How Indian Fintechs Can Go Global India is a large fintech market behind only the US and China. The sector boasts of over 23 unicorns as of quarter one of 2023. However, breaking into new markets is still a challenge for fintechs.

India is a large fintech market behind only the US and China. The sector boasts of over 23 unicorns as of quarter one of 2023 and has got about 660 fintech startups which have received funding of nearly about $26 billion from 2014 till quarter one of 2023. At an adoption rate of about 87%, India surpasses several advanced economies. This growth has been driven by a collaborative ecosystem and also supported by various government initiatives such as UPI, Sahmati, which is the accounts aggregator framework, UID and riding on mobile Internet and smartphones.

However, breaking into new markets is still a challenge for fintechs. There are many benefits to being a multinational fintech company. They can reach new markets and customers, increase market share, and learn new ways of doing business.

To help domestically successful fintech companies in making international forays there are very important parameters that need to be looked at.

The first one is the business model, portability and the relevance of a fintechs business model in new geographies. The next is a product maturity to deliver on value propositions and the ability of fintech to open doors in new geographies with respect to partnerships, talent and capital.

While the first two parameters are the responsiblity of fintechs, the third parameter involves the role of government, the financial sector, regulators and financial institutions. "Enabling globally benchmark regulations can enable fintechs to port their business into many jurisdictions effortlessly and that is what International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) is trying to achieve," says K Rajaraman, Chairperson of the International Financial Services Centres Authority at Global Fintech Fest 2023.

According to Rajaraman, the IFSCA, which was operationalised in April 2015 but a legal structure was given to it in 2020 and gradually emerging as a financial services harbor at the regional and global level, also proposes to explore passporting arrangements with regulators of select jurisdictions to enable ease of doing business across borders.

"It was also observed that various Indian fintechs are pursuing to scale their operations by expanding across the region by leveraging various financial centers across the world. IFSC is the most logical launchpad for fintechs desiring to scale globally. So the triple benefits of serving the global market and the domestic market, tapping into onshore talent and also benefiting from a competitive offshore policy environment can enable scaling of global business," shares Rajaraman.