merchants most comprehensive payment services. Pioneer of mobile QR payments revolution in India, Paytm’s mission is to bring half a billion Indians into the mainstream economy through technology-led financial services. Paytm enables commerce for small merchants and distributes various financial services offerings to its consumers and merchants in partnership with financial institutions.

Paytm media contact:
corpcomm@paytm.com

About NPCI:

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) was incorporated in 2008 as an umbrella organization for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India. NPCI has created a robust payment and settlement infrastructure in the country. It has changed the way payments are made in India through a bouquet of retail payment products such as RuPay card, Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM), BHIM Aadhaar, National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC FasTag) and Bharat BillPay. NPCI is focused on bringing innovations in the retail payment systems through the use of technology and is relentlessly working to transform India into a digital economy. It is facilitating secure payments solutions with nationwide accessibility at minimal cost in furtherance of India’s aspiration to be a fully digital society.

For more information, visit: https://www.npci.org.in/

About SBI Card:

SBI Cards and Payment Services Limited (“SBI Card”) is a non-banking financial company that offers extensive credit card portfolio to individual cardholders and corporate clients which includes lifestyle, rewards, travel & fuel and banking partnerships cards along with corporate cards covering all major cardholders’ segments in terms of income profile and lifestyle. The brand has a wide base of over 16 MM+ cards in force as of Mar’23. It has diversified customer acquisition network that enables to engage prospective customers across multiple channels. SBI Card is a technology driven company. The Company is listed on National Stock Exchange (“NSE”) and The Bombay Stock Exchange (“BSE”).

P.S. The brand name of the company is ‘SBI Card’ and it is registered in the name of ‘SBI Cards and Payment Services Limited’. The company is trading under the entity name ‘SBICARD’ on stock exchanges.

Paytm Inks MoU With Govt of Andhra Pradesh at Global Investors Summit 2023, to Drive Initiatives in Financial Inclusion, Public Health, Cyber Security

• Demonstrates commitment towards financial inclusion and supporting the growth of Andhra Pradesh
• To empower lakhs of merchants with access to digital payments and financial services
• Agreement in line with Paytm’s mission to bring half a billion Indians into the mainstream economy
• MoU signed in presence of Shri Saurabh Gaur, Secretary, ITE&C, GoAP and Shri Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and CEO of Paytm

One97 Communications Limited (OCL) that owns the brand Paytm, India’s leading payments and financial services company and the pioneer of QR and mobile payments, today announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP) on the sidelines of the Andhra Pradesh Global Investors Summit 2023. The agreement aims to promote mutual cooperation in the areas of Industrial Development, Financial Inclusion, Public Health, Cyber Security and Prevention of Financial Frauds in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

The agreement was signed in the presence of Shri Saurabh Gaur, Secretary, Information Technology, Electronics and Communications, Government of Andhra Pradesh and Shri Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder, Managing Director and CEO of Paytm.

Under the MoU and in alignment with its mission of bringing half a billion Indians into the mainstream economy, Paytm plans to empower merchants, street vendors, and ChiruVyaparulu (street hawkers) in Andhra Pradesh to accept digital payments and provide them access to loans through its lending partners. Paytm plans to extend its platform to the Government of Andhra Pradesh for providing eGovernment services, which will be conveniently accessible to all Paytm Super App users. Additionally, Paytm plans to empower various GoAP departments to accept digital payments from citizens and businesses, thereby enhancing service delivery for the people of Andhra Pradesh. The company proposed to also enable the digitization of toll plazas across the state to accept payments digitally.

In the area of Public Health, Paytm proposed to collaborate with the State Health Authority in facilitating seamless OPD appointment booking at government and private hospitals under the forthcoming Unified Health Interface (UHI) programme. As part of its commitment to promote safe and secure digital payments, Paytm plans to be conducting cybersecurity training for Andhra Pradesh police personnel and launch a joint campaign to raise awareness of cybersecurity best practices among citizens, particularly those residing in non-urban areas

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and CEO, Paytm said, “We are happy to partner with the Government of Andhra Pradesh in their journey of sustainable development through inclusive growth. We are fully committed to driving Financial Inclusion at the last mile and this partnership is a step in that direction. We will continue to empower the people of Andhra Pradesh by enabling lakhs of small businesses with mobile payments and access to various financial services.”

