Latest news with #NewsReach
Business Standard
15-07-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Crafting Bharat - S2, powered by AWS Startups and an initiative by NewsReach, launches its tenth episode with Amit Kumar, Director and CTO of Easebuzz
VMPL New Delhi [India], July 15: India has rapidly emerged as one of the world's fastest-growing FinTech markets, ranking third globally in the number of FinTech companies and accounting for 14 percent of domestic startup funding. Fueled by technology-driven innovation, this vibrant ecosystem has transformed traditional financial services, streamlining delivery, cutting costs, and elevating the customer experience. The "Crafting Bharat - Season 2", powered by AWS Startups, an initiative by NewsReach, in association with VCCircle, and production partner - HT Smartcast, explores how startups are harnessing the power of the cloud to accelerate growth, optimise operations, and build solutions that will define the India of Tomorrow. This series is hosted by Gautam Srinivasan, famed for hosting a diverse range of TV and digital programs, currently consulting editor at CNBC (India), CNN-News18, Forbes India, and The Economic Times. In this episode, we spotlight Amit Kumar, Director and CTO of Easebuzz, who is revolutionising the financial operating systems for businesses through their full-stack payment solutions platform. He shares insights about becoming a full stack technology platform for payments & financial operations and how AWS is helping them scale from thousands to millions of transactions per day. In this captivating series, explore inspiring startup stories that are shifting gears and sparking innovation across sectors, all contributing to India's transformation into a developed nation by 2047. Watch Episode: Edited Excerpts: Segment 1: Ignite At the onset, what made your approach to resolving complex payment issues unique versus your competitors? From day one, we recognised that India's 90 million+ online businesses face deeply varied challenges--price sensitivity, uneven digitisation, credit constraints, and broken collection workflows unique to each sector. Unlike competitors offering one-size-fits-all payment processing, we segment businesses by industry (education, insurance, e-commerce, etc.) and tailor end-to-end collection journeys, including payment configuration, collection, split payments, reconciliation and multi-account settlements. This vertical-first strategy lets us solve domain-specific complexities and deliver outcomes our horizontal competitors can't match. What inspired you to go beyond just the education domain to sectors like real estate, and how did you replicate that model in real estate? We began in the education sector at a pivotal moment of digitisation, first building a placement portal to establish revenue. As we gained insights, we pivoted to solve campus-specific payment challenges--today, most institutes depend exclusively on our API-first, domain-driven payment suite, which plugs seamlessly into any ERP with minimal configuration. Leveraging that success, we expanded into real estate, where our platform automates RERA-compliant payment collections and powers a SaaS booking engine that lets buyers reserve flats with built-in validations and workflows--all in one scalable ecosystem. Segment 2: Launch Easebuzz benefited from the Reserve Bank of India embargo on most of the large payment aggregators, causing new brands to look at fresh payment solutions. Take us through how you quickly managed to scale to take advantage of this opportunity. That period not only helped us win early customers but, more importantly, solidified our credibility. Banking ecosystem recognised our rigorous processes and trusted our compliance-driven portfolio, which drove confidence in our solutions. As a result, over 20 banks now directly partner with us, referring both their current account clients and NBFC partners to Easebuzz's full-stack payments platform. Sub-segment: Boost How has AWS enabled you to monetise data at a lower cost and drive product development with new insights? We scaled from thousands to over a million transactions per day on AWS, leveraging their POC credits and rapid-experiment to optimise cost and performance. Engineers' lives have become easier as they can access data at the click of a button and drive platform efficiency. Drawing on my data-science background, I built a data-driven culture: our payment gateway and layered SaaS products generate high-accuracy financial data, empower every vertical with actionable insights, accelerate decision-making, and unlock new customer value. You also built an AI-powered Chatbot ERA on Amazon Bedrock, which automates responses for merchant/customer queries and developers. Could you expand on how these have improved your value proposition with customers? Leveraging AWS's intuitive GenAI stack, we've rolled out three core applications: