FinTech

Access to credit remains one of India’s most persistent barriers to economic mobility. Whilst the country’s fintech revolution has democratised payments and savings, lending—particularly to middle-income households without traditional credit histories—continues to challenge financial institutions. Fibe, a digital lending platform that has disbursed more than nine million loans across 940 cities, is addressing this gap […]

Picture this: you’re checking out of a London hotel, your bank’s forex card declines, and when you finally sort it out, you discover you’ve paid ₹2,000 more than the Google exchange rate showed. This frustrating scenario plays out thousands of times daily for Indian travellers, who collectively made 3.89 crore international trips in 2024—only to

Imagine walking into your neighbourhood bank, only to find every form, every notice, every instruction written in a language you barely understand. For millions of Indians in semi-urban and rural areas, this isn’t imagination—it’s been their reality for decades. But the Reserve Bank of India has just drawn a line in the sand. In a

January 1, 2026, marks more than a calendar milestone—it’s the trigger date for potentially the most consequential transformation in Indian banking since liberalisation. The Reserve Bank of India’s Digital Banking Channels Authorisation Directions, 2025, unveiled on 28 November, represents a dramatic recalibration of how digital banking operates across India’s vast financial ecosystem. For the 80

India’s payment landscape defies conventional economic logic. Whilst the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) processes transactions at breathtaking velocity and digital adoption soars across demographics, physical currency in circulation has simultaneously surged to a staggering ₹37.2 trillion—equivalent to 420 billion US dollars—marking a 19 per cent year-on-year increase in value and a 5 per cent rise

Every month, hundreds of thousands of legitimate salary transfers flow seamlessly through banking APIs—corporate payroll departments disbursing wages, e-commerce platforms settling vendor payments, gig economy companies compensating workers. The technology enabling these transactions represents one of fintech’s greatest triumphs: automated, large-scale money movement that drastically improved efficiency whilst reducing costs. Yet beneath this veneer of

Every Indian fintech startup seemingly boasts “AI-powered” credentials these days, their pitch decks glittering with promises of machine learning magic that will revolutionise lending, obliterate fraud, and democratise finance for hundreds of millions. Yet behind the glossy presentations and breathless media coverage lies an uncomfortable truth: much of India’s artificial intelligence fintech narrative remains precisely

The Unified Payments Interface made India’s billion citizens their own bankers, transforming the humble smartphone into a payment powerhouse that processes instantaneous transactions with remarkable ease. Yet whilst the world marvels at UPI’s success story, a more profound revolution is germinating quietly beneath the surface—one that transcends mere transaction efficiency to fundamentally reimagine who can