About Paytm:

Paytm is India's payment Super App offering consumers and merchants most comprehensive payment services. Pioneer of mobile QR payments revolution in India, Paytm’s mission is to bring half a billion Indians into the mainstream economy through technology-led financial services. Paytm enables commerce for small merchants and distributes various financial services offerings to its consumers and merchants in partnership with financial institutions.

CIIE.CO’s Financial Inclusion Lab is Set to Support 8 FinTech Startups

The initiative is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, J.P. Morgan, MetLife Foundation, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and Omidyar Network

CIIE.CO is collaborating with MSC Consulting, an international digital financial inclusion consultancy firm, to provide the startups with high-touch advisory and insights into the LMI segment.

CIIE.CO, the innovation continuum, has shortlisted eight startups for the Financial Inclusion Lab, India’s leading startup accelerator for inclusive fintech, skilling and livelihood focused launched under its Bharat Inclusion Initiative (BII).

The Financial Inclusion Lab was launched to help increase access and adoption of formal financial services by India’s underserved Lower and Middle Income (LMI) segments through supporting startups in the areas of FinTech, Skilling and Livelihood. The selected startups will receive capital support of up to INR 25 lakhs for product development and market validation, curated sessions by IIM Ahmedabad faculty and expert practitioners, field studies led by financial inclusion experts for customer and market insights, as well as opportunity to access seed capital via Bharat Inclusion Seed Fund, amongst others. 3 out of the 8 startups also have women entrepreneurs as co-founders.

Over the last 4 years, Financial Inclusion Lab has supported 42 startups in 5 cohorts to build and validate their solutions. Cumulatively, these startups have served over 30 million customers and have raised over $120 million in funding post their participation in the Lab.

The 8 FinTech startups that have been selected for the cohort of Financial Inclusion Lab, a part of the Bharat Inclusion Initiative:

1. Money Purse is redefining banking and financial services for Self Help Groups of Bharat through an assisted and door-step based model.
2. Finequs aims to bridge the credit access gap and other financial services for the Bharat segment through its QR codes at neighbourhood kirana stores.
3. Rydo enables financial inclusion for autorickshaw drivers in tier-2 and tier-3 cities through an app that also helps increase their income.
4. Roopya (B2C) and Roopya Money (B2B) is a SaaS-powered platform for digital loan origination, lead sharing and portfolio monitoring.
5. ChhotaStock aims to provide 300mn middle-income Indians access to curated equity instruments through an embedded model and gamified experiences.
6. Gullak offers a goal-based savings platform built atop a savings account to help individuals easily manage and monitor their finances.
7. PehchaanPe works with partners to offer micro-entrepreneurs with financial and market linkage through its payments and credit enablement solution.
8. Kaarigarmandi is a B2B marketplace for the footwear industry that enables upskilling of artisans and connects them with demand centres across India.

Commenting on the launch of the 6th cohort, Priyanka, Chief Operating Officer, CIIE.CO stated, “We are excited by the potential of this cohort to deepen financial inclusion of chronically underserved communities such as women, micro-entrepreneurs, artisans and others by providing them with tailored savings, investments and credit solutions. We look forward to partnering with them through the Financial Inclusion Lab and supporting their journeys to scale.”

3-Day FinTech Festival India 2022 Concluded with the Pledge To Drive More Financial Inclusion

FinTech Festival India, the country’s biggest FinTech event was held between July 20 and 22, 2022 at Pragati Maidan, Delhi, organised by Constellar and supported by Niti Aayog and six central government ministries.

FinTech Festival India hosted 8000+ business visitors from across the Indian and global FinTech ecosystem over the three days. In addition to the above 500+ CXO level delegates joined in for the dual track conference on the first two days.

The conference witnessed discussions on topics ranging from government policies to metaverse, banking, lending, Insurtech, blockchain, payments, lending and almost every other sector that makes FinTech the most talked about and invested global ecosystem in the world across its 35+ panel discussions, earning rave reviews from delegates and speakers alike.

With 120+ CXO level speakers from the industry and with over 100+ exhibitors and sponsors, FinTech Festival India announced itself to the global FinTech Industry and, is bound to add to this with a bigger and more inclusive FinTech Festival India in 2023.

The two day conference was attended by leading industry stalwarts such as Sarbvir Singh, Chief Executive Officer, Policybazaar; Suhail Sameer, Chief Executive Officer, BharatPe; Raghu Ramanujam, Director of Product, Flipkart; Mridul Gupta, Chief Operating Officer, CoinDCX; Santosh Kumar, Innovation Head, Citi Markets India; Hitesh Sachdev, Head – Startup Engagement & Investments, ICICI Bank and Sunit Vakharia, Head - Consumer Banking Technology India, DBS Bank amongst others.