streamlining internal operations, enhancing customer interactions, and powering advanced fraud and risk detection. For instance, our ERA model automatically handles L1/L2 support queries across 200+ WhatsApp groups, resolving thousands of issues in-platform and delivering a 40% boost in efficiency alongside a 20% reduction in turnaround time. Segment 3: Orbit India's digital payments revolution is gaining international momentum, with both UPI and RuPay expanding rapidly across borders. What new opportunities are opening for Easebuzz as a result? We see embedded finance as our next frontier--supporting businesses as they scale globally, facilitate cross-border trade, and integrate services via both our core platform and the B2B Bharat Connect Platform. To accelerate this, we're engaging a strategic investor to guide our geographic expansion and align with regulatory and NPCI initiatives. Additionally, we're preparing for the upcoming interoperable Internet Banking and Mobile Banking initiative, which promises to revolutionise net-banking infrastructure for all banks. The Fintech SaaS market is central to the financial sector's digital evolution. By forging hybrid partnerships that blend banks' institutional resilience with the agility and innovation of fintech solutions, the industry is seamlessly bridging legacy systems and emerging trends. This collaboration not only reshapes the future of financial services but also accelerates India's journey toward developed-nation status. Stay tuned to Crafting Bharat - Season 2 as we bring you these inspiring entrepreneurs for insightful and candid discussions with Gautam Srinivasan. Facebook: LinkedIn:
The Wire
15-07-2025
- Business
- The Wire
Crafting Bharat – S2, powered by AWS Startups and an initiative by NewsReach, launches its tenth episode with Amit Kumar, Director and CTO of Easebuzz.
Amit Kumar, Director and CTO of Easebuzz, in conversation with host Gautam Srinivasan. India has rapidly emerged as one of the world's fastest-growing FinTech markets, ranking third globally in the number of FinTech companies and accounting for 14 percent of domestic startup funding. Fueled by technology-driven innovation, this vibrant ecosystem has transformed traditional financial services, streamlining delivery, cutting costs, and elevating the customer experience. The 'Crafting Bharat – Season 2', powered by AWS Startups, an initiative by NewsReach, in association with VCCircle, and production partner – HT Smartcast, explores how startups are harnessing the power of the cloud to accelerate growth, optimise operations, and build solutions that will define the India of Tomorrow. This series is hosted by Gautam Srinivasan, famed for hosting a diverse range of TV and digital programs, currently consulting editor at CNBC (India), CNN-News18, Forbes India, and The Economic Times. In this episode, we spotlight Amit Kumar, Director and CTO of Easebuzz, who is revolutionising the financial operating systems for businesses through their full-stack payment solutions platform. He shares insights about becoming a full stack technology platform for payments & financial operations and how AWS is helping them scale from thousands to millions of transactions per day. In this captivating series, explore inspiring startup stories that are shifting gears and sparking innovation across sectors, all contributing to India's transformation into a developed nation by 2047. Watch Episode: Edited Excerpts: Segment 1: Ignite At the onset, what made your approach to resolving complex payment issues unique versus your competitors? From day one, we recognised that India's 90 million online businesses face deeply varied challenges—price sensitivity, uneven digitisation, credit constraints, and broken collection workflows unique to each sector. Unlike competitors offering one-size-fits-all payment processing, we segment businesses by industry (education, insurance, e-commerce, etc.) and tailor end-to-end collection journeys, including payment configuration, collection, split payments, reconciliation and multi-account settlements. This vertical-first strategy lets us solve domain-specific complexities and deliver outcomes our horizontal competitors can't match. What inspired you to go beyond just the education domain to sectors like real estate, and how did you replicate that model in real estate? We began in the education sector at a pivotal moment of digitisation, first building a placement portal to establish revenue. As we gained insights, we pivoted to solve campus-specific payment challenges—today, most institutes depend exclusively on our API-first, domain-driven payment suite, which plugs seamlessly into any ERP with minimal configuration. Leveraging that success, we expanded into real estate, where our platform automates RERA-compliant payment collections and powers a SaaS booking engine that lets buyers reserve flats with built-in validations