VMPL
New Delhi [India], June 10: India is on track to emerge as a developed nation by its centenary in 2047. This forward-looking vision emphasizes inclusive growth, sustainable development, and effective governance, with the nation's youth playing a pivotal role as both architects and beneficiaries of transformative change.
The "Crafting Bharat - Season 2", powered by AWS Startups, an initiative by NewsReach, in association with VCCircle, and production partner - HT Smartcast, explores how startups are harnessing the power of the cloud to accelerate growth, optimise operations, and build solutions that will define the India of Tomorrow. This series is hosted by Gautam Srinivasan, famed for hosting a diverse range of TV and digital programs, currently consulting editor at CNBC (India), CNN-News18, Forbes India, and The Economic Times.
In this episode, we spotlight Prithvi Chandrasekhar, President & CEO - Consumer Finance of InCred, who is digitally transforming the credit ecosystem of India. He reflects upon the importance of building a strong tech foundation from day 1, integrating AI into the business for better customer experience and how AWS helped them scale and innovate for transforming the credit ecosystem.
In this series, explore inspiring startup stories that are shifting gears and sparking innovation across sectors, all contributing to India's transformation into a developed nation by 2047 in this captivating series.
Watch Episode:
https://youtu.be/UVYXC844Dbg
Edited Excerpts:
Segment 1: Ignite
In a space where regulatory shifts and competitive pressures can get overwhelming, what are the strategies that worked to ensure slow and steady wins the race?
Having supportive investors and visionary leadership enabled us to pursue a deliberate, patient approach from the start, focusing on long-term success rather than quick trends. My colleagues and I were united in our mission to build a lasting institution, laying a strong foundation through measured decision-making during our early years.
Would the need to become a financial superstore like a Bajaj Finance perhaps, result in considerable shortening of entry time into new verticals?
To accelerate growth, we acquired a business instead of building it organically, which would have taken longer. Initially, we developed our venture from scratch, gradually maturing processes, risk assessments, and economics. While acquisitions can speed growth, the question is 'when do we go for growth?' is crucial. One pursues them only when they have confidence in their product economics, primarily via solid risk management. The leadership team at InCred, having studied in India and around the world, understands that the easiest way to lose the game is to get the risk wrong.
Segment 2: Launch
What's the guiding mantra of scale and expansion hereon at InCred Finance?
Our tech strategy remains unchanged, thanks to the robust foundations laid from inception. By designing our systems as modular microservices from day one, we ensured red scalable architecture without costly overhauls. Although building this way was expensive between 2016-2018, we now enjoy the long-term benefits of a flexible, scalable design.
What are the possibilities opening up in the "slope of enlightenment" phase of AI and GenAI as the data ecosystem gains more traction especially with the next billion users in India?
AI can be categorized into Predictive AI and Generative AI. Predictive AI isn't new--it dates back to the 1950s when Fair Isaac developed statistical scorecards for credit risk assessment, leading to the FICO score. In the 1990s, Falcon, a fraud detection model, became one of the first commercial machine learning applications.
Generative AI, however, is driving revolutionary changes, particularly in software development. Yet, major challenges remain--ownership of intellectual property (IP) and the garbage in, garbage out problem. If these issues are addressed, Generative AI could unlock immense potential in financial services, particularly in enhancing customer interactions and enabling personalized product experiences.
Sub-segment: Boost
InCred started its journey with AWS in 2017. Take us through the highlights of the association?
AWS provided the innovation and scalability we needed. We partnered with AWS in 2016-17 to future-proof our business, leveraging its infinite scalability, modular support, and ongoing upgrades. With AI's substantial data demands, AWS consistently delivered, enabling our infrastructure to scale seamlessly as we grew.
Segment 3: Orbit
What lessons can benefit the broader industry and drive growth as India advances?
For FinTech founders looking forwardsupportingport India's growth, I would like to emphasize that 'Nothing matters more than Risk Management'. While convenience, user experience, and advanced technology are valuable, success in credit businesses hinges on strong underwriting. If you don't do it, you will not have a successful credit business. Many have overlooked this, leading to failures--I hope future innovations prioritize risk to ensure sustainable growth.
The startup ecosystem of India has been growing leaps and b, bounds powered by the young generation's innovative thinking, motivation to build solutions for pressing challenges and the drive to bring change in the nation's economy. Their innovation and vision are what will drive the nation to become a developed and sustainable nation.
Stay tuned to Crafting Bharat - Season 2 as we bring you these inspiring entrepreneurs for insightful and candid discussions with Gautam Srinivasan.
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