Variety of discussions were held on macro-economics, sustainable future, crypto & blockchain technology, Web3, InsurTech, RegTech, financial inclusion, CBDC, cloud adoption, metaverse, NFT’s, finance and payment app security and more.

FinTech Festival India’s micro experiences organised through July 2021 to March 2022, combined to create country’s largest FinTech confluence. It witnessed participation from over 5,000+ attendees, 160+ speakers and 90+ sessions over a period of 8 months.

The conference was supported by Government of India’s Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Ministry of Small & Medium Enterprise (MSME), The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Ministry of Commerce and Industry), Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited ( A Government of India Enterprise – Under Ministry of Information & Broadcasting) and Startup India (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade & Invest India). It has also received support from the Government of Tamil Nadu, Government of Karnataka and Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Limited (ELCOT).

In addition to the government, FFI which aimed to unleashing the power of FinTech across the country, captured interest from industry in various sponsors/partner categories, This included Powered By sponsor CoinSwitch Kuber, Platinum Sponsors M2P, Sustainability Partners The Green Billions, Digital Asset Infrastructure Partner Fireblocks, Gold Sponsors BharatPe, LIC, Moengage, Rapyder, Thales, Exclusive Networks, WebEngage, Sales acceleration partner Vymo, Payments partner In-Solutions Global Ltd., Identity verification partner IDFy, Registration Partners CoinDCX, Digital Edition Partners JuicyScore, Spice Money, Experian and many more.

About Constellar

Constellar connects a global eco-system of event partners and consumers through a holistic portfolio of intellectual property (IP) in the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) industry. As Asia's partner of reference for curating innovative event and venue experiences, Constellar activates impactful networks to bring global markets, businesses and consumers together for sustainable growth. With our expertise and dedication, we are invested in helping you build trusted relationships with stakeholders for the long term and enabling cross-industry collaboration through world-class audience engagement solutions. Visit constellar.co for more information.

FIA Global One of 4 Winners from India among the BRICS Countries

FIA Global wins the prestigious BRICS women's innovation contest, Mulan 2022

FIA Global was one of 4 winners from India among the BRICS countries, to have been awarded the BRICS WBA award for 2022

FIA Global, India’s leading financial services organization with a mission to bring financial inclusion to every doorstep in the subcontinent, has won the international BRICS Women Innovation Contest 2022, held in Beijing in June 2022.

Seema Prem, the CEO and Co-founder of FIA Global, has been recognized as an outstanding, and dynamic woman entrepreneur, committed to the vision of making financial inclusion simple for banks and their rural customers. Seema has been instrumental in creating socially impactful products and services to meet the needs of unserved communities and markets and lead FIA’s efforts to expand its global footprint. Emphasizing technology driven, integrated solutions, her focus is on building high impact, sustainable programs to reach the last mile. She is also responsible for advocacy, governance, and building strategic relationships with governments, financial institutions and other key partners to support and scale social innovations.

Seema is the recipient of the UN Women Transforming India Awardee, 2018 and is the finalist in the Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2021, by the Schwab Foundation.

About BRICS Awards

The BRICS Women’s Business Alliance (WBA) aims to promote women’s entrepreneurship and women’s potential in the BRICS countries. The Contest is open to all business women in BRICS countries, and will recognize outstanding business women devoted to promoting social welfare and economic development in different fields across BRICS nations, and promote the exchange of best practices and innovative initiatives led by women, thus advancing the cooperation among business women across BRICS nations. This year, the BRICS WBA Mulan Award was granted to 15 candidates as part of the BRICS Women Innovation Contest and FIA Global was one of 4 winners from India to have won the prestigious award this year.

The BRICS Women Innovation Contest is co-sponsored by the Indian, Russian, Brazilian and South African Chapters of the WBA. The contest is for all women entrepreneurs across the BRICS countries to unleash women's potential and innovation in the market.

