The launch comes as a part of Branch’s initiative to make financial freedom accessible to half a billion underserved Indian consumers.
India’s leading Personal Finance app – Branch is opening doors to more Indian Consumers with launch of Hindi version of the app. The launch comes as a part of Branch’s initiative to make financial freedom accessible to half a billion underserved Indian consumers.
The Hindi Version of the app comes after two-quarters of extensive research to understand the requirements and challenges of native language speakers from Tier 2 and 3 cities in the overall lending and banking space. The current Indian fintech landscape focuses heavily on a Tier-1, English-speaking, salaried audience. However, research shows that 90% of India’s internet users access services in native/vernacular languages, including Hindi. The majority of this Hindi-speaking audience is non-salaried, non-Tier-1, and not served thoroughly by the existing market solutions.
Branch’s new launch hopes to expand its digital financial services to this audience – who are often overlooked by traditional financial institutions and fintech apps. This decision is both strategic and essential – India’s 1.3 billion population has under 10% of English speakers and over 40% Hindi speakers. The latter presents a largely untapped market. The branch aims to impart a sense of familiarity, comfort, and ease to these 500 million Indian users with our Hindi launch.
“At Branch, we solve for the financial needs of the average Indian consumer. Language becomes a barrier for users to access funds in this digital-first economy. Our deliberate effort to launch our app in Hindi will help a majority of Hindi-speaking consumers have a better, less-daunting experience and, most importantly, gain access to capital.” said Sucheta Mahapatra, Managing Director-Branch Personal Financial App.
Branch will be using the results of this launch to expand its services to multiple other vernacular languages in the coming quarters Founded in 2015, Branch delivers world-class financial services to the mobile generation. With offices in San Francisco, Lagos, Nairobi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, Branch is a global, socially conscious company that uses the power of data science and mobile technology to reduce the barriers of delivering financial services in emerging markets. With over 23 million downloads, 4 million customers, and 20 million loans processed, Branch International has disbursed over $600 million. In addition to credit, Branch intends to roll out to high-yield savings accounts, wallets, and investments to customers this year.
Source: Business World
