XLRI Jamshedpur hosted its annual finance symposium GNOSIS ‘22 in St Regis, Mumbai on 5th November. Organized by the Finance Association at XLRI (FINAX), it was after an online hiatus of 2 years that the symposium was back in Mumbai, the financial capital of India. The event hosted speakers with diverse finance experiences like banking, startups, social finance, public policy, etc, and saw participation from corporates, finance faculties and students alike. This year’s theme was ‘Digital Transformation in Finance’. The upcoming trends in the Indian finance space like digital payments, credit access for all, and digital currency are being fueled by technological strides and a conducive regulatory environment. Praveena Rai, COO of National Payments Corporation of India (NCPI) guided us towards the core of realistic approach towards digitisation and focussed on customer experience. She was optimistics about digital and relied on enough headroom for penetration of internet across India.The symposium began with a speech from our special speaker, Ms. Roop Rashi Mahapatra, former director general of CAG India and commissioner for textiles. She talked about how distant areas of India are adding to the growing volume of digital trade that has overtaken the size of the world's major economies. The journey that India has covered, substantially reduced the time and effort needed to open a bank account. The shift in perception of banking institutions from corporate to retail consumers. Being closely associated with various government departments, she shared her experience, learnings, and insights regarding the creation of a technology foundation for financial inclusion.Mr. Manoj Panda, RBI chair professor and former director of IEG, was one of our first guest speakers and delivered a very informed presentation on India's growth story and digital transformation. He led the audience on a tour of India's development from the end of colonial rule to the present. He talked on how technological progress in the manufacturing of goods and services and their marketing to consumers has been greatly influenced by the digital transformation that has occurred over the past few decades. The audience was given a broad perspective by his upbeat thoughts on how the digital transformation may help further improve India's growth story and how the same can be improved by the united efforts of society and policymakers.Royston Braganza, CEO of Grameen Capital joined the symposium as our esteemed guest speaker and shed light on the SDG goals to be achieved to attain digitisation. He mentioned technology to be a pivot at every SDG goal. In order to make the symposium interesting he came up with his own abbreviation for FINAX to support his views. F- Futuristic Finance and its impact of product I - Impact and InnovationN - New age policyA - AccessX - Excluding no one behind (last bottom line of SDG 2015)Mr. Sanjay Saxena, CFO, Paytm Payments Bank was the third guest speaker. Connected with us virtually over a zoom call, he emphasised on the importance and rising relevance of technology. He spoke about how technology was not only going to change the future of banking or finance but also the basics of life like work, health, education etc. When asked by one of the attendees regarding the speculations around imposition of a fee on UPI transactions and its impact on the consumers and merchants, he held an optimistic view on the future and the regulators’ stand on the issue. He also spoke about the challenges faced by the government to bridge the gap between the trend of digitalization in finance and the goal of achieving financial inclusion in the country. He was positive about the impact of the measures and policies introduced by the government.Kicking off with the first panel discussion on the topic, “Impetus to Digitalization in Finance”, Mr. Rahul Bajoria, MD, Barclays Investment Bank, started with highlighting the Indian regulations and scope of digitalization in finance under those. He pointed out that the biggest challenge that the regulators faced was to achieve the goal of financial inclusion while catering to the diversity of the population. He gave the three focus points of - Availability, Affordability and Accessibility to ensure better percolation of digitalization and finance in the country. Mr. Vivek Gupta, MD, Kaizen Partners, called India a “manufacturer of technology” and was positive of the leaps ahead. He pointed out that innovation and overcoming risks was the key solution to overcome digital lethargy. Mr. Krishna Kanhaiya, CEO, Mirae Asset Financial Services, speaking about the role of technology as an enabler and one of the basis of the business, specifically emphasised on the impact of digital transformation on the financial markets and processes like dematerialization of securities, co-lending, e-KYCs. He pointed out that the regulators (Govt., RBI, SEBI,etc) were very supportive of the overall shift and facilitated the process of digital transformation.Taking the discussion ahead, Mr. T.Bijoy, the moderator for the panel moved Ms. Smitha Hari, Senior VP, AuctusESG. Ms. Hari emphasised the importance of sustainability of finance and digitalization as a combination. She explained how the concept of “ESG”, “sustainable finance”, etc were gaining prominence and were more than just buzzwords. They were not only gaining attention from the regulators but also from businesses and financial institutions to aid them in leveraging sustainability as an advantage and capacity building. Speaking of the relevance of digital banking at different societal levels, Mr. Prashant Thakar, CFO & Director, Suvudhaa Infoserve, highlighted the importance of microfinance as an enabler and an end of the digital transformation in finance. Moving forward with the discussion, Mr. Tirthankar Patnaik, Chief Economist, National Stock Exchange spoke about the relevance and prospect of the Central Bank Digital Currency in the country. He pointed out that the scope for digital rupee was large considering the ownership percentages in financial markets, settlements, and anonymity of transactions.The second-panel discussion revolved around adapting to a rapidly changing environment and the cashless economy. Manish Kothari, (President & Head, Commercial Banking Kotak Mahindra Bank) spoke about how his bank is navigating the new age of digital transformation. With consumers moving online, Kotak Mahindra has reduced its rate of opening new branches to a fifth of what it was previously doing, Alok Misra (CEO, of Microfinance Institutions Network) debunked the myth that poor people can’t be banked, especially given access to credit. He emphasised a ‘phygital’ approach for people at the bottom of the financial pyramid enabling repayment more possible in microfinance. Going ahead with the discussion, Mr. Umar Ali Shaikh, CEO, Atos India while holding an overall positive and encouraging viewpoint towards the existing and upcoming trends in digital banking pointed out the issues and concerns around the security and privacy of transactions. He stressed on the importance of cyber security and the rising cases of cyber frauds and crime as the core standing of banking business requires security as an implicit prerequisite. He highlighted how the ecosystem of financial services in our country is largely based on the social fabric of our country with convenience (simplified transactions) and trust being the two major pillars supporting it. Taking the discussion ahead from here, Mr. Saurabh Oak, the moderator for Panel 2 moved to Mr. Mihir Gandhi, Partner - Payments Transformation, PwC India. Mr. Gandhi, highlighted the trend of boundary lines becoming blurry between various financial, digital and consumer products and how it has given rise to integrated and embedded products such as ‘embedded finance’. He pointed out that while adapting to these changes, the customer experience of the overall product forms a crucial parameter. To improve the overall customer experience, the various touch points in the journey need to be identified along with the identification and subsequent solution of the various challenges and risks arising during the various steps of the process.Watch the first video here!