About FIA Global:

FIA Global, founded in 2012 and headquartered in Gurgaon, India, is in the business of making financial inclusion simple by leveraging technology through its neobanking solution, FINTAP, and creating avenues of outreach for the delivery of financial services to the unbanked and underserved. FIA is enabling and empowering millions of people deprived of banking services by bringing it to their doorstep. For more, please visit https://fiaglobal.com/

Investment Platform Upstox Launches 'Own Your Future' Campaign to Drive Equity Participation in India

The leading broking firm encourages investment in equities through a multimedia marketing campaign

Upstox aims to grow 3X by end of FY23

Upstox (also known as RKSV Securities India Pvt. Ltd.), one of India’s largest investment platforms, today launched its Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 campaign, ‘Own Your Future’. The goal of the campaign is to promote financial inclusion in the country by encouraging young Indians to participate in the equity market, invest wisely, own assets that will grow over time and help them take control of their future.

The goal of any company and its management is to increase shareholder value. The campaign includes a series of lighthearted videos elaborating how one can “Make your favourite companies work for you” by buying their stocks, becoming a shareholder in them, and thus having the company and its management work to improve your returns!

The first two videos of the series were released along with the launch of Tata IPL 2022. One of the videos shows a reunion of three friends where they discuss their career developments. Another video in the series captures a meetup between two friends at a cafe to discuss a friend’s promotion.

Kavitha Subramanian, Co-founder, Upstox

 
Kavitha Subramanian, Co-Founder, Upstox said, “The campaign ‘Own Your Future’ intends to encourage more Indians to participate in the equity market and make the right investment choices through Upstox. Young Indians today understand the value of owning assets and building a portfolio, via owning shares in companies. There’s a huge rise in startup culture and they understand that even if everyone cannot be an entrepreneur, you can still own a share of a company, and participate in its long term upside.



Just like IPL has redefined cricket, Upstox aims to redefine investments for its customers. We have grown 3X year-on-year and expect a similar growth trajectory this year as well. We are positive that this campaign will help drive a culture of equity investment in India, as well as encourage more Indians to take charge of their financial future.”

The multimedia marketing campaign includes commercials on television, digital, and social media platforms. While digital has been employed to reach out to the target segments in metros and big cities, television will be dominating the media mix for Tier-2 and Tier 3 cities.

Upstox is the first broking firm that has partnered with IPL ever since the cricket league was launched in 2008. The company currently has over 9 million customers and aims to reach users living in remote corners of the country. The Upstox platform’s user-friendly interface makes investing simple and their educational content further empowers users to make informed investment decisions. Powered by advanced technology, Upstox enables customers to gather an astute understanding of the financial market and assists them in taking control of their investments.

Bank of Baroda and RBI's Innovation Hub Partner to Boost Financial Inclusion of Women Using Technology

RBIH launches Swanari TechSprint - a programme aimed at developing digital solutions to bridge the gender gap

Recently RBI Innovation Hub (RBIH), a wholly owned subsidiary of Reserve Bank of India, has signed an MoU with IIT Madras Incubation Cell (IITMIC) to develop a fintech ecosystem in India that is necessary to support and scale fintech startups in early stage.

Now in a latest, Bank of Baroda, one of India’s leading public sector banks, announced today that it is  partnering the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) to promote financial inclusion of women in India. RBIH has launched a programme on Gender & Finance named "Swanari" that seeks to combine technology with a greater focus on women to help women achieve financial security and independence. To that end, RBIH is launching the inaugural edition of Swanari TechSprint, which Bank of Baroda is supporting as a scale-up partner, to create digital solutions to close the gender gap.

TechSprints are problem-solving sessions that promote innovation and collaboration to create technology-driven solutions to complex problems. The core objective of the Swanari TechSprint is to improve financial inclusion of women in India using technology and will serve as a platform to encourage women-led start-ups and women in tech to create and produce smart, creative and sustainable solutions for underserved women from low and middle income backgrounds and women-owned enterprises in India. The Swanari TechSprint will be held from April 18 to April 22, 2022.

Shri Vikramaditya Singh Khichi, Executive Director, Bank of Baroda said, “Using technology to provide solutions to the country’s critical problems is a powerful idea. Bank of Baroda is proud to extend support to RBIH’s Swanari TechSprint initiative to help bridge the gender divide in India. A collaborative approach, centered on innovation will ensure the best outcomes for women, accelerating financial inclusion and boosting the economic empowerment of women in the country.”

The Swanari (स्व-नारी) TechSprint will bring together fintechs, financial service providers, innovators and subject matter experts to collaborate, ideate and find solutions to specific problems and code prototype solutions in real-time.

