The third edition of Confluence was held on December 2, 2017 at The Capitol Hotel on the theme of ‘Fintech: Opportunities & Challenges’. The forum emphasized on the current financial scenario along with the opportunities and challenges in industries.

The keynote speaker for the event was Mr. Nithin Kamath, Founder and CEO, Zerodha, a discount broking company in India. Addressing the immense growth potential in Fintech, he stressed on the ongoing trends in the financial sector and how Fintech, with increasing policy changes, is creating a space for itself.

“One of the biggest challenges for Fintech in the last four-five years is the on-boarding of a client. People trust banking systems a lot. But the industry saw a huge opportunity this year with steps like demonetization and GST, which brought in a faith in digital transactions. The Aadhar system was reborn in 2017 with the government’s push towards standardizing all accounts. About 40% of this country is under the age of 20, so Fintech is going to prepare itself for this upcoming generation who will be much more absorbing of this system than the current generation,” he added.

The event had an eminent guest list for the panel discussion which comprised both academia and industry experts:

• Mr. Ravindra Prasad, VP- Technology and Ops, DBS Bank,
• Mr. Uddipan Bagchi, VP Global Ins. Practice, NTT DATA Inc.,
• Mr. R.N Murthy, SVP-Sales Head, MSME, Capital Float,
• Mr. C. S Sudheer, Founder and CEO, Indiamoney.com,
• Ms. Aruna Venkatachalam, Head- Chairman’s Office, Janalaxmi Financial Services,
• Dr. Rajendra Kumar Sinha, Professor & Chairperson, Centre for Excellence in Banking, IFIM Business School

The panel discussion was on the future of Fintech in India and how the incorporation process could be made easier seeing the dynamics of the country. They presented their views on the much debated issue of Fintech replacing banking systems. With advancement in Fintech, there exists an immense potential of increasing job opportunities in the sector.