Reimagining FinTech advisory: A unified, tech-driven hub for financial ecosystem stakeholders

By Rajat Chopra, Founder & CEO, BankersKlub

As India aims to become a $5 trillion economy by 2027-28, financial inclusion and access to credit will be central pillars of its economic progress. In this thriving environment, the availability of business capital will be critical in fuelling growth and enabling meaningful contributions to the economy.

However, credit access remains a significant barrier, thwarting the growth prospects of Indian businesses. As per World Bank estimates, domestic credit to the private sector in India accounts for just 55% of the GDP, far below the global average of 148% and behind economically strong Asian countries such as China, South Korea and Vietnam.

This credit gap is most pronounced in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector that contributes significantly to India’s GDP.  The Ministry of MSME, Government of India, reported in its year-end review that 5.7 crore MSMEs had registered on the Udyam portal and generated 24.14 crore jobs. But the sector faces a staggering INR 30 lakh crore credit shortfall.

Traditional approaches, constrained by manual processes, rigid underwriting and limited risk visibility, have proven inadequate in addressing this challenge. Now, innovative, tech-enabled solutions offer an opportunity to lower these barriers.

The Case for a Unified, Data-First Platform Model

Traditionally, the market for financial products and advisory services has been fragmented. Advisors, lenders, insurers and investors operate in silos, requiring businesses to navigate a web of paperwork, intermediaries and disconnected systems while raising capital or accessing financial advisory. Businesses that lack knowledge of the market find the process time-consuming and frustrating. For example, a business owner may not know how to check their eligibility for a government scheme or the availability of alternative credit scoring mechanisms.

A unified, tech-driven platform can change these equations by consolidating product offerings from banks, Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFC), insurers, Asset Management Companies (AMC), and other FinTech entities into a single ecosystem. When enhanced with AI-led insights, the platform can evolve beyond a marketplace of services and become an infrastructure layer that enables discovery, matchmaking and real-time decision-making across the financial value chain.

Unlocking Value Through AI, Automation and Real-Time Matching

Leading advisory platforms in the country, such as BankersKlub, are building intelligent, tech-driven ecosystems that bring together borrowers, lenders, insurers and investors in one seamless interface. The AI engines are fed with structured and unstructured data that platforms ingest, such as borrower financials, promoter history, real-time bureau data, sector-specific benchmarks and KYC data.

The data is then fed into a contextual matching algorithm that intelligently pairs businesses or individuals’ financial products across credit, insurance and investment categories. At the core is an AI engine that:

• Automates eligibility checks, credit scoring and offer generation for unsecured loans using predefined logic and real-time inputs
• Matches users to appropriate financial products and institutions based on their profile, requirements and risk preferences
• Learns from deal outcomes, funded or dropped, to continually refine and improve decision logic

The result is faster access to capital, business insurance, advisory, high-intent leads for financial partners and significantly reduced friction across the ecosystem. Moreover, AI-led document recognition, pre-approval workflows and embedded smart nudges to guide users with prompts and tooltips to complete critical actions help build user confidence. This significantly reduces drop-offs and enhances conversion, especially for MSMEs and individual borrowers who are underserved by traditional lending institutions.

Faster, Smarter and Inclusive Finance

A digitally integrated platform, offering a wide range of financial advisory and lending solutions including personal, home, and business loans, as well as loans against mutual funds and shares is a transformative step forward in reimagining how financial products are discovered and delivered. By leveraging data and automation, it eliminates the long-standing fragmentation in the financial ecosystem, where users traditionally navigated between multiple advisors, banks, insurance agents and FinTech tools.

This future forward approach is designed to serve a diverse range of participants in the ecosystem, each with their distinct needs, pain points and goals.

• MSMEs and individuals benefit from guided discovery, faster approvals and improved access to capital
• Former bankers, many operating as financial advisors, now gain a tech-enabled platform to serve clients more effectively
• VC firms and AMCs receive curated, high-intent leads backed by sanitized documentation and a steady pipeline of validated opportunities
• Insurance providers and lenders lower acquisition costs and improve conversion rates through built-in pre-qualification layers

According to a report by Inc42, digital lending is set to become the largest revenue driver for India’s FinTech sector, turning into a $1.3 trillion market opportunity by 2030. Unified platforms will serve a key role in making this happen. In parallel, the Government of India is scaling up the Unified Lending Interface (ULI), a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) initiative designed to streamline lending by integrating high-value datasets from central government ministries, departments and state governments, decision engines and secure APIs.

By simplifying access, reducing friction and enabling intelligent, real-time matchmaking across stakeholders, such platforms will help realize the vision of Viksit Bharat by the Government of India a financial ecosystem that is inclusive, self-reliant and digitally empowered.