There Are Multiple Defining Moments In the Journey of Indian Fintechs: Harshil Mathur Speaking at the Global Unicorn Summit 2022, the Razorpay founder said, "There is no match for India's financial service sector anywhere in the world"
By Teena Jose
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India has emerged as the third-largest ecosystems for startups globally. Indian Unicorns are flourishing in the fast-paced and dynamic economy of today. These startups are not only developing innovative solutions and technologies but also generating large-scale employment. Indian Unicorns are also exploring the public listing avenues as a next step to realise the growth potential.
The rising demand for technology-based fintech services across a fast-growing market is the primary reason behind the sustained investor confidence towards fintech startups during the past four years. Acknowledging the same, Harshil Mathur, co-founder and CEO of Razorpay said, "For the past 6 years, the ecosystem has evolved massively and there are multiple defining moments in the journey such as demonetisation, implementation of GST, launch of UPI and so on. When the country goes through these, the fintech sector came out as better prepared and structured as a market to solve the financial needs of both producers and consumers."
He was speaking at the Global Unicorn Summit 2022, organized by CII Future Business Group along with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.
While speaking about how regulation played an important role in the Indian financial sector, he remarked, "India has the most active and progressive regulators that allowed new form of payment methods to happen. They are been the key drivers of innovation. India, as a country, we are miles ahead and there is no match for India's financial service sector anywhere in the world."
The journey of startups to Unicorns
Mathur also clarified the existing misconception about the growth from a startup to a Unicorn. "The journey is not easy as many people think. Every Unicorn that is formed today, it takes so much of effort. But the only thing we have to realize is that the concept is fictitious, which makes the term "Unicorn' an apt one. To be a Unicorn is just a milestone, not an outcome. As long as the founders and the ecosystem understand this concept, we are on the right track."
To compete in a crowded ecosystem
Mathur further commented about the increasing competition within the sector that, India is always a crowded ecosystem and innovation can happen only if there is competition. In the longest time frame, if you stop innovating, everything becomes commoditized. The only way to avoid commoditization is to constantly innovate. This cyclic process ensures the sustainability of the ecosystem.
Fintech sector's inclination towards Web3
Web3 is a very underlying technology just like internet. It can be applied in multiple domains. Not only the fintech sector, but the broader ecosystem is yet to discover the proper scaled up uses of web3. "Just like any other technology, web3 also has its own use cases. There are place where a database does the job better than a web3 does. We need to understand it and apply it in the right places," Mathur said.
To encourage the new entrepreneurs on board, he said, "The important thing to become a successful entrepreneur is to have perseverance and have a clear vision on everything you does."