and workflows—all in one scalable ecosystem. Segment 2: Launch Easebuzz benefited from the Reserve Bank of India embargo on most of the large payment aggregators, causing new brands to look at fresh payment solutions. Take us through how you quickly managed to scale to take advantage of this opportunity. That period not only helped us win early customers but, more importantly, solidified our credibility. Banking ecosystem recognised our rigorous processes and trusted our compliance-driven portfolio, which drove confidence in our solutions. As a result, over 20 banks now directly partner with us, referring both their current account clients and NBFC partners to Easebuzz's full-stack payments platform. Sub-segment: Boost How has AWS enabled you to monetise data at a lower cost and drive product development with new insights? We scaled from thousands to over a million transactions per day on AWS, leveraging their POC credits and rapid‐experiment to optimise cost and performance. Engineers' lives have become easier as they can access data at the click of a button and drive platform efficiency. Drawing on my data‐science background, I built a data-driven culture: our payment gateway and layered SaaS products generate high-accuracy financial data, empower every vertical with actionable insights, accelerate decision-making, and unlock new customer value. You also built an AI-powered Chatbot ERA on Amazon Bedrock, which automates responses for merchant/customer queries and developers. Could you expand on how these have improved your value proposition with customers? Leveraging AWS's intuitive GenAI stack, we've rolled out three core applications: streamlining internal operations, enhancing customer interactions, and powering advanced fraud and risk detection. For instance, our ERA model automatically handles L1/L2 support queries across 200 WhatsApp groups, resolving thousands of issues in-platform and delivering a 40% boost in efficiency alongside a 20% reduction in turnaround time. Segment 3: Orbit India's digital payments revolution is gaining international momentum, with both UPI and RuPay expanding rapidly across borders. What new opportunities are opening for Easebuzz as a result? We see embedded finance as our next frontier—supporting businesses as they scale globally, facilitate cross-border trade, and integrate services via both our core platform and the B2B Bharat Connect Platform. To accelerate this, we're engaging a strategic investor to guide our geographic expansion and align with regulatory and NPCI initiatives. Additionally, we're preparing for the upcoming interoperable Internet Banking and Mobile Banking initiative, which promises to revolutionise net-banking infrastructure for all banks. The Fintech SaaS market is central to the financial sector's digital evolution. By forging hybrid partnerships that blend banks' institutional resilience with the agility and innovation of fintech solutions, the industry is seamlessly bridging legacy systems and emerging trends. This collaboration not only reshapes the future of financial services but also accelerates India's journey toward developed-nation status. Stay tuned to Crafting Bharat – Season 2 as we bring you these inspiring entrepreneurs for insightful and candid discussions with Gautam Srinivasan. Facebook: Instagram: LinkedIn: X: (Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with NRDPL and PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.).
Business Standard
08-07-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Crafting Bharat - S2, powered by AWS Startups and an initiative by NewsReach, launches ninth episode with Dr. Raunak Bhinge, MD of Infinite Uptime
VMPL New Delhi [India], July 8: Artificial Intelligence offers India a unique opportunity to revolutionize its manufacturing sector, positioning it as a cutting-edge factory and service center for the global economy. By harnessing AI-driven automation, predictive analytics, and digital innovation, India can boost productivity, quality, and competitiveness across industries from automotive to pharmaceuticals. This promises sustainable growth and solidifies India's leadership. AI adoption is vital to the Viksit Bharat vision, driving India's evolution into a developed nation by 2047. The "Crafting Bharat - Season 2" powered by AWS Startups, an initiative by NewsReach, in association with VCCircle, and production partner - HT Smartcast, explores how startups are harnessing the power of the cloud to accelerate growth, optimise operations, and building solutions that will define the India of Tomorrow. This series is hosted by Gautam Srinivasan, famed for hosting a diverse range of TV and digital programs, currently consulting editor at CNBC (India), CNN-News18, Forbes India, and The Economic Times. In this episode, we spotlight Dr. Raunak Bhinge, MD of Infinite Uptime, who are innovating to deliver production outcomes so that Indian