Revolutionising Youth’s Finances

The youth of today are significantly distinct from those of the previous years. They are visionaries and dreamers who venture out into the world to bring about changes and build enormous empires. With today’s youth, we see new challenges and as they say, with new problems come new solutions.

These realities have given birth to mPokket, a recognised fintech platform that has solutions for every young individual’s needs. Headquartered in Kolkata, it specialises in providing college students and young professionals instant personal loans, taking care of people's financial needs who might not have access to conventional banking services or credit facilities, all over the country through mobile apps, leveraging digital technology to simplify the loan application and approval process, making it faster and more accessible compared to traditional lending institutions.

The platform today has a bigger impact owing to its increased emphasis on more intelligent underwriting, simple onboarding, and partnerships with ideal vendor partners. Almost 90 per cent of mPokket’s customer base benefits from algorithmic underwriting and speedier processing in 2023, compared to just 12 per cent in 2022.

Tailoring Youth’s Needs

The most unique element mPokket offers is its extraordinary target audience. While other fintech businesses might cater to a wider customer base, mPokket focuses on a particular group of people, recognising their issues and accommodating its services accordingly.

Gaurav Jalan, Founder, mPokket says, “mPokket differentiates itself from other lending tech platforms through its focus on serving the Indian youth and addressing the credit gap for underserved populations. While many lending platforms may be hesitant to lend to college students, mPokket saw an opportunity and created a platform specifically tailored to their needs.”

Explaining how technology plays a crucial role, Jalan says, “By leveraging mobile apps, digital platforms, and chatbots, mPokket offers instant loans to college students and early working professionals, providing them with quick access to small amounts of money. The company’s proprietary algorithm incorporates alternate data to evaluate creditworthiness, allowing mPokket to serve users who may be overlooked by other lenders.”

Privacy of User’s Data

Prioritising security and privacy of user’s data is of utmost importance today, to protect sensitive information throughout the lending process. Commenting on the issue, Jalan mentioned, “mPokket acknowledges the importance of data security and privacy in its lending processes. The company has implemented several checkpoints in its systems to detect and prevent fraud, as most of its users have little to no credit history. mPokket cannot solely rely on external credit agencies, so it has developed its in-house processes and systems.”

Nonetheless, the company makes active investments in data analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence in order to make credit choices while taking into account a variety of crucial aspects. Jalan strongly expressed, “By continuously optimizing mPokket’s platform and employing robust security measures, we aim to ensure the security and privacy of user data throughout its lending processes.”

Challenges Faced

Being in an industry where your target audience are students and young professionals, it takes a toll to provide a loyal and obedient audience. Addressing the challenges faced by the company, Jalan stated, “In the early stages, mPokket faced discouragement from the industry, with concerns about college student’s loan repayment abilities and the risks associated with serving a non-professional market. To address these challenges, mPokket focused on educating its customers about loans, timely repayments, credit scores, and other key financial factors. By guiding and motivating customers to remain financially responsible, mPokket aimed to mitigate the perceived risks and empower users to make informed financial decisions. These efforts, combined with lean cost structures and good revenue generation, helped mPokket overcome initial obstacles and maintain a steep growth trajectory.”

Over the period of time, mPokket developed unique processes, systems, and customer acquisition strategies that were not dependent on traditional methods.

Outlook for the Future

The present and the upcoming youth take their principles on finances very strongly with a vision of their future ahead. On the note of mPokket’s future, Jalan commented, “The future vision for mPokket involves significant growth and expansion. The company aims to double its disbursal in the current financial year, reaching INR 8,000 crore.”

Beyond the small percentage of the Indian population it presently serves, mPokket envisions to increase its customer base and expand new services and products. Jalan told us about the initiatives being run comprising of BNPL (buy-now, pay-later) products, micro-insurance policies and loans for self-employed individuals. He further adds, “The company also plans to leverage its knowledge and experiences gained in the Indian market to explore opportunities for growth in other markets outside India. By expanding its bouquet of services, mPokket aims to better serve its customers and become a comprehensive financial partner for the Indian youth and other cohorts.”