NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, July 13, 2017

Tucked between a grocery store and a mobile phone recharge outlet in Dharavi, one of the world’s largest shantytowns, is a small branch of FINO PayTech. In that congested Mumbai locality, this branch could be mistaken for another inconspicuous retail shop—exactly the kind of low profile India’s newest bank seeks.

“In our surveys, one feedback was that several customers from the economically weaker sections found big banks intimidating. They were skeptical of how they will be treated,” said Rishi Gupta, managing director & CEO of FINO PayTech. “Therefore, we have tried to become a neighbourhood bank with the look and feel of a mom & pop store where the customer can walk in without hesitating.”

FINO, isn’t the quintessential Indian bank. It is among a new breed thathas entered the country’s financial market over the last year-and-a-half. In all, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had issued 21 licences, 10 for small finance banks and 11 for payments banks. Of these, three quit the race.