Fintechs startups must be built with precision, discipline not speed, velocity: Peak XV’s Shailendra Singh

(From left to right) Kunal Shah, founder of Cred; Shailendra Singh, managing director at Peak XV; Amrish Rau, CEO of Pine Labs and Dilip Asbe, MD and CEO of NPCI at the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai on August 28.

Fintech startups must be built with a long-term focus in mind—with precision and financial discipline—rather than solely on speed and velocity, said Shailendra Singh, managing director at Peak XV Partners.

"Fintechs must be built with a multi decade horizon. It should be built with precision and discipline. We do not look for speed and velocity, " Singh said during a session titled ‘Future of Fintech’ at the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai on August 28.

Kunal Shah, founder of Cred, Amrish Rau, CEO of Pine Labs and Dilip Asbe, MD and CEO of NPCI were also part of the panel discussion.

"There is a very strong balancing force. You have to be super responsible and work on scale. People using credit for gambling or for F&O is scary. Credit is being used as well as abused. There should be prudence while working on this space," Singh added.

NPCI’s Asbe said that the rapid pace of technological growth within financial services is somewhat concerning.

"The speed of tech is concerning, because we are building stacks on top of stacks and the way AI is going forward, there are associated cyber risks as well. We need to build stronger mechanism to mitigate these, " Asbe said.

The discussion comes at a time when the regulator has tightened scrutiny of several payments and credit businesses.

In May of 2023, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its annual report said that the number of frauds in banks rose 166 percent year-on-year in the financial year 2023-24 to 36,075. The numbers were sharply higher than 13,564 reported in FY23.

The annual report said frauds have occurred predominantly in the category of digital payments (card/internet) in terms of number and in value terms, frauds have been reported primarily in the loan portfolio (advances category).