How Kissht’s Tech Stack Is Making Credit More Accessible To Consumers

A decade ago, the notion that technology could transform a legacy sector like lending seemed quite far-fetched. But with the rise of fintech startups and their digital innovations, the credit landscape has been reoriented, enabling a seamless and hassle-free lending process.

Fintechs’ entry into the credit industry has also accelerated the inclusion of the unbanked and underserved population, mainly from rural India and the remote areas of the country. The shift is largely attributed to robust tech initiatives adopted by the financial services ecosystem to ensure a rapid transition from physical to digital, leading to paperless and contactless procedures for maximum reach and quick execution.

Transforming legacy financing into a customer-friendly process with a higher likelihood of approval has changed the face of consumer and retail loans, as well as small and medium business loans. Moreover, startups like Kissht, LazyPay and ZestMoney, have brought the lending process directly to people as embedded options across PoS, workplaces and other transaction points. So, it is not surprising that lendingtech remains one of the fastest-growing sub-sectors of fintech, estimated to grow at a 22% CAGR to reach $1.3 Tn by 2030 from $270 Bn in 2022.

As part of Inc42 & Netcore’s multi-city meetup — The Growth Mindset, we recently hosted a fireside chat in Mumbai on How Kissht’s Tech Stack Is Making Credit More Accessible To Consumers.

Watch Karan Mehta, Cofounder & CTO of Kissht & RING in a dialogue with Geetika Raheja, PwC India’s executive director, as they explore areas like innovation, regulatory impact and competition in the lendingtech landscape.

Kissht is a digital lending platform that provides a credit line to consumers with flexible payment options. It also offers unsecured personal loans and health-related insurance products. The startup uses big data and AI-ML algorithms to assess creditworthiness and has recently introduced a transactional credit app, in order to target new customer segments, called RING.

“RING addresses 94% of the Indians never served before by any other financial entity. In fact, it is building a flexible product for diverse customer segments. You try to build a niche by catering to a certain set of customers but end up attracting customers from different segments. The differentiating factor here is that the product is flexible enough to be utilised by different people,” said Mehta.

Also, growth in the lendingtech space does not solely rely on creating a distinct niche. It is more about innovating products and debt collection processes. Therefore, product and process innovations are critical in this sector.

“While it’s important to focus on the customer aspect of innovation, you have to be equally cognizant of the collection side,” emphasised Mehta.

Again, innovation on the collection side can be difficult to execute due to regulatory restrictions and the need to follow established procedures. Unlike customer-facing innovations, collection innovations must comply with traditional processes and are subject to strict regulatory oversight.

While lauding the RBI’s efforts to usher in new-age tech, Mehta said that the central bank should adopt a more digital-first approach, considering the rapidly evolving fintech industry. Timely innovation and a competitive environment within the lendingtech ecosystem are also crucial for this sector’s growth.

“There is a lot of collaboration among lending fintechs. We have an open line of communication and help each other in every way possible. We are sharing tips, tricks and advice on everything that needs to be shared,” he said.

It is not exactly idyllic, though. Mehta shared various challenges and horror stories, emphasising that the main focus should be creating a healthy, consumer-focussed ecosystem.

To deep dive into more such insights, watch this fireside chat on How Kissht’s Tech Stack Is Making Credit More Accessible To Consumers.