companies can truly embrace the fourth industrial revolution. He shares insights about Industry 4.0 technologies, their digital-first approach and how AWS is helping them scale and optimize their value preposition. In this series, explore inspiring startup stories that are shifting gears and sparking innovation across sectors, all contributing to India's transformation into a developed nation by 2047 in this captivating series. Edited Excerpts: Segment 1: Ignite What's a big client win that you fondly remember in terms of outcomes delivered? Startups often struggle at the outset. We were championing a forward-looking concept before the digital revolution fully arrived--educating clients on what's possible and the industry's trajectory over the next five to ten years. One standout early engagement was with JSW Steel's Vijayanagar plant in Karnataka, four hours by road from the nearest city. At COVID's outset, their visionary digital leader teamed up with us--and on August 14th at midnight, we were installing IoT sensors on critical equipment to demonstrate this innovation to Mr. Jindal during the August 15th celebrations. How did your product roadmap evolve to address customer challenges around connecting isolated data sources and scalability limitations by creating a plug-and-play solution to integrate modern analytics into their existing infrastructure? Initially, we tried integrating with legacy manufacturing systems for richer context, but found data siloed, fragmented, and non-interoperable. So, we designed an independent product roadmap that maximizes diagnostic insights and predictive accuracy without altering control systems, forming the backbone of our complete product stack. Many companies struggle with the upfront cost. How did you approach this issue when talking to potential clients? There are 2 things to this - ROI and how do you get them to start consuming - which brings into the business model. We decided to eliminate them having to put a lot of money upfront in advance on the table. You don't need to have Capex model, instead have an Opex model which is consumption based. We use a "show-and-grow" model: clients pay monthly only once they see value. As returns and benefits emerge, they scale usage. This consumption-based approach lets you start small and then scale, creating mutual gains. Segment 2: Launch In serving such a diverse array of customers with vast amounts of data to be processed, how has Infinite Uptime managed its own tech back-end to scale with higher and more varied demands of customers? We've developed a scalable approach--both technologically and organizationally--without needing industry-specific teams. Since most equipment is used across multiple sectors, we apply a common, replicable stack to predict faults. Only niche assets require custom AI models. For those few industry-specific machines, we build separate models, while all standard equipment diagnostics run on our universal platform. This lets us efficiently serve diverse industries with minimal per-segment adjustments. Sub-segment: Boost Take us through the highlights of how AWS enables Infinite Uptime to optimise its value proposition? We outgrew our previous cloud provider and, after evaluating architecture, capabilities, support, and costs, consciously migrated to AWS. Since then, AWS's built-in scalability, optimization tools, and dedicated support have enabled us to refine our architecture and scale globally. We're partnering with AWS to extend our reach and ensure our solution can support and grow with organizations worldwide. Segment 3: Orbit What are the lessons in smart manufacturing that India can learn from the world and vice-versa? India is rapidly embracing smart manufacturing and digital transformation--a promising shift. I witnessed China adopt similar practices back in 2017-18, even before terms like "digital factories" were popular. India's edge lies in frugal innovation--delivering high-impact, ROI-driven solutions that global industries can adopt cost-effectively, unlike complex, high-cost models in the West. What is your view on drivers for upskilling and reskilling in frontier technologies that are changing the manufacturing landscape in India as we speak? AI is transforming manufacturing by enabling data-driven decisions on the shop floor, replacing intuition with real-time insights and helping teams upskill, ultimately driving efficiency and value across the industry. By aligning sectoral growth with sustainability and inclusivity, India is well-positioned to achieve a $23-$35 trillion economy by 2047. This transformation can enhance quality of life, strengthen global influence, and position India as a leader in economic progress, technological innovation, and social development on the world stage. Stay tuned to Crafting Bharat - Season 2 as we bring you these inspiring entrepreneurs for insightful and candid discussion with Gautam Srinivasan.
