The pandemic will redefine fintech lending

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Editor's note: The transfer of money from me to you and you to me is what greases the wheels of the modern economic machine. We earn, we spend, and then, most importantly, we borrow to spend some more right now, betting on earning more later. Salaries and profits fuel deposits and capital, which get routed into credit, which drives consumption, resulting in the vital rotation of money. Over the past five years or so, India has seen a flurry of startups emerge promising to usher in a new wave of technology- and data-led lending. Venture capital tracking platform Traxcn lists 484 “alternative lending” startups in India, thanks to the easy availability of liquidity and rising consumption across segments. App after app proffered credit at a tap, each targeting a niche of an increasingly internet-connected population; many built large loan books in a short period of time on the back of aggressive segmentation and acquisition strategies. The very concept of pre-approved personal loan limits had taken off in India only in the early 2010s. The cool startups with savvy credit assessment models gave—mostly—young …