RESILIENT INNOVATION OF INDIA’S NBFC & FINTECH INDUSTRY

India’s fintech sector is transitioning towards purposeful resilience, driven by innovation, strategic regulation, and financial inclusion. Supported by Digital Public Infrastructure like UPI and Aadhaar, the market is projected to grow significantly, reaching an estimated $150 billion by the end of 2025. However, the sector, including Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), faces challenges such as increased regulatory oversight, funding recalibration, and intense competition. Key trends for 2025 include a focus on sustainable business models, operational governance, embedded finance, and AI-powered solutions, alongside ongoing efforts by regulators to ensure stability and consumer protection.

Manoj Agrawal, Editor of Banking Frontiers, welcomed attendees to the NBFC Tomorrow Conclave & DNA Awards 2025, stressing the importance of collaboration in shaping a more inclusive and technologically advanced NBFC sector. With NBFCs as key drivers of financial innovation, the event aims to address challenges and opportunities for future growth and sustainability.

Panel topic – Credit Analytics & Underwriting – Building a 360-degree Perspective Moderator: Ramkumar Subramanian, Partner, Financial Services Risk Consulting, Grant Thornton Bharat, panelists · Vivek Joshi, COO, Agriwise Finserv · Shalinee Mimani, CRO, Godrej Capital · Irem Sayeed, Chief Risk Officer, UGRO Capital · Jasoda Guliya, Chief Strategy Officer, Fynx Capital · Ajit Menon, Group COO, Vivriti Capital, highlighted the transformative impact of technology and AI on risk management. Experts emphasized the importance of new underwriting practices for MSMEs to drive financial inclusion and stressed the need to combine data with human insight, especially in areas with informal credit. A comprehensive approach to credit analytics is considered essential for building resilient NBFCs and driving economic growth.

Moderator’s Framing

Ramkumar Subramanian of Grant Thornton Bharat opened the session by emphasizing the shift towards data-driven credit models that integrate traditional risk metrics with alternative data sources—including behavioural analytics, supply chain inputs, and ESG-linked borrower data—to assess creditworthiness in a more holistic manner.

Key Panel Insights

Vivek Joshi (Agriwise Finserv) highlighted how agri-fintech integrations are improving risk models for rural borrowers. He noted the use of satellite imagery, IoT-based farm data, and climate analytics to evaluate credit exposure and underwrite agri-loans with higher precision.

Shalinee Mimani (Godrej Capital) focused on scenario-based risk simulations and portfolio stress testing, stressing that a 360-degree risk view requires balancing credit growth with resilience. She underscored the role of AI-enabled early warning systems to detect stress signals before delinquency sets in.

Irem Sayeed (UGRO Capital) elaborated on data harmonisation frameworks enabling co-lending partnerships. She discussed how integrating disparate datasets across lenders helps build consistency in credit evaluation and supports scalable underwriting even under regulatory scrutiny.

Jasoda Guliya (Fynx Capital) examined the role of predictive analytics and digital workflows, explaining that underwriting agility depends on embedding AI decision engines that continuously retrain using live data feeds—reducing turnaround times without compromising governance.

Ajit Menon (Vivriti Capital) concluded with a strategic view on embedding ecosystem-based credit intelligence. He advocated linking borrower transaction footprints, supply chain data, and alternative credit signals to create accurate borrower profiles and drive more inclusive credit expansion while maintaining asset quality.

Overall Takeaway

The session reflected an industry consensus that next-gen underwriting demands an ecosystem approach—one that merges technology, behavioural insights, and regulatory alignment. Speakers agreed that credit risk in NBFCs must move beyond compliance-driven checklists to continuous, contextual evaluation, where data becomes both a risk mitigator and a growth catalyst

The “Data Protection & Data Privacy in the Digital Playground” panel, held as the concluding session of the NBFC Tomorrow Conclave & DNA Awards 2025 at The Lalit, Mumbai, centered on how India’s NBFCs can strike a balance between innovation, data utilization, and regulatory compliance in an increasingly digital financial ecosystem.

Discussions revolved around the operationalization of India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA) 2023, focusing on embedding privacy-by-design into NBFC systems. Panelists explored how fintech and housing finance entities are implementing structured consent management, data anonymization, and granular access controls to maintain compliance while enabling data-driven decision-making. Leaders emphasized that privacy compliance should not limit innovation; instead, it should reshape architectures to protect customer rights and empower responsible analytics through technologies like secure computation and differential privacy.

A recurring theme was the convergence of cybersecurity and privacy governance, with CISOs highlighting the need for strong breach response frameworks, real-time threat intelligence, and awareness-building across all customer and employee touchpoints. The session concluded that privacy maturity in NBFCs must evolve from check-box compliance to a strategic trust-building mechanism, aligning protection practices with business growth and financial inclusion goals in India’s fast-digitizing economy.

nbfc tomorrow conclave & dna awards 2025, 21 aug 25, the lalit, bombay. presentation on
“The Intelligent Lending Core: Embedding Agentic AI for Continuous, Enterprise-Wide Transformation” by Murali Krishna Vaddadi, Head of AI Modernization Product, Pennant Technologies.

Vaddadi described how the “Intelligent Lending Core” combines predictive, generative, and agentic AI models to optimize every stage of lending—from customer acquisition and credit underwriting to collections and portfolio risk management. By empowering AI agents to learn from live data and operational feedback, the system enables lenders to adjust strategies dynamically, creating real-time adaptability without extensive manual intervention. This approach, he noted, drives both scalability and strategic foresight, helping NBFCs balance growth with compliance and customer experience.

He emphasized that embedding agentic AI requires a strong foundation of data governance, domain ontologies, and ethical AI frameworks to ensure responsible automation. Vaddadi’s core message was that the next phase of AI modernization is not limited to efficiency gains—it is about building an enterprise-level intelligence layer that continuously refines itself through contextual learning, fostering innovation across the value chain of digital lending.

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SISA provides Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) with a comprehensive cybersecurity solution through its AI-driven Agentic Security Operations Center (SOC) and intelligent Data Discovery. The Agentic SOC uses autonomous AI agents to autonomously investigate threats, correlate evidence, and respond to incidents, which significantly accelerates threat detection and response times compared to traditional, human-led SOCs. Meanwhile, the Data Discovery capability, known as SISA Radar, automatically discovers, classifies, and protects sensitive data across the NBFC’s network and cloud environments, ensuring compliance with regulations like PCI DSS. By integrating these two powerful tools, SISA enables NBFCs to maintain a strong security posture by moving from a reactive to a proactive defense strategy, ultimately helping them stay ahead of evolving threats, ensure data governance, and secure their competitive edge.