Business Standard
24-06-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Crafting Bharat - S2, powered by AWS Startups and an initiative by NewsReach, launches seventh episode with Anand Agrawal of Credgenics
VMPL New Delhi [India], June 24: India's robust GDP growth has firmly established it as the world's fastest-growing large economy. With breakthrough technological advancements, rapidly expanding infrastructure, and a vibrant startup ecosystem driving innovation, India is well on its way to achieving developed nation status and paving the way for transformative economic progress on a global scale. The "Crafting Bharat - Season 2" powered by AWS Startups, an initiative by NewsReach, in association with VCCircle, and production partner - HT Smartcast, explores how startups are harnessing the power of the cloud to accelerate growth, optimise operations, and building solutions that will define the India of Tomorrow. This series is hosted by Gautam Srinivasan, famed for hosting a diverse range of TV and digital programs, currently consulting editor at CNBC (India), CNN-News18, Forbes India, and The Economic Times. In this episode, we spotlight Anand Agrawal, Co-Founder and CPTO of Credgenics, who are offering a simplified digital approach to recovering dues. He shares insights about the lending industry, how they pivoted from litigation management to debt collection and how AWS helped them scale effectively and efficiently. In this series, explore inspiring startup stories that are shifting gears and sparking innovation across sectors, all contributing to India's transformation into a developed nation by 2047 in this captivating series. Episode link: Edited Excerpts: Segment 1: Ignite Take us through how solving specific customer pain points helped you grow the suite of services and eventually transformed you to a platform for all things debt recovery? Despite our lack of collections or lending experience, we thoroughly analyzed customer pain points and developed a technology solution by drawing analogies from other industries. Embracing an outsider's perspective, we transformed our litigation management tool into an integrated mobile application with a dialer system, streamlining workflows and data sharing. Instead of fragmented solutions, we combined multiple functionalities into one platform, enabling bank collections teams to work together seamlessly and efficiently. What gave you a first mover's advantage in solving collections problem? Our unique advantage was being the first to address collections using technology. Instead of managing portfolios as traditional agencies do, we built a scalable platform that empowers lenders to handle collections directly. Our solution accommodates lakhs of accounts and diverse lending products, offering a generic, adaptable product designed through deep insight into the industry's needs rather than one-off solutions for individual customers. What was the reason behind expanding into Indonesia so early in the game? What did your funders think about the move? We expanded into Indonesia in early 2023, capitalizing on a pandemic-induced need for tech-based debt management solutions. With minor product adjustments for currency, time zones, and language, we maintained our core functionality. Our steady three-year growth convinced investors, and after thorough internal discussions, we aligned on the strategy to test Indonesia's market with confidence. Segment 2: Launch How demanding did large customers get once they bought into your idea and how challenging was it for Credgenics to service their needs? We cater to enterprise clients, including large lenders and major banks. These institutions often demand highly customised solutions, as they are accustomed to working with leading IT service providers. Our inaugural product-- a legal notice solution--began as a 10-page document and evolved in 2-3 months into a low-code, drag-and-drop platform that triggers digital and physical notices. Our goal remains to deeply understand challenges and provide innovative, efficient, and cost-effective solutions. Sub-segment: Boost The Credgenics platform is built on AWS. Take us through the highlights of how AWS has enabled you to scale via AWS Managed Services and fuel your ambitious growth plans for 2025? We deployed our solution on AWS and rely on a KEDA-based Kubernetes architecture for event-driven autoscaling. As user-triggered events reach a 70-75% threshold, additional infrastructure is automatically provisioned. Our workflows run asynchronously--triggered by prior customer interactions rather than manual scheduling. AWS MSK and MQ efficiently manage these queues, ensuring smooth operations even during unpredictable scaling. Segment 3: Orbit What are the gaps remaining when it comes to debt recovery and collections especially for the next billion users in Tier 3 and 4 areas as trends such as BNPL or Credit EMIs reach underserved segments? The Viksit Bharat@2047 agenda is ambitious and hinges on boosting digital literacy, especially in Tier 3 and 4 markets. To serve the next billion users, it's essential to educate them on building and maintaining healthy credit scores. Financial institutions in the MSME and microfinance sectors are addressing these challenges by leveraging alternative data sources, communicating in multiple languages, and establishing local branches to gradually build credit profiles and enhance overall financial inclusion. Stay tuned to Crafting Bharat - Season 2 as we bring you these inspiring entrepreneurs for insightful and candid discussion with Gautam Srinivasan. As India stands at this pivotal moment, ready to accelerate on its growth path, it is essential to harness the unwavering dedication, belief in the nation's potential, and the energy of its youth. With strong leadership and a mission-driven approach, transforming India to shape a brighter role for itself on the global stage.
