Xpay.Life: Taking fintech biz to rural, semi-urban India

Mumbai: Excerpts from the interview

How financial inclusion of rural and semi-urban areas is growing and why it is important in today's time?

Financial Inclusion is very important in the march towards a trulyDigital India. In fact, the first step towards a digital economy is for a majority of the population to be connected to their bank accounts and for them to be aware of how a digital transaction is feasible for their lives to be made safe and secure. Financial inclusion doesn't only mean including new users into the banking fold, but also reiterating the benefits to those people on an ongoing basis.

Therefore, it is of paramount importance for us to ramp up the efforts to include as many people in the revolution of financial inclusion. What we need to keep reminding the people is financial inclusion and inclusive growth reinforced financial stability.

Fintechs are playing a huge role in financial inclusion. There has been an encouraging boost from the government in recent times and with an increasing number of startups in the sector and a mature ecosystem, the vision of a largely financially inclusive nation is not too far-fetched. The nation has taken steps towards inclusive development and financial growth in rural and semi-urban areas by introducing Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, JAM Trinity (Jan Dhan, Aadhar and Mobile) etc. These are just a few steps that have helped the marginal population to become self-reliant and get included in the economic fold.

How digitization is helping people from remote areas in getting easy access to the financial services?

The adage that 'Time is Money' holds true in almost all parts of the world. In the world of the financially excluded, the customer will need to make efforts to travel to the nearest town where a bank is present and then start a process that could take days, weeks or even months before any access to funds is made possible.

If the customer is financially included, then the time for access to funds is drastically reduced. Secondly, with products such as a Business Correspondence service or unique form factors such as Bank on Wheels or even the self service touch screen kiosks, the customer can save the time and effort to travel and instead wait for the service to reach their doorstep.

Technology has helped making the footprint of the form factor become so small that it can actually travel to the villages and complete the transaction at a local level online. Digital India Movement along with Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana have taken huge strides in the path of financial inclusivity in India. Information and Communication Technology are a key factor that is helping us as a nation to gear up towards this task. Formal banking channels and innovative financial technology is helping to create a vibrant ecosystem that is imperative for this development. Last mile channels like micro ATMS, Kiosks, PoS machines, tablets and mobile phones are being utilised for servicing the hitherto untouched population.

How people in remote areas are getting access to financial services?

Innovation is so rampant that the scenes in rural India are changing on a monthly basis, if not earlier. The Government has helped by allowing financial business services to use technology to speed up the entire access to immediate finance. Also, with the strong network of district cooperative banks and regional rural banks pan India, the enablement of financial services has truly reached the grassroots level. It will only become better with each passing day with the introduction of more secure and cheaper modes of transactions.

How XPay.Life is providing an easy and accessible solution?

XPay.Life has spent over 2 years in creating a platform that is capable of enabling transactions with multiple form factors. Created using Blockchain technology, the platform and its form factors will always have the 3 S of financial transactions i.e., Safety, Security and Simplicity, at its heart. Apart from this, it has created a 360-degree mode of transaction culmination. From webpages, to mobile apps, from touch screen kiosks and mobile PoS to the hero of the financial inclusion movement - the mobile van, the form factors are manifold. Each of the offerings is designed to help rural India in a different way.

The App and website can enable partner banks and customers carry out transactions at their place of choice, the Mobile PoS will help them transact at their local retail stores or even at the cash counters of their favourite utility billers, the Touch Screen

Kiosks will help the customers do transactions at public places where present and the mobile van will literally travel to the door step of the customer to help them get included in the financial revolution.

Please tell us about XPay. Life's offerings, operations and plans.

As mentioned above, the form factors of XPay.Life enables simplicity of transaction while never compromising on security or safety. By enabling DCCBs and RRBs, often at zero cost to them, and designing a very innovative per transaction model for them, we fuel the transactions at the grassroots level and enable digital India.

The proof of the pudding has been the various awards and recognition received by us including a successful outing at the National Startup Awards in 2021 to presenting to the Prime Minister about how we can further energise rural inclusion. Our plan this year is to further add 500 mobile banks on wheels to our fleet of over 100 current vehicles, increase our footprint from 15 States to pan India and our presence in over 1 lakh villages to close to double that. We operate on the very simple premise that villages need entrepreneurs and our Village level Entrepreneur program uses this concept to create new business heads at a local level. All our current offerings and the ones that are being worked on in the coming days will keep the villages of the country at its centre and look to enabling true financial inclusion and digital awareness in the country.