India’s financial technology industry is suffering from overindulgence. And it was on full display at a sombre Global Fintech Festival in Mumbai last week. Founders touted sustainable growth amid dipping valuations, regulators preached risk mitigation and big investors stayed away. This waning euphoria for the country’s digital ecosystem may, though, be an early sign of maturity.
There are plenty of reasons for feeling gloomy. The South Asian country is the world’s third-largest fintech market by number of unicorns. Its $16 billion annual revenue, though, accounts for only 5% of the sector’s global turnover, per Boston Consulting Group. Venture capital and private equity investments into the sector more than halved to less than $4 billion during the 12 months to the end of March from the previous period, data from the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub show.
