Simplified Digital Finance By BankBazaar to 1300 Cities Across India

BankBazaar.com, India’s leading financial marketplace, attributes a six fold increase in traffic coming from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities of India over the last two years as a key driver for its growth. According to the company, the rise in the number of people accessing the internet over mobile phones has facilitated this in a big way. Currently, mobile phones account for as much as 70% of the total traffic to the site, up from 50% in 2016.

The biggest rise in the number of people accessing personal finance digitally happened in the final quarter of 2016-17. The traffic from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities saw an 86% increase on a quarter-on-quarter basis post demonetization. Moreover, the contribution from these markets comprising more than 1300 cities has increased to 43% in 2018 from 26% in 2016. These cities include Agra, Vishakhapatnam, Dibrugarh, Siliguri, Bathinda, Aurangabad, Dhanbad among others.

Pointing out the increasingly pan-India growth, Adhil Shetty, Co-founder and CEO, BankBazaar, said, “We are happy that we are setting a positive example in the story of India’s digital journey. The increase in the traffic from the tier-2, tier-3 cities shows the extent of influence digitization is making with more and more people getting access to financial services on their finger-tips. The fact that customers are adopting the new-age banking methods gives immense scope for players like us to provide services that are quick, efficient, and innovative.”

The main growth driver for BankBazaar has been the paperless process which reduces the time required for the approval of unsecured credit products as little as one business day. The coupon programmes that made applying for financial processes as exciting as shopping were an additional attraction for customers across demographics.

The rise in the contribution of the tier-2 and tier-3 cities made significant impact on the overall traffic as well. Traffic has grown by 350% from 2016 to 2018, and in the final quarter of 2016-17 alone, the overall traffic shot up by 52%. This percentage increase in the traffic makes our overarching aim of reaching 400 million visits by FY19 a near future scenario.

BankBazaar hosts the widest range of financial products from over 85 of the biggest public and private sector banks, NBFCs, and insurance companies in India. It closed the last quarter (December-February) with 90M visitors. The company raised USD 110M through funding from investors such as Amazon.com, Experian, Fidelity Growth Partners, Mousse Partners, Sequoia Capital and Walden International.