There are seven problem statements that have been identified and two event tracks are available for participation. One track will focus on creating a minimum viable product (MVP) with enough usable features to be tested by and validated by users. The second track will focus on solving problems and designing prototypes in collaboration with others. Registrations are open at www.swanaritechsprint.in.

RBIH has also released a whitepaper titled “Gender and Finance in India” supporting the Swanari TechSprint, which is available at www.swanaritechsprint.in.

About Bank of Baroda:

Founded on 20th July, 1908 by Sir Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III, Bank of Baroda is one of the leading commercial banks in India. At 63.97% stake, it is majorly owned by the Government of India. The Bank serves its global customer base of over 150 million through over 46,000 touchpoints spread across 18 countries in five continents. Through Its state-of-the-art digital banking platforms, it provides all banking products and services in a seamless and hassle-free manner. The recently launched bob World mobile app provides customers with a saving, investing, borrowing and shopping experience, all under one single app. The app also serves non-customers by enabling account opening through video KYC. The Bank’s vision matches its diverse clientele base and instills a sense of trust and security. It is moving well in that direction and bob World is a testimony of its roadmap towards Digital Transformation.

Asia Dialogues Forum says Diversity and Inclusion must be connected to eventual business outcomes

The SpeakIn forum celebrated the full spectrum of human differences to create a culture of belonging and thereby making organisations complete and successful

Experts shared their opinion and views how workplaces and the world in general can be made more inclusive

SpeakIn, Asia’s first and largest network of thought leaders, has launched 'Asia Dialogues’ with a Diversity and Inclusion event.

Asia Dialogues is a forum that intends to build conversations on topics of urgent and immediate focus for the Asian region by bringing people together for progressive discussions on issues important for Asian businesses, governments, media and academia.


Later in the year, ‘Asia Dialogues’ will gather thought leaders and experts from across countries to engage on topics like Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), Sustainable Finance, Digital Transformation and Climate Change, among others.

The Diversity and Inclusion event was organised by SpeakIn in partnership with HDFC ERGO’s Sharing Circles, which is the general insurance company’s sustainable initiative aimed at true inclusivity. It had a keynote address by Sunam Sarkar, Executive Director, President and Chief, Business Officer, Apollo Tyres. The Panel Discussion that followed featured industry thought leaders that included Renee Tan, Business Transformational Leader, MD, HashTaqs; Alexander Krasavin, Chief Commercial Officer, Human Capital Solutions, APAC at Aon; Sudakshina Bhattacharya, Chief Human Resources Officer, HDFC ERGO General Insurance; Arvinder Gujral, Former Managing Director (South-East Asia) of Twitter; Anthea Collier, Managing Director (APAC) Randstad; and Michael Brown, award-winning author and entrepreneur based in UK.

Deepshikha Kumar, Founder and CEO, SpeakIn, moderated the discussion. The themes covered by the speakers included cognitive diversity, cognitive bias, and creating a safe and secure environment for people to thrive at the workplace. The panel underlined how organisations can grow to their full potential when there is equality and zero bias.

The event recognised top 10 diversity and inclusion champions from the Asian region for their outstanding contribution in furthering the D&I cause. They included Sophie Guerin, Alisha Fernando, Preeti D’mello, Duncan Hewett, Lynette Pathy, Nandini Sarkar, Bianca Stringuini, Kaveree Bamzai, Daniel Clarke, Angel Kilian.

Commenting on the first edition of Asia Dialogues, Deepshikha Kumar, Founder and CEO of SpeakIn said, “We have always been at the forefront of dialogues on matters that can not only initiate the change but drive the business, social and policy ecosystem overall. The intent behind Asia Dialogues is to bring forth much-needed discussions on a wide array of topics that can impact the world’s largest continent that Asia is.”

Speaking of the event, she said: “It was a day full of learning, and rich perspectives on D&I. Our expert speakers not only stressed the need for cognitive diversity but shared how it needs to be included from the very beginning of employee experience. We look forward to having more such conversations in the near future and hope Asia Dialogues will be the most meaningful platform for it.”

Delivering the keynote address, Sunam Sarkar, Executive Director, President and Chief, Business Officer, Apollo Tyres, said, “For the full potential of D&I to be unleashed many myths about it need to be busted, among them the notion that it means lowering the bar and that’s a barrier we must get rid of.” Diversity, he said, is like being invited to the party and inclusion is being asked to dance.

