Fintech Veteran Jitendra Gupta Describes Jupiter’s Vision to Disrupt India’s Banking System

Jitendra Gupta is one of the most recognizable names in the Indian fintech ecosystem.

As the founder of Citrus Pay, and later, the general manager of PayU (which acquired Citrus Pay in 2016 in what was then largest fintech merger and acquisition), he has designed and scaled products that have revolutionized the country’s digital payments industry over the past decade.

However, despite obtaining a $ 130 million in release and root millionaires out of the early Citrus Pay employees, he feeds some regrets.

“Looking back, selling the business so early might not have been a good decision. We could have built Citrus Pay in something bigger instead of the outlet. Even if we hadn’t done anything new, we would have been 10X where we were in 2016 ” Jitendra tells Your story Founder and CEO Shradha Sharma in an exclusive interview.

“But at the time, the [exit] was good for the company, for the shareholders and for the team members. And the market has supported us, ”he adds.

After serving for three years at PayU, owned by Naspers, Jitendra started his second run as an entrepreneur in August 2019 with Jupiter, a mobile-focused neobanking platform for millennials.

By that time, fintech had become the hottest segment of the Indian internet economy, attracting hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital, recording billions of deals every year, and benefiting from post-demonetization tailwinds. .

Jitendra said: “There was this feeling that I hadn’t created anything big and punchy even after being in the startup ecosystem for 10 years. I felt restless.

With its knowledge of FinTech and Financial Services sector – he worked for seven years at ICICI Bank before starting Citrus Pay in 2010 – he undertook to disrupt the traditional banking system in India, with a new age fintech product.

Jupiter made headlines for causing a stir $ 24 million funding round within three months and in stealth mode.

Renowned investors love Sequoia Capital India, 3one4 Capital, Matrix Partners India, and FOLLOWING, as well as distinguished angels including Amrish Rau (Pine Labs), Sriharsha Majety (Swiggy), Kunal Shah (CRED), Sumer Juneja (SoftBank India), Utsav Somani (AngelList India), Ashish Hemrajani (BookMyShow) and Kunal Bahl ( Snapdeal), among others, supported Jitendra’s vision.

Later, in April 2020, the startup raised a $ 2 million follow-up round led by a UK venture capital firm. Hummingbird companies and based in the United States Capital of the bedrock, to a reported valuation of $ 100 million.

Why a neobank?

Jitendra was convinced that “Indian customers were tired of their existing banks, their processes, their experiences, their mindset and behavior”.

So any simpler, faster and different service would be welcome.

“We wanted to deliver a personalized banking experience with the mindset of an internet business. Our customer service is not differentiated based on a customer’s balance, and we give them instant resolution to their needs, ”explains the founder.

Additionally, Jitendra wanted to build a business that would go beyond a transactional relationship with customers.

Jitendra explains: “Payments and loans [what I did earlier] were transactional businesses. None of the fintechs in India have yet been able to breach the banking industry. If you really want to make an impact in the consumer’s financial services life, you need to build a relationship of trust over 20-25 years.

Jupiter, based in Mumbai, serves primarily as digital bank that helps consumers achieve their financial goals, maintain financial discipline and become more creditworthy.

From money transfers and cash withdrawals to savings accounts and micro-loans, consumers can benefit from a variety of services on its app.

“The the bank account is only the entry point in customer relations, ”he says.

What does the construction of a neobank in India involve?

India’s banking industry is so heavily regulated that it’s hard to build anything new. More so, if your long-term vision is to disrupt age-old banking systems. “It is impossible to disrupt an HDFC or ICICI overnight. It will take centuries to build that kind of trust. You have to constantly innovate to build that, ”says Jitendra.

Add to that the enormous burden of compliance, which takes up most of the money and mental space. “It’s super tough, especially in terms of compliance. At Citrus Pay and PayU and all my previous stays, even after five years of maturity, we did not have this level of compliance and data security, ”shares the founder.

He continues to elucidate,

“To build a large, sustainable and prosperous neobank in India, you will need at least $ 200-300 million over the next five years. And it is only because the the initial investment in infrastructure is very high. The money that goes into security compliances, the liquidity ratios you need to maintain, the investment in customer service, etc. is huge. We now know why the banks are slow to act. Our challenge is therefore to maintain the fine balance between compliance and agility. “

Even investors know that neobanks are a space, and there is no established path. “So they look to see if your vision is bold enough or not,” reveals Jitendra.

Even though big tech companies like Google, Amazon, and WhatsApp have flirted with the idea of ​​venturing into financial services, they have yet to have a noticeable impact.

Jitendra believes this is because compliance is a local and nuanced subject that varies from geography to geography.

“In addition, large technology companies are inherently don’t want to be regulated. That’s what makes a difference between them and players like us who are trying to build something from the bottom up, ”he said.

Jupiter’s present and future

The neobank mainly has two segments: consumers and SMEs. While the likes of Open, NiYo, Razorpay X, Yono by SBI, etc. compete for SMEs, historically underserved by banks, Jupiter is laser-focused on retail customers.

Last November, he released a micro-loan application (“Buy now, pay later”) Ball, which offers consumers small loans up to Rs 10,000 which can be used for purchases directed by UPI. Bullet is similar to LazyPay (a product Jitendra launched at PayU) and has racked up over half a million downloads so far.

In May of this year, Jupiter began inviting customers to join a waiting list before taking its basic neobanking platform live in June. He partnered with Visa, Federal Bank, and Axis Bank for the launch.

“We don’t want too many partnerships because we want customers to come to our proposition and not think they’re doing business with banks,” says the founder.

On Jupiter, consumers can create smart accounts, get real-time breakdown of their spending and savings, get rewards with every click of their chip debit cards or UPI transactions, increase their wealth and learn financial literacy lessons.

Jupiter also recently acquired Easyplan backed by Y Combinator, an AI-powered financial savings app that had over 2.5 lakh of users.

“We have been impressed with the customer love that Easyplan has generated, and there have been a lot of overlap between our missions and our philosophy to promote the financial well-being of consumers, ”Jitendra told the media.

Neobank is arguably the hottest sub-segment of fintech at the moment. the The global neobank market is estimated at $ 394.6 billion by 2026, according to Zion’s market research. In India, of course, neobanks are in their infancy.

However, buzz and investor sentiment is on the rise.

Jitendra, who has spent most of his life in finance, knows what he’s building and why. “We called our product Jupiter, which is the largest planet, because we aspire to become the largest financial services company in India,” he says.