Building a neobank is the toughest thing, says Jupiter’s Jitendra Gupta

Jiterdra Gupta, founder, Jupiter

Jitendra Gupta, founder of neobank Jupiter, opened up about the challenges of building a neobanking business in India, emphasising that trust—not just capital or customer acquisition—is the hardest factor to establish.

"Frankly, it's tough, it's very tough to build in this sector, because you are asking consumers to trust you without having any brand, and you're asking consumers to park their money with you, which is the toughest thing in the Indian market or anywhere in the world for that matter," Gupta said during a panel discussion at Startup Mahakumbh in New Delhi.

He explained that unlike payments or lending, which are often transactional, neobanking requires a long-term relationship with consumers.

"Banking is the most relationship-driven offering towards the consumer, and that's how we got into neobanking as a sector," he said.

However, he admitted that taking this route hasn’t been easy.

"Not sure whether I would say that it was the wisest of decisions. Frankly, it's tough, it's very tough to build in this sector," he remarked.

Challenge of scaling beyond the first few million users

Gupta also highlighted the difficulties of scaling a neobank, particularly after the initial phase of customer acquisition.

"Finally, getting the first 100,000 consumers is way easier... but getting from 2 million to 10 million to 20 million is very tough. We are somewhere in between the 2-10 (million) bracket right now. We have to do more hard work to get more customers," he said.

He stressed that trust cannot be bought through aggressive spending or marketing.

"Nobody trusts you by face, by you proclaiming yourself to be better. The trick is to keep doing better services, keep giving better experiences to the consumers. Hook them to a particular product, and then try to hook them to more products from the same proposition," Gupta explained.

Despite the initial hype, neobanking in India has struggled to gain mainstream traction, as consumers continue to prefer traditional banks for trust and regulatory stability.

Jupiter, which partners with Federal Bank to offer digital savings accounts, has been exploring a stake in SBM India Bank to strengthen its position in the market besides expanding its offerings.

Last year, its peer Slice merged with North East Small Finance Bank , in a move it said would allow it to “serve a wider audience”.

Founded in 2019, Jupiter offers a range of financial services, including debit cards, SIPs, mutual funds, personalised savings options, expense management, and UPI payments.

The Peak XV-backed fintech firm had also secured an NBFC license back in 2023, to lend on its own books—another strategy that fintechs are using to build sustainable revenue streams.

No IPO plans for now

Despite the rapid growth of India's fintech sector, Gupta ruled out an IPO for Jupiter anytime soon. "At least for me personally, (an IPO is) very far away. So I don't think so. I have any aspiration to come close to Vijay (Shekhar Sharma) in the public market," he said, referring to the Paytm founder, who was also a part of the panel discussion.

Meanwhile, his peer Sachin Bansal, founder and executive chairman of Navi Group, confirmed that Navi is targeting an IPO in FY26 to raise capital for expansion. "We have reached a stage where we have 20 million monthly active users, 40 million who have ever used the platform… Now we are at a place where we can use more capital, and I think public markets is the best source of capital," Bansal said.

Jupiter significantly improved its financial performance in FY24, with its operating revenue surging seven-fold to Rs 51.2 crore. At the same time, the firm managed to cut down its losses by over 23% to Rs 233.63 crore.