Taking part in the panel discussion, Arvinder Gujral, Former Managing Director (South-East Asia) of Twitter said, if organisations cannot connect diversity and inclusion to eventual business outcomes, D&I remains an amorphous concept. “While we try to remove long years of unconscious bias and accept D&I,” Mr. Gujral said, “it is time to to look beyond diversity only in terms of colour and creed, we need to embrace diversity of opinions in the objectives and key results of our organisations. That’s real diversity and inclusion.”

About SpeakIn:

SpeakIn is Asia's largest B2B SaaS edtech platform powered by over 18000 expert speakers and coaches. The learning is delivered through customised one-on-one coaching, e-learning videos, blogs, podcasts and live interactive sessions covering more than 500 topics in multiple languages. SpeakIn serves over 350 clients across businesses, associations and academic institutions in eight countries.

Financial Inclusion Index Increased by 1.4x in Southeast Asia

The survey conducted by Robocash Group revealed that key indicators, reflecting financial inclusion in Southeast Asia have increased by 1.4 times on average over a four-year period since 2017. Increased financial inclusion in the region suggests that the potential for credit services development in Southeast Asia remains untapped.

All countries recorded growth in the use of digital financial services, digital accounts and transactions. Myanmar is at the forefront of digital payments, savings and informal borrowing. However, borrowing from financial institutions fell twice. Vietnam has become a leader in growing savings in financial institutions. The country’s authorities have built a well-developed financial system that includes banks, P2P platforms and pawnshops.

Starting 2017 from a similar position to Vietnam, the Philippines has since shown a less intense rate. However, the country's authorities have already taken strong measures to massively digitise finance among the population. In Laos, the decline in loans from friends and acquaintances may be related to the increase in credit offerings on the local market. The reason for the relatively low development in Indonesia is likely to be the higher starting point in 2017 compared to Vietnam and Myanmar.

"Most countries have sustained growth in borrowing, either informally or through financial institutions. Along with the growth of loans, the population of Southeast Asia shows an increase in savings. This confirms an increase in consumption and justifies a broad outlook for expanding financial institutions in the region.”- comment Robocash group analysts.

A total of 688 Facebook and Instagram users from Myanmar, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and Laos were surveyed.

After Supporting 30+ Startups, CIIE.CO's Bharat Inclusion Initiative is back with the 4th edition of FI Lab

For a long period now - more than a decade, IIM Ahmedabad's CIIE.CO has been working on incubation, acceleration, and seed-funding initiatives for early-stage entrepreneurs. The Financial Inclusion Lab (FI Lab), under the aegis of the Bharat Inclusion Initiative (BII), is a platform to accelerate startups building solutions for the underserved segment of Bharat by operating in the domains of Fintech, Skilling, and Livelihood.

Livelihoods have been disrupted, access to capital choked, and savings have been eroded amid the pandemic. Simultaneously, newer digital infrastructure is taking hold, and innovative products and engagement models are being developed. Keeping these struggles and disruptions in mind, the one-of-its-kind Bharat Inclusion Initiative is back with its 4th edition of FI Lab, to support startups aiming to create an impact through scalable, innovative solutions to support India's low-and-middle-income (LMI) segments.

What The 4th Edition has to Offer

Supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, J. P. Morgan, Metlife Foundation, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, and the Omidyar Network, FI Lab offers diverse solutions and customized support to each selected startup including catalytic capital of up to INR 25 lakhs for Product Development and Market Validation. The other key offerings include:

• Field Studies (Led by financial inclusion experts for consumer & market insights)
• Portfolio Support (Up to a year of providing market, channel, and investor connects) 
• Mentoring (Through clinics with LMI focused practitioners and domain experts) 
• Visibility (Through platforms and networks) 
• Service Partners (For cloud, marketing, and other support worth over INR 50 lakhs)

All these solutions will help test the startup's key assumptions, ascertain problem-solution fit, and develop its product for a successful pilot, and scale-up. The need to reimagine such solutions drives the Financial Inclusion Lab - this time with a special focus on building for resilience and relevance in the post-COVID world.

Priyanka Chopra, COO, CIIE.CO, says, "COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted the lower and middle-income communities in the country. Inclusive fintechs will play a key role in helping these communities respond and recover by providing innovative solutions that meet their liquidity needs, access better livelihood opportunities, save for the future and manage risks better. With the 4th edition of the Lab, we seek to deploy our considerable experience, expertise and networks to identify and support these solutions in their journeys to scale-up."


