At a time when the world is battling a pandemic, companies are coming up with solutions that would provide a smooth frictionless operation on a daily basis. Gaurav Aggarwal- Director and Head, Unsecured Loans, Paisabazaar.com, give us a clear understanding of their business model and how is Paisabazaar.com holding up amid such tough times.
How do you think has the world attuned itself to the tunes of technology?
The way forward for the lending industry is a much more digitally attuned environment. The current scenario, where lockdown has brought lending to almost a halt, has made it very evident. The good part is that the industry has realised that, and most lenders are focussing on technology and digital capabilities to offer end-to end digital lending processes in the future. Hopefully, the regulator too will see the existing regulations in the context of the present situation and facilitate making lending ‘presence-less’ in the next few months.
What would you say are the distinguishing factors of Paisabazaar.com that has made it stay ahead of its competitors?
As the market leader, our aim has always been to make financial products and the interactions around these products very easy, transparent and convenient for our consumers. Over the last 6 years, through technology and data innovations, we have tried to address specific consumer pain-points while buying financial products.
In 2017, we launched India’s largest credit awareness initiative by offering consumers their free credit report with monthly updates from multiple bureaus. It’s free, instant and completely digital. Through this initiative, we are helping customers check, track and build their credit score. We are also the only financial player to offer customers their credit report in regional languages as well.
We were also the first digital platform to introduce a ‘Chance of Approval’ model to help consumers choose the most-suited loan or credit card offer digitally in less than 5 minutes. This has helped increase the loan approval rates on our platform significantly.
How technically dependant is Paisabazaar.com? Are AI and ML coming to assist?
Paisabazaar.com believes in using technology as an enabler to provide a world-class consumer experience. One of our aims is to provide each consumer coming to our platform a customized experience, with tailor-made product offerings, according to his need, track-record, lifestyle and life-stage. We are extensively using AI and ML to enable this.
Currently, we are focussing on building digital stack, through technology solutions, that will help us be prepared to issue credit products in a completely digital and presence-less way.
We are also working on innovations like Voice to Text, Image Recognition & Advanced Chatbots to take the consumer experience to the next level.
Is the increased reliance on technology viable in the financial space? Please elaborate.
When it comes to financial products, we believe there is more need to use technology. Unfortunately, a large segment of consumers in India still have an ‘I am scared of financial products or I don’t understand financial products’ mindset. While they are comfortable using technology for other needs, when it comes to buying financial products, there is a heavy dependence on human advice or human interaction. I think both consumers and the industry needs to work on building that trust in technology.
Could you acquaint us with your funding scenario? Also, who are your investors like?
ETechAces is the parent company that holds India’s leading insurtech brand, Policybazaar.com and India’s leading lending marketplace, Paisabazaar.com. The company has backing from a host of investors including the likes of Softbank, Temasek, Tiger Global Management, True North, InfoEdge, Premji Invest, besides investments from other PE funds and family offices.
What are your immediate and longterm milestones like?
As an organization, our goal is to reach 10% of the unsecured lending market in India over the next 4-5 years. Currently, we are at around 2% of this market.
Lastly, any word of advice for the wannapreneurs?
Be very clear on what problem are you solving for your consumers and how are you going to make money while doing that. Build a solid team which believes in what you are trying to achieve. And of course, ensure you have enough capital to execute your ideas.