Excerpts of the interview with Jitendra Dhaka, Founder of FinTech startup, BankSathi. Jitendra Dhaka shared with Tech Story, information regarding the functioning of BankSathi, and the importance, prospects and future of Fintech services in India.
1.What is BankSathi? What are the primary objectives of the venture
BankSathi is one of India’s fastest-growing fintech startups, with a streamlined process, a results-driven distribution network, and systematic financial product and service promotion. It was launched in January 2020 by Jitendra Dhaka with the goal of empowering its users’ financial lives. It operates on an aggregator business model, in which BankSathi accredited ‘Advisors’ offer financial products and earn significant fees on successful conversions.
BankSathi has collaborated with numerous reputable financial organisations, including HDFC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank, SBI Cards, and others. An advisor is able to provide a comprehensive product portfolio to the customer, which includes everything from bank accounts to credit cards to insurance.
Over the last year, over 7 lakh people from 17000 various pin codes across the country have joined BankSathi as advisors, earning a total of more than 25 crore rupees. This has resulted in an increase in financial independence among users.
2. According to BankSathi’s official website, the idea of the company/venture has been in making for more than 10 years, during which various kinds of planning research and designing were conducted on the products. During these extended periods of research, how does BankSathi manage to keep up with the changing financial industry in India?
“In today’s world being watchful of the business environment, the one is in goes without saying”.
BankSathi has always been aware of how the macroeconomic environment in India is constantly shifting. Particularly in the business world of finance. This has made it possible for BankSathi to quickly adopt any regulatory or product offering changes and, as a result, to personalise the services it provides to its clients based on the preferences and selections those customers make.
We anticipate that technological advances, strategic collaborations, and shifting consumer preferences will drive forward movement in the market penetration of financial products and services. Our services are now available in a greater number of urban and rural locations. It does this by utilising cutting-edge technology like as artificial intelligence, which assists financial advisors in understanding the genuine needs of customers as well as the possibility for selling products to generate the most possible profit.
3. BankSathi is performing as a single window system through which a customer can get access to, and understand information about various financial products according to his/her needs. What was the main factor which led to the idea of BankSathi?
India has very little financial product penetration compared to other nations, and individuals, particularly those from rural areas, are not well informed about banking services. Recent years have seen a rise in awareness of financial goods thanks to government digital initiatives.
India’s population and demography make it clear that clients typically purchase financial products from their tight-knit neighbourhood. There are numerous businesses offering a large variety of products, which could confuse both the salespeople and the clients.
More than 10 lakh unserviced customers were handled by tech-enabled BankSathi advisors. The number of users who are financially independent has increased as a result. Sales of financial products account for more than 77% of all transactions. We are on a mission to give all persons involved in the direct and indirect marketing of financial products access to technology.
4. Rather than just focusing on selling financial products as other BankSathi is also focusing on providing financial literacy. According to various reports, only 24% of the Indian population is financially literate. Why do you think it is important to have a financially literate population? in this country?
The fundamental key to comprehending the basic notion and making important financial decisions is to have a solid foundation in financial literacy. It can assist individuals in making decisions regarding their debt, budgets, investments, and retirement planning. In the long run, it leads to an increase in personal wealth, safeguards for families, and guarantees the future in challenging circumstances such as the pandemic.
According to the latest available figures, only 24 percent of the population in India is financially educated, which is an extremely low percentage in comparison to the rest of the globe. People are impacted, and the overall economic growth of the country is directly impacted when there is a lack of financial literacy. As a developing nation, India must quickly come to terms with the significance of acquiring a solid understanding of financial matters.
5. Your website states that the company currently has more than 700000+ individuals in the role of financial advisors. How does BankSathi manage to verify the academic knowledge of these advisors about the financial products being sold by them to various consumers?
Our financial advisors are our most valuable resource; the vast majority of them are retired bankers, loan or insurance agents, financial analysts, or CAs who have a wealth of practical experience and understanding in the financial sector. Our goal is to improve the penetration of various financial products through the help of these advisors. They have served more than 10 lakh customers who were previously unserved and we have onboarded them from more than 17,000 post codes in India.
When advisors sign up to work for BankSathi, they are required to hand over copies of their original identification documents, including their PAN card and other forms of proof of residency. Before creating links with the advisors, our system does a comprehensive verification check.
We provide them with comprehensive training led by industry professionals so that they can have a better understanding of the various financial products and services.
6. Why does BankSathi prefer a large number of individuals as advisors, rather than a small group of advisors who are experts in financial products and the business environment?
The goal of BankSathi is to increase both the breadth and depth of the market penetration of its various financial products. Each individual financial advisor has a bandwidth that guarantees a particular level of market penetration. As a result, in order to achieve a greater level of penetration, we boarded a greater number of individuals.
7. With four regional offices in India and a headquarters in Bengaluru, how does the company manage to render service to 17000+ pin codes, that is more than 750 cities?
The majority of BankSathi’s business is managed from its headquarters in Bangalore. This includes the Marketing, Sales, and Technical teams. The other offices are in charge of providing customer service and assisting advisers in finding answers to their questions.
Through the use of our own CRM, we are keeping track of each and every advisor activity. When a lead is added by an adviser, our system immediately begins tracking it at every level and notifying the advisors of its progress. The laborious chores are made much simpler by our tech-enabled automated workflow, which also saves us time and money and enables us to establish better oversight for our company
8. According to the Indian government, the fintech and financial services industry in India is estimated to be at $150 Billion by 2025. How does BankSathi plan to tap into this immense growth potential of the financial service industry?
By the year 2025, BankSathi is projected to reach a valuation of one billion dollars. Our mission is to build a solid advisor base in order to improve the overall performance of financial services, and by the year 2025, we intend to become the largest distributor of financial products. We are analysing the requirements of our clients and working very closely with financial institutions to develop products that are tailored to meet the requirements of our customers. We plan to launch new, more cost-effective insurance solutions in the next two to three months.