COVID-19 has significantly impacted lower-income communities, including segments such as micro-businesses, informal workers, farmers, and women. In collaboration with MSC Consulting (an international digital financial inclusion firm), FI Lab aims to accelerate select early-stage startups that are focused on developing tech-enabled solutions which can be used for the benefit of such underserved communities.

What kind of Startups are being sought

The program will be supporting technology solutions that help in improving the financial health and capabilities of underserved communities, with potential to impact at scale. Desirable solutions include innovative flow-based credit models, underwriting methods that leverage social behaviours, models leveraging SHGs, and other social capital aggregators to enhance womens access and usage of financial services, LMI-focused Insurtechs, and skilling and livelihood solutions that leverage fintech for unique value addition.

Through the FI Lab Accelerator, Bharat Inclusion Champions Program, and Bharat Inclusion Seed Fund, BII has already supported 34 startups. Startups supported by the initiative have cumulatively raised follow-on funding of $34.2 million from marquee investors and have served 14.5 million individuals and 13,500 MSMEs since joining the program.


The Bharat Inclusion Initiative invites applicants to be a part of Financial Inclusion Lab's fourth cohort - up to 10 startups will be selected for this 20-week long acceleration program.

To know more please visit here

About CIIE.CO

CIIE.CO is The Innovation Continuum. This continuum spreads across incubation, acceleration, seed and growth funding, and research. Founded at IIM Ahmedabad in 2002, as an academic centre, CIIE.CO has grown and pivoted to include acceleration, incubation, investment, research and publication. Overall, we have aimed at filling the multiple, ever-evolving gaps in the Indian innovation-driven entrepreneurship space in many ways. Among various initiatives, CIIE.CO has conceptualised and hosted India's first accelerator, created India's first and so far the only cleantech-focused fund, accelerated over 1000 entrepreneurs, invested in over 163 startups, inspired over 700000 with our publication - Stay Hungry Stay Foolish.

All the initiatives on the innovation continuum are aimed at supporting the fearless, innovation-driven entrepreneurs. Working with like-minded partners like corporates, government agencies, investors and academia, helps us push harder towards co-creating exponential change.

5G will Boost Financial Inclusion in Emerging Markets in Asia

Driving improvements in the digital space, 5G has accelerated financial inclusion in emerging markets in Asia. Analysts of the financial holding Robocash Group forecast that with its help, about 3 million of the unbanked and underbanked will get access to financial services in both Vietnam and the Philippines by 2025. Indonesia will have 9-11 million, and India – 60 million.

Smartphone penetration rising in APAC annually by 10.8% on average is one of the main drivers for the commercial adoption of 5G. The extensive adoption of mobile phones and Internet penetration stimulates the progress of Asia in this field. Statista reports that, with an increase in the number of smartphone users in Indonesia to 89.9 million by 2022, the penetration rate will grow from 26% in 2018 to 33% in 2023. In Vietnam, the share of smartphone users will rise from 34% in 2018 to 40% by 2021. The Philippines are predicted to show the same rate (40%), up from 32% in 2018. India may expect to have 36% of smartphone users in the country by 2022, i.e. 10% more than in 2018.

With insufficient access to banks among the population, advanced mobile solutions and digital background have facilitated the development of alternative lending across the region. Thus, according to the report by Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, South-East Asia had the highest overall volume of $2.19 billion within the online alternative finance market in APAC (excluding China) in 2018.

At the same time, with the active use of 5G in the development of the Internet of things, the unbanked and underbanked are expected to see even more opportunities. The new layer of information on them can become a significant addition to the existing alternative data sources and machine learning methods. As a result, the efficiency of scoring of such customers will improve too. Company analysts think that the expansion of 5G itself can add 5% on average to an annual increase in disbursements in macro-regional alternative lending.

PayNearby wins ‘Best Fintech Innovation in Financial Inclusion’ Award

PayNearby, India’s largest hyperlocal FinTech network has won the ‘Best Fintech Innovation in Financial Inclusion’ award for offering last mile access to consumers in the underbanked sectors across the country.  PayNearby was selected based on the organization’s operational performance over the last year, innovative technology & commitment to the development of the underserved of the country. The India Finance Inclusive Awards was presented by Mr. Krishnamurthy Subramanian Chief Economic Advisor - Government of India at Access Assist event in New Delhi, to recognize the company’s dedicated work in driving innovation at the last mile and creating a financially inclusive economy.



