Global Fintech Fest 2024—Seen And Heard On Day 1: Fintechs Get Serious

The fifth edition of the Global Fintech Fest is now upon us, at the same old Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai. The three-day long jamboree boasts of being the largest such festival in the world. And it is nothing to take lightly.

By 10 a.m., long lines were already forming on the ground floor as people waited to collect their entry passes from the sub-ground level. The venue even had to place staff to manage the crowd on the escalator. This rush lasted well into the afternoon, despite passes being available 48 hours before the event began.

Initial estimates show that the first day's footfall reached around 50,000 people. For context, last year's three-day total was approximately 75,000, which was a record at the time.

During the opening ceremony, chief planner Kris Gopalakrishnan suggested that it may be time to take the "Global" aspect seriously and consider hosting the event abroad next year. But where’s the fun in that?

The atmosphere was notably more grounded this year. India's fintech industry has been enduring a funding winter for over two years, and this scarcity has had a clear impact. However, it has also led to more realistic expectations within the ecosystem.

To be sure, this winter is not uniform across the system. According to data from Tracxn, the fintech industry got about $6 billion worth funding in the last two years. That is not small money for an industry which is still facing increased regulatory scrutiny.

Fintechs this reporter chatted with, all spoke in a calm manner. Gone were the hype trains, the shrill cheering and poorly crafted slogans. Fintechs are now focussing on what they need to do, developing business models which are sustainable and are closer to reality than ever before.

One fintech founder pointed out that funding will likely improve now, because the Reserve Bank of India’s drubbing of rule breakers is now nearly done. Investors in closed rooms are expressing confidence that clearer rules from the regulator will foster cleaner business models and fewer questions. The central bank’s guardrails will also stop excessive risk taking and make fintechs do what they are supposed to, revolutionise the way we think about finance.

Another founder stated that the industry is moving away from competing with banks and traditional lenders. Fintechs now recognise the value of partnering with these institutions for their vast distribution networks. The solution, he says, is to become B2B2C players—selling to businesses that, in turn, sell to consumers—while cutting out unnecessary fanfare.

In the HBO comedy series Silicon Valley, the character 'Action' Jack Barker advises the protagonist Richard Hendricks, "Maybe sometime in the future, we can change the world and perform miracles...But I am not going to mortgage the present for that."

These words resonate with India's fintechs today.

On a final note, this is NDTV Profit’s first-ever coverage of the Global Fintech Fest as a television channel. Our team of reporters—Haripriya Sureban, Rishabh Bhatnagar, and Subhana Shaikh—will bring you all the updates over the next three days. Today, they conducted key interviews with industry leaders, including Kris Gopalakrishnan of Axilor Ventures, Sameer Nigam of PhonePe, and Satyam Kumar of LoanTap. Stay tuned for their ongoing coverage through Friday.

On to Day 2!