The finance sector in the Indian economic landscape is one among the most progressive sectors, especially when it comes to technology adoption. From implementing e-payments through Government of India’s UPI gateway to online disbursal of loans, e-KYC, and a lot more, the sector is aggressively treading the course of digital transformation. Shedding light on the significance of digitalisation in the finance sector and how data centres and cloud technologies have been game changers, Jyothirlatha B, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Godrej Capital, interacted with Express Computer in an exclusive interview.
The key mantra of Godrej Capital is “Unlocking what is important to you through fair, fast, and flexible financing”. How much have you achieved on these lines and what role has technology played to enable you to fulfill the company’s vision?
Technology is an integral part of Godrej Capital. In more ways than one, it is the foundation of most of our day-to-day operations. It allows us to be more holistic in our finance practices. At Godrej Capital, we offer a range of demand-specific financing options with flexible financing possibilities such as designing your own EMI, parallel funding, EMI breaks, and more. This allows borrowers to customise their EMI deductions, pause their principal payments in times of need, or pay correspondingly to their development. The company also offers speedy sanction and disbursal through an e-stamping facility and has been a pioneer in launching ‘Zero Touch Loans’ which is a faster and completely paperless loan disbursal process. The combination of technology and values enables us to work alongside our fair, fast, and flexible financing mantra.
With over 125 years of legacy, diversity, and inclusion have always been a part of the Godrej DNA. We promote an all-inclusive workspace that allows us to be fair and stay open to new perspectives and skill sets. In addition to that, we’re also the first in the space to facilitate home loan financing for same-sex partners.
Generative AI and robotic process automation are the hype in the industry. How are you leveraging or planning to leverage these technologies? Do you think such tech can pose a game-changer for the finance industry?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been monumental in providing unbiased, more accurate, and cost-effective analysis of potential borrowers while robotic process automation allows efficient processes. AI/ML has the potential to streamline the onboarding process and simplify the life cycle of customer servicing. These technologies play a major role in moving towards data-driven decisions.
At Godrej Capital, we are leveraging these technologies in customer onboarding and servicing processes.
Data is the most crucial aspect of any business today and this has also enhanced the importance of data centers be it on the cloud or on-prem. How data centers have been transformational for the finance industry?
Any business sector relies heavily on data centres to manage, store, and process customer information, operations, transactional data, or insights. This level of reliability and security is critical for the financial industry. Data centre technologies are evolving to provide higher uptime, high availability, security, and resource virtualisation and optimisation. It is very important for any organisation to set up a modernised infrastructure stack be it in the cloud or on-prem to ensure agility of business launch, sustainability, and future trust.
What, in your opinion, should be a preferred cloud adoption strategy for finance companies? Also, what are some bottlenecks that SMBs are facing while adopting the cloud?
Cloud adoption allows scalability and enables quick rollout of business. While it has advantages, it is also true that one size doesn’t fit all. Organisations should have a cloud strategy that is in line with the business strategy. While migrating any application to the cloud, organisations should keep in mind the nature of business, upstream and downstream systems have a proper cloud security strategy to make it successful. The current challenge in adoption is the availability of the right skill sets and mindset. However, cloud adoption has improved significantly during and post-pandemic times.
What industry-first innovations Godrej Capital is coming up with? How do you see the future of the finance sector with most processes going digital?
Financial sectors are becoming progressively digital in today’s age and rightly so because it aids in better customer experience. It enables businesses to reach a wider market and a more relevant audience with more precision.
Godrej Capital has been the precursor with a varied industry-first offering across financial services. To name a few, we are trying to address the problem of cash flows within the MSME sector by offering flexible repayment services such as Design Your Own EMI, Pay Only Interest, and more. The biggest game-changer is Zero-Touch Loans which provides a 100 percent digital first loan journey allowing electronic KYC, e-stamping, automated screening process, sanctioning, and disbursals.
Do you think the human touch is still needed to keep up with the trust among your customers?
Godrej Capital encourages human efforts to be involved in case of prerequisites. High-value tasks such as customer service require a one-on-one intervention whereas low-value tasks such as filling forms, KYC, and disbursals can be digitised and automated. Digitisation makes information and data easily accessible, is more cost-effective, and increases productivity. When it comes to the finance sector, it offers more security and reliability other than being able to action things in real-time.
While digital advancements help improve the efficiency, process, quality, and consistency of business outcomes, we equally support human touchpoints as and when needed.