As the cases under Covid second wave has thankfully started to decline, we at ET NOW caught up with Sanjiv Bajaj, Chairman & Managing Director, Bajaj Finserv to understand how to reboot the Indian economy, how to effectively unlock from the localised lockdowns and the future of Bajaj Fin.
Speaking exclusively to ET NOW Bajaj said, “The first wave was as much about fear and battling the unknown of the virus, the second wave is different, there have been more localised lockdown and hence the impact of second-wave will be less due to localised lockdowns, but we need to take a lot of precautions, the situation in the second wave is better. However, a lot depends on how we come out of it. Need collaboration between the private sector and Government sector and prepare for the third wave.”
Speaking about digitization and its impact on business, Bajaj said that building a business is interesting but hard work. He said, “Bajaj Fin started off as an NBFC, but we leverage tech more than most Fintechs…will see next avatar of Bajaj Fin in Q3 (Sept-Oct 2021), will hopefully show what next Fin and tech will look like.”
He further said, “At Bajaj Finance, we have already announced to our customers and our partners digitally that we will see a combination of an app and web-based environment which will have a lending platform, digital platform, an insurance platform, an investment platform and an ecommerce platform that supports 100-1000 retailers around the country. It will have our own payment platform. Each of these will be in place. Some of them have already started rolling out.”
Bajaj also said, “Our insurance companies will start leveraging some of those platforms themselves and in addition to that, keeping in mind that customers do not want products, they want solutions; we are also in the process of building two new markets. The Finserv market is already live and gets a couple of million consumer views a month. This is an open market platform where we have tried an app with the number of banks, insurance companies, NBFCs to offer all kinds of financial products. We will open this up even for outside in due time and it can be an open market platform.”
Most companies have followed same business strategy as others and that is disappointing. India is a large country, Bajaj Finance and its other businesses have shown how we can innovatively build company in a crowded space. Digitisation is going to make that difference and provide that opportunity to smaller companies and even larger companies will drive change using that. Last year, consumer behavior changed so dramatically that we are seeing insurance policy buying, at least the lower amounts, is happening digitally. The entire claim registration, claim handling is happening digitally.
“Opportunities exist but we have to see a lot more innovation, a lot more hard work and focus on differentiation that our country allows us. The digital infrastructure that has been created in India last year, the JAM trinity that one talks about can truly set us aside and I hope we get to see that, at least my companies are all working on that,” said Bajaj.
Further, he said, “The first quarter may be a bit muted but from the second quarter as long as we get this vaccination drive going fast and hard and early, things should start coming back. But the culture that we have built in our companies is the process of reinvention every three to five years. Our thrill is to keep building the new Bajaj Finance, the new Bajaj Allianz, the new Finserv markets every three to five years.”
