India’s Branch Personal Finance pp is opening doors to more Indian consumers with the launch of the Hindi version of the app. The launch comes as a part of Branch’s initiative to make financial freedom accessible to half a billion underserved Indian consumers.
The Hindi version of the app comes after two quarters of extensive research to understand the requirements and challenges of native language speakers from Tier-II and III cities in the overall lending and banking space. The current Indian fintech landscape focuses heavily on a Tier-I English speaking, salaried audience. However, research shows that 90 per cent of India’s internet users access services in native/vernacular languages, including Hindi. The majority of this Hindi-speaking audience is non-salaried, non Tier-1 and not served thoroughly by the existing market solutions.
Branch’s new launch hopes to expand its digital financial services to this audience who are often overlooked by traditional financial institutions and fintech apps. This decision is both strategic and essential, India’s 1.3 billion population has under 10 per cent of English speakers and over 40 per cent Hindi speakers. The latter present a largely untapped market. Branch aims to impart a sense of familiarity, comfort and ease to these 500 million Indian users with our Hindi launch.
“At Branch, we solve for the financial needs of the average Indian consumer. Language becomes a barrier for users to access funds in this digital-first economy. Our deliberate effort to launch our app in Hindi will help a majority of Hindi-speaking consumers have a better, less-daunting experience and, most importantly, gain access to capital,” said Sucheta Mahapatra, Managing Director, Branch Personal Financial App.