Business Standard
20-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Crafting Bharat - S2 launches their second episode with Abhishek Kumar of Mygate
VMPL New Delhi [India], May 20: India's growth story is reflected in the global expansion of its businesses, the transformative power of AI-led innovation, and the rising influence of its youth - 65% of whom are under 35. From driving entrepreneurship and leadership to shaping sustainability, technology, and policy, their contribution is turning bold aspirations into real and measurable impact. The "Crafting Bharat - Season 2" powered by AWS Startups, an initiative by NewsReach, in association with VCCircle, and production partner - HT Smartcast, explores how startups are harnessing the power of the cloud to accelerate growth, optimise operations, and building solutions that will define the India of Tomorrow. This series is hosted by Gautam Srinivasan, famed for hosting a diverse range of TV and digital programs, currently consulting editor at CNBC (India), CNN-News18, Forbes India, and The Economic Times. In this episode, we spotlight Abhishek Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO of Mygate, who are enhancing the living experience through their technology. He discusses about how their solution is making gated communities more secure, making the world's most comprehensive community management platform and how AWS was instrumental in making them reliable and resilient for the communities. In this series, explore inspiring startup stories that are shifting gears and sparking innovation across sectors, all contributing to India's transformation into a developed nation by 2047 in this captivating series. Watch the episode here: Edited Excerpts: Segment 1: Ignite You identified the security guard as the weakest point and the strongest point in operating the product and shadowed them. What confirmed the thesis that you could be creating a killer app? People often live with small, persistent problems--what we call manageable pain--until a better solution appears. When we shared our idea, early conviction came from investors eager to support us. Later, Resident Welfare Associations resonated deeply with our product, especially around security. While shadowing guards, we discovered even greater opportunities, like easing daily frustrations with house help check-ins--problems residents accepted until they saw a better way. Take us through your roadmap for product growth and how it evolved from solving the problem statements of gate and security to becoming the one stop operating system? From day one, our mindset as founders was clear--we focused on solving core security issues while partnering on non-core problems. With an open API architecture, we integrated key services like prepaid meters, water systems, and e-commerce, evolving into a one-stop solution that simplifies life for residents through a unified platform. That is how we became a One-Stop solutions app which provides core solutions that we are good at along with other solutions which are a part of our ecosystem approach. Segment 2: Launch As the Indian customer grows more privacy and data security conscious, how is Mygate retooling itself to be more compliant to the DPDP act considering you were already GDPR compliant? Protecting resident data has been a core value since day one, driven by our founders' strong ethos. In 2019, we proactively became GDPR-ready, incorporating key principles like the right to be forgotten, transparency on data access, and consent-based processes. Though GDPR doesn't apply to India, this approach naturally aligned us with the DPDP Act, requiring minimal adjustments when it was implemented in 2023, reinforcing our commitment to data security. Sub-segment: Boost Mygate has been an AWS customer since its inception and the entire app is hosted on AWS. Give us a glimpse of how AWS has helped to improve your business resilience and value proposition? A strong foundation is key to any successful venture, and for our technology, AWS has been that pillar. Over our nine-year journey, AWS has played a crucial role in Mygate's growth, from launching as a gate security app to validating 4 million daily visits and building our advertising framework. Our smart devices and locks also run on AWS. With 24/7 reliability essential to our business, AWS solutions like ECS, DynamoDB, and ElastiCache ensure seamless scalability and stability. Our partnership remains strong and enduring. Segment 3: Orbit What's the next milestone in terms of 'people impact' that you are looking forward to as you expand to more cities? We recognized early that gated communities are thriving hubs of commerce. Over time, they have expanded from 200 homes to townships of 20,000 homes, forming mini economies. This growth presents vast opportunities, especially for the blue-collar workforce, who are now part of the Mygate ecosystem. Our recently launched Saarthi App connects house help, drivers, and caretakers with local job openings. Additionally, we see potential in integrating in-community businesses--salons, grocery stores, and home entrepreneurs--enabling residents to discover and engage with local services seamlessly. What's your best-case scenario for growth while India grows as you hedge your bets between community-based solutions and individual centered solutions? We never launched products with a hedging mindset and remain committed to gated communities. As they continue to thrive, we are evolving from a community operating system to a living experience tech company, solving everyday urban challenges. Expanding beyond gated communities, we now aim to enhance independent homeowners' living experiences. We are approaching this journey cautiously, starting with Smart Locks, which received a positive response. Based on this success, we will carefully evaluate our future product launches. As Bharat progresses toward 2047, the vision of Viksit Bharat will be driven by the collective ambition of a nation that is evolving, innovating, and redefining its role on the global stage. Stay tuned to Crafting Bharat - Season 2 as we bring you these inspiring entrepreneurs for insightful and candid discussion with Gautam Srinivasan. Facebook: Instagram: LinkedIn: X:
