How to start a Fintech Startup in India: A-to-Z Guide for Beginners!

In today’s article, I am going to tell you about How to start a Fintech Startup in India. so if you want to know about it, then keep reading this article. Because I am going to give you complete information about it, so let’s start.

Fintech, also called Financial Technology has taken a great place in the market and is growing at a must faster rate. Many entrepreneurs choose this sector to be successful. The growth of digitalization has changed the way the financial industry reacts to consumers’ wants.

It is the technology a customer uses for any financial transactions online. It may be when you use your credit or debit card for purchases or when you pay for services, subscriptions, or investments using Google Wallet, PayPal, or ApplePay. So, fintech is basically a part of your daily existence.

How to start a Fintech Startup in India

Today’s article focuses on the same, i.e, “How to start a Fintech Startup in India”. The articles entail each bit of information necessary for you to know.

Let’s get started!

What is a Fintech Startup?

A fintech startup is essentially a business that uses technology to meet customers’ demands for financial management. Since they bring effective solutions or a better user experience to the current difficulties, fintech companies compete with conventional financial service companies.

You can create a fintech business and application since people are accepting it quickly. Globally, about 96% of consumers have at least one finance app on their mobile devices. You must also be aware of the fact that banks, insurers, and lenders have developed applications for their consumers to speed up their procedures.

Similarly, your startup could get a chance of getting popularized and establish itself as a successful  fintech company in the market.Therefore, now is the ideal moment to start working on your fintech startup.

Some of the top fintech companies in India

Let us now know about some of the successful fintech startups in India.

1. Paytm

Creator:Vijay Shekhar Sharma
Founded:2010

The largest payment startup in India, Paytm, was formed in 2010 and provides customers with payment options for several sources and multiple destinations. In other words, they don’t impose any fees when customers transfer money from one bank account to another. Its extensive payment options are used by over 8 million retailers.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma established Paytm, which is owned by One97 Communications and is authorized by the RBI. Users of the Paytm app can buy both physical and digital items, pay bills, subscribe to DTH services, and recharge their mobile phones.

However, now it levies platform fees on mobile recharges and others.

The business collaborated with Alibaba Cloud, the company’s cloud computing division, to develop its payment network internationally. They have financial backers including Berkshire Hathaway, SoftBank Group, MediaTek, and in March 2015, they even received an unknown sum from Ratan Tata. It is potentially India’s largest fintech startup.

2. Razorpay

Creators:Shashank Kumar, Harshil Mathur
Founded:2013

Razorpay is a Bangalore-based company that specializes in fulfilling the payment demands of startups and businesses. Razorpay makes it simple for merchants to take payments from and send payments to their dealers. Shashank Kumar and Harshil Mathur launched it in 2014.

As it enables an online company to collect, process, and distribute digital payments using a variety of mechanisms such as debit cards, credit cards, net banking, UPI, and prepaid digital wallets, its service is used by thousands of customers. It is among Bangalore’s largest fintech firms.

3. Upstox

Creators:Ravi Kumar, Kavitha Subramanian, and Shrini Viswanath
Founded:2009

Upstox offers financial services that include investing in equities, mutual funds, derivatives, commodities, ETFs, and digital gold. By providing zero brokerage for equity transactions and up to INR 20 per order for intraday, commodities, and currencies, it offers complete transparency in pricing.

For other educated Indians, the creators of Upstox, Ravi Kumar, Kavita Subramanian, and Srini Vishwanath, had the notion of making trading and investing simpler and more affordable. With more than 250 staff and backing from business titans like Ratan Tata and Tiger Global, the Mumbai-based fintech startup aims to make trading easy for its consumers.

4. Cred

Creator:Kunal Shah
Founded:2018

Kunal Shah, the creator of FreeCharge, also created the financial business Cred. By rewarding you for making on-time payments, the app seeks to make paying credit card bills easier. The software requests your phone number in order to verify your credit score with Experian, Cibil, and CRIF.

5. Instamojo

Creators:Sampad Swain, Akash Gehani, Aditya Sengupta, Harshad Sharma
Founded:2012

Sampad Swain, Akash Gehani, and Aditya Sengupta co-founded Instamojo in the year r 2012, . Instamojo began as a provider of digital payment solutions and has since developed into a reliable online platform for small-, medium-, and large-sized businesses so they may launch, run, and expand their operations online.

Small, $2 million short-term credit loans are distributed with the aid of MojoCapital from Instamojo. MojoCapital provides monthly services primarily to its merchants, and it has forecasted growth of 25% month over month.

6. PolicyBazaar

Creators:Yashish Dahiya, Avaneesh Nirjar, Alok Bansal
Founded:2008

PolicyBazaar is an online insurance broker for comparative study of plans supplied by different insurers, utilizing factors like pricing, quality, and important advantages. Users are assisted in choosing the best or most appropriate insurance policy, whether it be one that can be purchased online or off, by comparing insurance plans.

PolicyBazaar was started in Gurugram in June 2008 by Yashish Dahiya, Alok Bansal, and Avaneesh Nirjar. As of 2022, they have raised more than $700 million. The online platform first functioned as a website for comparing prices and as a resource for learning about insurance and associated initiatives; later, it developed into a marketplace for insurance plans.

In order to obtain information such as pricing, benefits, insurance cover, etc. straight from the insurers for the client to compare, PolicyBazaar has partnered with insurance brokers. They don’t charge the consumer anything in exchange for their services. The firm gets its money from the fees insurance companies pay to use its platform for their marketing and advertising efforts. 

7. MobiKwik

Creators:Bipin Preet Singh, Upasana Taku
Founded:2009

In 2009, Upasana Taku and Bipin Preet Singh established the Indian fintech business MobiKwik. Its main office is in Gurugram. Mobile and online payments, phone and DTH recharge, mobile transfers, online shopping, and many more services are all provided by MobiKwik, a supplier of digital wallet services.

Users may keep up to INR 50,000 in a MobiKwik wallet, which they can use to make purchases online, pay bills, and recharge their mobile phones. Their customers may also buy bus tickets using the cash pick-up option and pay in part for the tickets using the partial payment function.

Sequoia Capital, NET1, and GMO Venture Partners are a few of the investors in MobiKwik. Following demonetization, MobiKwik now offers free wallet-to-bank account transfers.

8. Khatabook

Creators:Ravish Naresh, Dhanesh Kumar, and Jaideep Poonia
Founded:2017

Khatabook is the fastest-growing SaaS startup in the world. It was established in October 2018 by Ashish Sonone, Dhanesh Kumar, Vaibhav Kalpe, Jaideep Poonia, and Ravish Naresh. With more than 20 million downloads in a very short amount of time, it has emerged as India’s top business management software for MSMEs.

This smartphone app from Bangalore notifies users through SMS and WhatsApp when money is due for payment or collection. Micro, small, and medium-sized businesses may track business transactions safely and securely with the help of Khata Book.

9. Capital Float

Creators:Gaurav Hinduja and Sashank Rishyasringa
Founded:2013

Sashank Rishyasringa and Gaurav Hinduja launched the digital finance startup Capital Float in Bangalore, which offers term loans and working capital loans to small businesses using a technology-driven platform for lending and credit assessment.

Loans from INR 1 lakh to INR 1 crore are available from Capital Float with durations of 1 to 12 months. Based on cash flows, anticipated receivables, financial data, CIBIL ratings, and bank records, the loans are offered. People may request a loan online, and if it is granted, money is transferred to their bank account.

If you have placed orders with reputable business clients, you are permitted to borrow up to 80% of the balance of an unpaid invoice and pay it back only when your client pays you. With firms like Shopclues, Paytm, and Uber, the company has teamed up.

How to start a Fintech Startup in India:

Let us now know step by step about How to start a Fintech Startup in India.

1. Knowing the rules

Due to their intense regulation, the banking and fintech sectors, in particular, require extensive knowledge. The sector is governed by a number of laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation(GDPR), Know Your Customer (KYC), Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), and anti-money laundering (AML) regulations.

Based on their authority, several additional governmental financial institutions control the fintech industry. The major institutions governing the fintech industry are the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency(OCC).

If you want to create a firm that will be accessible worldwide, you need to get familiar with these rules and how they will affect your enterprise. Keep in mind that these regulations differ from nation to nation, or in the case of the US, state to state. Although fintech businesses can apply for standard licenses, they are required to do so in the UAE and Mexico.

2. Decide on Your Niche

You may determine the precise niche for your financial firm by answering the questions below.

  • In which sector of fintech are you interested?
  • Whom are you aiming for? Is it a particular demographic, a particular nation or region, or a worldwide service?
  • Do you want your startup to be local or international?
  • In which sector/niche of fintech are you interested?

Below enlists the most prioritized startups of 2022:

  • Trading & Investments
  • Payments and International Money Transfers
  • InsureTech
  • Global money transfers
  • Loans and advances
  • Insuretech
  • Blockchain-based solutions
  • Personal Finance Management
  • Mobile Banking
  • Money Lending
  • Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Solutions
  • Investment management
  • Lending
  • Mobile banking
  • Financial Products for Small Businesses
  • Crowdfunding
  • Financial Decision Making and Data Analysis

3. Investigate Your Competitors

You must research the competitors now that you have determined your specialty and the location. Given that there are other products in the industry you’re entering, yours should stand out and fill a certain niche.