Incepted in April 2016 by Anand Kumar Bajaj, Subhash Kumar, Yashwant Lodha, and Rajesh Jha, Nearby Technologies offers financial or non-financial services to the underbanked and unbanked segments. The company’s flagship brand, PayNearby empowers retailers at the first mile to offer digital services to local communities, thereby boosting financial inclusion in India.

PayNearby has successfully enabled the availability of essential services including financial inclusion products PAN India with the help of its ‘Digital Pradhans’ spread across the country.’ The Digital Pradhans are equipped with the tools and technology that allow them to expand their business and transient from just a retail store to much more. The company aims to create a pervasive network that will granulize, sachetize and universalize financial services and make it available to every Indian. Through their assisted tech led modules, the company offers a bouquet of services including Aadhaar banking, bank savings, domestic remittances, bill payments, card payments, granular investment and insurance among others. 

The company has close to 8 lakh retail touchpoints across 16,772 pin codes in 28 states & 9 union territories, servicing 98 million customers with a monthly transactional value of INR 40 billion and upwards.

The award was conferred by India Finance Inclusive Awards on behalf of ACCESS, a national livelihoods support organization that focuses on incubating innovations for sustainable livelihoods of the poor. PayNearby has been selected on the basis of their operational performance and unwavering commitment towards financial inclusion.  

Commenting on the win, Mr. Anand Kumar Bajaj, MD & CEO of PayNearby said, “This award is a huge recognition for us and is a true testimony to PayNearby’s unwavering dedication towards bridging the digital divide among the masses and creating an egalitarian society. With the highest levels of innovation backed by cutting edge technology and design, we have been touching the lives of millions of Indians who have otherwise been left out of the Digital India race. It is our privilege to receive this prestigious award and we thank everyone who have contributed to our journey.” 

Incepted in April 2016, Nearby Technologies is a fintech company offering financial/non-financial services to the underbanked and unbanked segment. Nearby Technologies works on a B2B2C model through its various brands – PayNearby, InsureNearby, BuyNearby and few more. PayNearby empowers retailers at the first mile to offer digital services to local communities, thereby boosting financial inclusion in India. Retailer services are focussed on Aadhaar based banking services, Domestic Remittances, Bill Payments, Card Payments, and insurance services among others. 

It was founded by Anand Kumar Bajaj, Subhash Kumar, Yashwant Lodha & Rajesh Jha who bring with them rich experience in banking, payments and financial sector. A DIPP-certified FinTech startup, has partnered with various financial institutions including YES Bank, RBL Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, CC Avenue, Bill Desk, NPCI, FASTag, NBFC and FMCG companies. It is the sole technology provider using Aadhaar Enabled Payment Services (AEPS) and IMPS to YES Bank, making them one of the only two fintech companies hosted by the National Payments Corporation of India (NCPI).

Payments Banks need Govt and Regulatory Support for Growth -SBI

The future is "uncertain" for payments banks and the model aimed at deepening financial inclusion requires regulatory support in order to be effective, a report said Monday.

The report from economists at SBI comes days after Aditya Birla Payments Bank, of the handpicked licensees, reportedly decided to shut down from October 2019. Vodafone m-Pesa had also shut shop earlier this month.

"The future is uncertain, but in time business will expand and evolve, with the help of regulatory and Government support," they said in the note.

The payments bank model "seems to have failed to achieve the stated objectives" with only four entities
becoming operational out of the 11 players licensed in 2014, it said.

The report said the payments banks face stringent regulations both on the asset and the liabilities side.

They are not allowed to lend, deposit acceptance is capped at Rs 1 lakh and the capital requirement is at a steep 15 per cent despite the business being free from credit risks.

The higher disclosure norms that oblige them to share their business plan with the regulator could prove to be "somewhat tricky" when the business model of the technology-intensive companies itself could be the biggest source of their competitive strength, it said.

As a result, the entities are working merely as an aggregator and there is no possibility for them to be a "real competitor" for the universal banks, it said.

The model, however, can be successful if they are given access to Aadhaar-based know your customer process which is at least thrice as cheaper than manual KYC and if RBI allows PBs to tie up with third-party services to cross-sell products, it said.

Arrangements with universal banks to automatically transfer funds in accounts exceeding Rs 1 lakh can also be of help, it said. PTI AA