Interview with S Anand, the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of PaySprint, a Fintech venture
S Anand launched PaySprint in 2020. His mission is to enable and enhance financial inclusion and literacy among audiences by offering holistic solutions for complete financial support.
At PaySprint, Anand is pioneering strong partnerships with the banking ecosystem and provide Unified Open API Platform that would transform how Bharat transacts and leads to larger consumer adoption, interface and delight.
Can you tell us about your background and how it led you to start PaySprint?
S Anand: I am S. Anand, a Techno functional professional with over 2 decades with a diverse career chronicle working with cross-functional teams to drive unprecedented profitability while focusing on operational excellence, streamlining business processes and cost.
I have extensive leadership and management experience in setting up operations and running a business in high growth as well as transformational phases.
I have built teams with capabilities to drive results in a fast-paced and continually changing environment.
Ability to see the ‘big picture’ – understand and simplify complex situations & business challenges, design and deliver success for all stakeholders by implementing innovative business solutions.
Being an integral part of the Top Management, I developed a complete understanding of critical business drivers and the skills to use business intelligence for creating a meaningful interaction with clients and delivering on time, as per budgets while achieving top and bottom line targets.
As a decisive, straightforward and energetic executive who leads by example, I consistently galvanise my teams to action, and I’m laser-focused on results.
Technical Know-how, stellar communication skills, and ability to advance new initiatives are key differentiators.
My spur to enable emerging technologies fueled the establishment of PaySprint. The goal I set out with is to provide an ease of use that improves acceptance & adoption of technologies and penetrate the remotest of areas.
With PaySprint, I believe I’ve created my best business model yet. I operate with a customer-centric vision, facilitating true value for end-customers primarily through speed & convenience.
I’m a staunch believer that this is a key element of any venture’s scalability, especially one with a financial aspect.
My evolutive solutions and well designed strategies arise from a deeper understanding of the ever-changing customer behaviour, needs & demands.
Please tell us a little about your entrepreneurial journey
S Anand: Following my stints at Reliance, TTSL & Sterlite Technologies, I entered the fintech industry at Eko India Financial Services Private Limited.
I’m proud to have played an instrumental role in making Eko emerge as the No.1 player in the BC space in India by using various process re-engineering initiatives.
This accomplishment further motivated me to start something of my own. I started PaySprint with the aim to empower a digital India and make banking & financial services accessible & penetrate the remotest areas.
With great pride I say that we’ve bagged awards for the work we’re doing. The path ahead is to solidify our place in the fintech industry & make a difference in the Indian financial landscape.
Kindly brief us about PaySprint , its specialisation, and the services that it offers
S Anand: PaySprint is a NexGen FinTech company that offers developers the ability to build a vast number of use-cases by leveraging our APIs and these solutions are deployed by Entrepreneurs, Startups, Banking Partners, NBFCs, MSMEs & Enterprises.
Additionally, we have created a Unified Open API Platform to seamlessly bring all APIs together on a single, comprehensive dashboard. While we’re not a NeoBank ourselves, we help NeoBanks set up shop, using our products.
PaySprint is a One-Stop-Solution for all your Banking, Financial, Payment & Verification API needs. Our latest launch is SprintVerify, a revolutionary document verification solution.
SprintVerify is a complete Verification APIs stack with 100+ APIs covering every major Indian document that both individuals & entities hold, designed to greatly ease the otherwise tedious process of verifying & onboarding.
We boast a product list of over 80 APIs across a multitude of segments such as Banking, Verification, Lending, Investment & Travel.
Our Unified Open API platform seamlessly aggregates multiple APIs in the same software category and acts as a point of integration for the same, connecting different systems together.
This platform simplifies the time & effort consuming task of integrating several APIs, providing a novel ease of executing & ensuring maximum customer satisfaction.
With 1000+ partners onboard, we have solidified our place in the market and are poised to continue growing.
What is your biggest USP & what sets PaySprint apart from other fintech ventures?
S Anand: We’re the go-to choice for Banking, Financial & Verification APIs as we deliver state-of-the-art solutions, paperless onboarding & quick integration.
Our premier products are complemented by top-notch service, our competent & dedicated tech support & client support teams always ensure smooth operations.
PaySprint delivers critical advantages over its competitors’ products across the lifespan of its usage. The primary perk is our Unified Open API Platform which gives rise to a whole host of benefits, namely
Comprehensive Analytical Dashboard :
We provide a comprehensive analytical admin dashboard that helps partners track their business and keep an eye on all their operations activity.
Ease of onboarding and integration :
We collaborate with multiple banks and FinTech firms to provide simple-to-integrate APIs for seamless functionality.
This facilitates the easy onboarding of partners onto the platform through just the full partner KYC and business identification system verification. We believe in onboarding on the fly, completing the integration and going live as soon as possible.
A range of services on one dashboard :
We make all digital banking solutions available on a single platform, which helps our partners manage their activities more effectively.
Choose your preferred bank service :
Since our competitors in the market have limited banking options, customers are unable to select their preferred bank.
