Financial awareness about the importance of saving and investing in India is increasing at the fastest rate ever, especially among millennials. Of course, stock markets doing well and lower bank FD rates are helping. But there are also a few structural changes afoot here. Historically financial products have been sold hard & mostly in person. Products mostly sold based on promises of high returns (sales pitches in person leave no audit trail). Chances of sale higher if customer is less aware of what is being sold, so no incentive to educate. New age online financial services firms can’t sell greed to acquire customers because it leaves a trail (SMS, emails, notifications). So businesses are forced to turn financial products into a “pull-product” to acquire clients. Which means having to educate customers. This is why we Rainmatter think it’s too early for digital-first wealth platforms in India, at least until the current crop of millenials are older & richer. It’s tough to compete digitally when the offline-only competition can sell greed which typically clinches the deal.

View on Twitter →