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Programme PGP Term IV Academic Year 2021-22

Course title Understanding the New Gold: Digitalization, Fintech and Associated Technology, Regulation and Adoption Area Marketing Credits 0.75

Instructor(s)
Prof. Arvind Sahay,
Prof. Rajan Raju (VF)

Course Description & Objectives
Introduction: 
India is poised to emerge a leading digital economy in the world. In 2017, India is the world’s no 1 country on data usage and no 2 in number of internet users, ahead the China and USA. The current usage of 4 gb/ user/ month is estimated to treble in the next 2 years, on the back of very cheap data prices With 425 mn internet users and 313 smartphone users, India is the leading YouTube country with 225 mn users/ month, with watchtime increasing by 40% y-o-y. 

This course will look at digitalization of products and services using the lens of financial services. On the back of technological advances like fast broadband internet, ubiquitous 4G wireless, significant and increasing smartphone ownership, real time payment systems to name a few, financial services are undergoing a significant transformation. No longer is the geographic vastness of the country, the diversity of languages a barrier for financial institutions to reach their customers. Backed by a forward looking government policy to usher in digital India with initiatives such as aadhaar, UPI, India stack, etc, the Indian financial services seems poised to leverage on this FinTech to transform how these services are produced, delivered and consumed in India. New start-ups are mushrooming to disrupt legacy financial business ecosystems and one or many of these will be the new Unicorns. 

This course will cover Fintech, or specifically the disruption in financial services and the financial ecosystem caused by technology. It will examine how the advances and changes in technology can be harnessed and adopted to create new business paradigms for the financial industry and the implications of these changes to the regulatory environment, consumer protection and industry stability. These issues will be looked at from the perspective of the key actors of the industry – the businesses (including startups), the consumers (with a focus on the retail consumer) and the regulators. Fintech will provide the lesn through which we will examine, critically evaluate and further develop regulatory, technology and adoption frameworks and learn to use tools.

The course will provide perspective on technology and regulation on the emerging digitech future and the nature of adoption seen in other markets to examine its replicability in India in the coming years. 

The scale of change of Fintech touches all elements of the financial ecosystem. The course, therefore, has an integrative curriculum and trains multifunctional business management thinking in digital financial services. It will prepare the student to be a transformation agent in financial services ecosystem, regardless of whether you seek to work with a consulting firm or a multinational financial institution or a global digital company or become an entrepreneur.

From an India perspective, note also the digitech transformation is already leading to financial inclusion on an unprecedented scale. This transformation will be a key driver of economic growth, social equity and a sustainable nation.

At the end of this course you will be able to gain perspective and skills related to the following.
1. What are the key issues in technology, regulation and consumer adoption that are shaping the digitech future?
a.Who are the players? What are transformation paths for existing large financial services organizations vs large consumer & digital franchises that may enter financial services vs new fintech start ups that seek to disrupt incumbents.
2. How will regulations enable vs. protect? What are regulatory principles or compulsions that may function as a brake or as an accelerator? How will     these change? What are risks in financial services? What is the right balance of disclosure vs protection?
 a. What is the role of public institutions or the government in accelerating financial access? What are examples of emerging innovations such as UPI etc? Balance of role of government vs markets in deepening financial access?
b. What are business models in delivering low value financial products to the base of pyramid? What are business models to transform engagement and consumption of financial services by the tip of the pyramid?
3. What is the consumer behavior with regard to financial services? What are compelling needs that can be addressed at scale? What are inhibitors such as need for trust, adoption curve etc that may defy disruption? What ideas have proven effective in driving behavior change at scale in a shorter time frame?

Objectives:
  1. To understand the impact of Technology on industry in general and the impact of FinTech on the financial industry in particular
  2. Recognize and appreciate the nuances of regulation that will influence adoption of digital technologies and fintech
  3. To develop insights into the link between technology, regulation and consumer adoption in an increasingly digitalized world
  4. To provide forward looking perspectives and skills required for management related jobs in the financial industry, consulting, policy, strategy, general management and marketing.
  5. To provide tools that help to anticipate and participate in a consumer digital franchise of the future with a fintech focus.

Pedagogy
The course will use a mixture of cases, lectures, exercises, guest speakers and projects to illustrate the ideas. 
At the end of the course, the teams will make a presentation to the course faculty on a project.
 
 
 
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