I was in India recently at a fintech conference in Mumbai, where I was blown away by the passion of feeling towards new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). There is a palpable appetite among Indian entrepreneurs and corporate leaders to rise to the challenge of a new smarter, faster, and technologically driven world.
Even though it was a fintech conference, one of the central topics up for discussion was AI. Specifically, we were discussing the substance behind the hype of this technology for the Indian market. I came away believing more than ever that India is ready to adopt AI en masse, and that there is conviction among business leaders that the technology is maturing now beyond mere “hype”.
The areas I see the biggest opportunity for immediate disruption lie in banking, fintech, and financial services. A recent report by PwC India found that nearly half (44 per cent) of business leaders in this sector believe AI-enabled automation will have the highest impact on their businesses. Use cases identified by the report range from process streamlining, customer support, regulatory compliance, and other back-office operations.
Banking on AI
But I also see tremendous opportunity for India’s banking infrastructure to upgrade itself through AI to bring the country more in line with digital banks evolving elsewhere around the world, especially in parts of Asia like China and Singapore. Specifically, AI has the capability to bolster anti-fraud, eKYC, and credit scoring efforts of India’s banks and financial services – making them not just more automated but safer and more effective.
As banking infrastructure lies at the heart of today’s largest economies (just look at the power of Wall Street in the U.S. and its recent tie-ups with Silicon Valley in new offerings such as the Goldman Sachs issued Apple Card), it makes sense that to transform an economy you need to tackle its financial system first.
I see two very clear opportunities for how AI can help drive India’s banking and fintech ecosystem, slowly but surely putting India on the map as a world leader in the field of AI. First, AI-powered credit scoring will allow the “credit invisible” to quality for loans and support banks’ efforts to reach a new segment of underbanked consumers.
Sensible starting points
Second, there is a big opportunity around anti-fraud and eKYC. These two areas are key because they help financial institutions operate with more confidence in what can be risky environments. By automating the blacklisting of fraudsters and those applying for loans or financial products and services with fake IDs, business confidence is restored to financial markets and both the companies and consumers benefit. The only ones not benefitting are the bad actors.
Combined, these areas within India’s financial system are rife for disruption and, if transformed successfully through pervasive AI integration, should also help to raise the standards and profile of India’s financial markets with the international community. While we’re still some way away from an endpoint in terms of how AI plays out as a technology, these are some very clear and sensible places to start.
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