bl interview. Multiple SROs required in BFSI sector: PayNearby CEO

 There are multiple political parties in the country who have their own affiliates and work in tandem. Similarly, it is important to have multiple SROs. Having said that, regulator encourages regulated and non-regulated fintech entities to become member of multiple SROs. Multiplicity is the way ahead .Maybe within lending there could be four segments of consumer approaches and each of them may want to apply for their own SRO. Otherwise, within entire payment and BFSI segment, there are at least 18 variants including online, offline, payment gateway etc.

 We are a part of FACE and DLAI both. FACE has recently got the SRO license and industry bodies are doing great jobs. Recognition as SRO gives added credibility and responsibility, and we all work together to follow code of conduct. The regulator is very kind and want to bring self-governance and we are duty bound to build scalable industry and SRO is best way to do that.

 Our throughput touched around ₹85,000 crore annually. We have been quite conservative in last one year, bringing in more control and good governance practises. So while scaling business, we have muted growth in risk prone areas. This year was a very important year to showcase how good we have been at compliance. As lot of things fell off for non-compliant entities, it has benefited us...our top line stood at about ₹400 crore in FY24. We are profitable, and ensure that we remain profitable without burning capital...

 Broadly we have multiple products which are ready to scale now. We have gone live with ONDC credit and ONDC commerce. We have direct integration with mutual funds and insurers, which can also move on to ONDC as soon as ONDC absorbs them on platform. Using ONDC, we are also doing ONEST or online network for education, skill and talent, which will help build right fabric at the last mile. The program enables meritorious students to get scholarships from donors, skilling people, and aiding talented people to get jobs.

 We are in the right situation to scale. We are in our 9th year now, and have always earned and burned, rather than burning and then hoping to earn. So we are in a comfortable position, with right profitability, growth momentum, stability, and with a right partner capital infusion can be looked at.

 Depending on capital available, there are phases which we can split. A large single shot deployment is possible and also modular deployment. We will consider both models and lets see how it works. We have some numbers in mind, but it would be inappropriate to divulge details at this time.

 We remain committed to it, as having public participation in company is the best way to become a responsible platform. So we work towards that goal, it is a north star for us. Timeline wise, we have to consider that current market is hot and many concerns and controls are being discussed. So we want to let that fade away and we will try to be in market in the right time zone.

 There are guardrails that the regulator, considering public welfare in mind, has stipulated. And I am sure the players will be able to put their mind to it and take efforts to comply with new guidelines. As mentioned, consumer interest is paramount to the regulator and the relevant industry must build products that comply with extant norms. The regulator is always open to consider right requests and the industry can present their concerns via consistent representations and industry member participations in regulatory meetings.