For instance, the financial services sector is a sizable specialized market, yet can you spot a particular reason in which it is lacking? For this, you may consider a financially excluded group and offer them a solution.

Alternately, you could not succeed in adding anything new but instead, raise the standard of what is presently available. Consider mobile payments as an example. With your new model, you can make it quick and easy in comparison to what other businesses are doing. You may work with businesses that sell exercise equipment, beauty salons, vacation spots, or agricultural equipment to offer online payments to their target clients.

The majority of its top competitors are large corporations and prosperous businesses, but if you have a good concept, your company can provide a highly customized and practical solution. This will help you become relevant to your intended audience and overcome top-notch companies. Hiring PEO businesses such as India PEO will make your job significantly easier if you find these processes to be exhausting.

4. Recruit your crew

Successful businesses are built on talented personnel. Therefore, you need the top skills on your team if you want to build the best FinTech firm. Therefore, selecting the best candidates from the crowd is crucial. 

Since the fintech industry is still developing, finding qualified workers in a location with little knowledge might be challenging. In this situation, hiring an overseas software development team would be the wisest course of action for a startup.

The outsourced alternative will assist emerging firms in locating experts with specialised subject knowledge or pertinent expertise, all at an affordable price.

5. Specify the technology stack

The creation of specialized software is essential for powerful financial solutions. You cannot rely on third-party CMSs or frameworks to manage all the transactions. Additionally, you will require the performance that a ready-made system cannot offer.

The following components make up the tech stack that most software companies employ when developing fintech applications:

Programming languages

  • C/C++,
  • Python,
  • Javascript,
  • Java, and
  • Ruby

Frameworks:

  • Node.js,
  • React,
  • Django,and
  • spring.

Databases:

  • MySQL,
  • MongoDB,
  • Redis, and
  • PostgreSQL

 6. Build an MVP

There is a high probability that you won’t have enough money to start and run your own FinTech business. That doesn’t mean you have to give up your job and put your goal on hold. Simply aim for an MVP.

A FinTech mobile app’s Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is its most stripped-down, most elementary form. Simply said, MVP is a method of development in which the FinTech app or website is created with only the elements that are necessary for the first usage.

The advantages of an MVP are that it is less expensive, quite efficient for its intended use, developed quickly, and is the ideal evidence of a concept that would make financiers intend for you the most.

7. Give data privacy first priority

Data privacy is a key consideration in the creation of financial apps. Verify the security of your product and the encryption and cloud storage of any important data. One of the most urgent fintech security problems is the disclosure of confidential material that might be exploited for theft, extortion, or more fraud.

Run thorough testing to inspect the source code for any vulnerabilities in order to assure top-notch financial cyber security for your firm. Apply transport layer security (TLS) to all network connections, stop unauthorized API connections, and use an HTTPS SSL certificate to secure the information of your clients.

A cloud platform like AWS that offers a robust defense against DDoS assaults and backs up the data to go back online in case of any network outages should also be given careful consideration.

Implement multi-step verification on the client’s end and mandate the usage of strong, frequently-changing passwords for users. In addition, include options for face and fingerprint scanning to combine common ease with high levels of data security.

8. Get funding

Your whole pre-production work is finished. What do you need to do now that you have the ideal FinTech company idea, a skilled team, and a usable MVP? Get the funding you need to develop a complete FinTech solution and expand your business globally.

But how to achieve it? Make a fantastic company proposal, product demonstration, and investor presentation. The odds will be in your favor and the money will be in the company’s account if all three of these conditions are met.

 It is therefore imperative to make your business offer the most alluring to your investors.

 9. Continue to Enhance and Upgrade

The fintech sector is not the easiest to tackle. It is still expanding, and occasionally additional innovations and advancements are made to improve the sector. You must thus be prepared for the shift. But keep in mind that you can reach the peak if you manage the transition effectively.

It takes time and works to create great financial software, and the only way to succeed in this niche market is with constant innovation.

Hope you have read about How to start a Fintech Startup in India above. So now if you want to know more about How to start a Fintech Startup in India, then you can watch the video given above.

Conclusion:)

You now understand how to launch your own FinTech business. So buck up! —Start your journey by learning about the many FinTech specialties. But keep in mind that the quality of your software depends entirely on the developers. Therefore, be sure to work with the best FinTech app development firm you can. The process a fintech start-up proceeds through is: establishing your startup, putting it into action, enhancing its operations and goods, implementing new technology and trends, and frequently accepting change. 

So, we’re at the end of the article. If you think we missed something, please leave your suggestions in the comments section below.

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