PaySprint, on the other hand, provides its partners with a wide variety of bank options enabling them to select their favoured bank.
Working as an aggregator for all services :
Our market competitors don’t have various operators available for a single service. Whereas, we have a large collection of operators that we can aggregate for any of our services. If a process fails due to an operator, the customer can proceed with the process through another operator.
Can you walk us through the process of creating and launching a new product or service at PaySprint?
S Anand: Firstly, an idea is generated based on a perceived gap in the market that is discovered through research. An umbrella concept for the same is developed highlighting the primary problem we’re trying to solve. Thorough market research is conducted & the regulatory & legal requirements are assessed.
It is at this stage that the product is designed and a Product Requirement Document is crafted. Product development commences at the next step and our developers work in tandem with the product management team.
When the first iteration is developed, Q&A Testing and refinement (Test case approval) is conducted to arrive at the desired financial product.
Marketing strategies are laid out & finally, the product is launched! There is a post-launch evaluation that provides us with the insights to optimise the product.
Do you believe the digitisation of basic financial processes will result in better personal finance decisions?
S Anand: In due time, it shall vastly improve personal finance decisions. Currently, the growth of digitisation is not proportional to the increase in digital & financial literacy.
The continued effort to reach effective financial education to the current & future consumers will translate to sound personal financial decisions.
Policy makers & regulators must work to ensure the aforementioned venture is optimised for maximum effectiveness.
That is, streamlined & relevant information which is regularly evaluated reaches the masses via all necessary channels.
It is imperative that solid trust is built in the digital financial services ecosystem in order to boost the Financial Inclusion initiative.
How does PaySprint ensure the security and privacy of its users’ financial information?
S Anand: Ensuring the security and privacy of users’ financial information is of utmost importance to any organisation that deals with financial transactions & it’s our top priority too.
Let me walk you through the steps we take to ensure the security and privacy of our users’ financial information:
All the financial data is encrypted when it is transmitted and when it is stored. This means that even if a hacker manages to gain access to the data, they will not be able to read it.
We practise two-factor authentication. Our users are required to authenticate themselves using a second factor, such as a one-time code sent via SMS, in addition to their username and password.
This provides an extra layer of security and makes it more difficult for hackers to gain unauthorised access.
We limit the access to financial data to authorised personnel only. We do this through the use of role-based access control, where users are granted access only to the data that they need to perform their job functions.
Regular security audits are conducted to identify and address any vulnerabilities or potential threats to our systems.
Finally, we ensure that we are compliant with relevant industry standards, such as PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard), which provides guidelines for secure handling of credit card data.
How does PaySprint plan to scale and expand its services in the future?
S Anand: We are pioneering the stacking of same-category APIs to provide precise solutions to specific pain points. PaySprint has taken a leap ahead of existing API providers by curating all necessary Financial & Verification APIs into stacks, achieving sustained innovation in the industry.
The work we do encourages & facilitates the establishment of various FinTech start-ups & institutions across many functionalities.
We will play a noteworthy role in accelerating enterprise value & market size of the industry through our growth & the growth of entities we have supported.
Tech enabled industry collaborations will see a hike as we empower digitisation across a multitude of segments, solidifying a fully-digital banking ecosystem through the network we build. PaySprint will be instrumental in transforming how the nation transacts.
What was the inspiration behind turning an entrepreneur?
S Anand: A decade ago, RBI introduced NEFT & RTGS which was followed by the introduction of IMPS by NPCI.
This marked the start of Digital & Online Banking that brought about a paradigm shift in the way services were offered to the end-consumer. India & Bharat’s coming of age on digital payments, both in terms of availability and acceptability, happened in the year 2020.
“JAM” – Jan-Dhan Accounts, Aadhaar, and Mobile/Smartphone Penetration – made this possible. Keeping these developments in mind, I founded PaySprint in 2020 with the aim to deliver better, faster, & easier technology solutions.
The Covid-19 pandemic solidified the Fintech industry’s place in the Financial Services ecosystem & made it a booming market with increased competition.
PaySprint seized the opportunity in 2020 to create & deploy a variety of consumer-centric innovations to stand out from the pack.
The underlying need to move to API-led Banking is to improve customer experience & the liquidity decision-making of customers.
API banking promises to foster innovation and lower costs, making it more economical to serve the underserved and unbanked and offer products and services better suited to their needs.
What advice would you give to aspiring fintech entrepreneurs looking to start their own ventures?
S Anand: Your idea should solve a problem & you must be massively passionate about it. When you think of any innovative solution, act fast. Create an inspired team, dare to dream, dare to fail & dare to succeed!
What are your success tips for young and aspiring entrepreneurs?
S Anand: Always believe in yourself, I cannot stress this enough. Entrepreneurship comes with its risks but you must research, analyse & make them as calculated as possible.
Be quick to learn, unlearn & relearn to stay ahead of the competition. Build relationships with other entrepreneurs, investors, and industry professionals who can provide valuable advice and support.
Entrepreneurship is a long and challenging journey, so stay motivated by celebrating small wins, setting achievable goals, and remembering why you started in the first place!
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