India is now being recognized as one of the largest FinTech unicorn ecosystems, home to 21 FinTech Unicorns as of March 2022. An organic and collaborative ecosystem is driving this growth, which is being supported by key government initiatives, such as Digital India, Smart City, the development of UPI and other initiatives. Tailwinds due to favorable demographics, growing technology adoption, higher disposable incomes and an aware customer is further fuelling this growth. Fintechs have been innovating in product and delivery to cater to the evolving needs of the customers.

On the launch of the report Sudhir Sethi, Founder, and Chairperson, Chiratae Ventures said, “The Indian Fintech market has been a formidable global force, contributing to the largest share of unicorns in India. We have been a technology first investor believing in the power of both data and technology and hence have backed companies such as EarlySalary, Kristal.ai, PB Fintech, ShopSe and Vayana amongst others”

Key trends in the supporting ecosystem are:

Regulatory environment: actively encouraging innovation through regulatory sandboxes, new distribution models, and the launch of innovative products;

The Metaverse: Global metaverse is still nascent with a significant runaway ahead, FinTechs have started to innovate to tap into business opportunities exploring various use cases

Financial inclusion: Innovative solutions are being deployed to serve Tier 3+ markets, enabled through India stack.

India as a hub of FinTech and talent: With a 5X growth in digital tech talent, India has the opportunity to address the global digital skill and establish itself as the destination of digital and tech talent

FinTech becoming a horizontal: Due to emerging technology, changing cultural trends and a favourable regulatory landscape, FinTech has been growing beyond boundaries with clear intersections seen in Agriculture, Retail, Health as well as Prop Tech

“FinTechs have innovated for the underserved financial markets through a strong and supportive ecosystem, which will continue to keep accelerating growth and penetration of Fintech in India. These include fast-growing digital adoption and mobile penetration on the back of the cheapest data rates in the world offered by private telecom players, to enabling regulatory environment coupled with world-leading digital infrastructure (Aadhar, UPI, BBPS etc.), and structural reforms and initiatives (GST, TReDSetc.). We also expect FinTechs to continue solving for the substantial and growing sub-markets with novel solutions,” said TC Meenakshi Sundaram, Co-Founder and Vice Chairperson, Chiratae Ventures.

The report also highlights that Buy Now Pay Later has become mainstream and is on an accelerated growth trajectory, emerging strong not only in B2C but also B2B payments space. Co-lending to emerge as a preferred model that supports lending partners to mitigate their risk exposure. New asset classes, Crypto & NFT will also continue to attract investor interest as fintechs continue to solve for traditionally underserved customers. Technology based Innovation on underwriting side of the insurance value chain will help deliver solutions for the highly unpenetrated market at affordable rates.

Rajiv Memani, Chairman and Managing Partner, EY India said: “India is recognized as a strong FinTech hub globally and is increasingly becoming a talent destination for fintech businesses. We are glad to partner with Chiratae Ventures and delve into the emerging trends in regulatory innovation, technology advancements, new business models, industry convergence, and inclusive digital financial services in the Indian fintech space.”

About Chiratae Ventures

Launched in 2006, Chiratae Ventures India Advisors is India’s leading technology Venture Capital funds advisor. The funds advised by Chiratae Ventures India Advisors collectively have over $1Bn under management and 125+ investee companies across SaaS, Consumer Media & Tech, Health-tech, and Fin-tech. The fund has been an early backer of Cure.fit, FirstCry, Flipkart, Globalbees, Lenskart, Manthan, Myntra, Uniphore and has invested in leaders like AgroStar, Bizongo, Bounce, Cropin, EarlySalary, GoMechanic, HealthifyMe, Hevo Data, PolicyBazaar, Pyxis, Vayana, amongst others. Chiratae closed its fourth fund, oversubscribed at $337 million in 2021. The team has delivered value for its investors through the years with over 43 exits, 3 IPOs and 8 Unicorns.

About EY

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