You need both physical and digital presence to reach more customers in India
HDFC Bank opening 4 new branches daily last year is phenomenal.
As counterintuitive as it sounds, I think the real competition for most Fintechs in India is the branches of all banks. Each bank branch sells everything from loans, investments, insurance, and more.
Other than small-value consumer loans & payments, I don’t think it is possible to expand the market or increase market share beyond a certain point by being digital only.
You need physical presence and human advisory in a diverse market like India. This will probably also lead to better outcomes or people doing better with their money if the human advising isn’t conflicted due to an incentive to sell certain products.
This is what we’ve realized as we think about the next phase of Zerodha.