BankSathi, a fintech social commerce start-up, has issued three lakh credit cards by June 2023, marking a 4X growth from the previous fiscal year. It currently has 3.6 annual run rate of card issuances. 

India currently has around 8.5 crore active credit cards held by four crore individuals. The industry is expected to maintain a strong 25% CAGR, which might surpass 20 crore credit cards by 2026.

The driving force behind this growth is the young workforce as well as the budding entrepreneurs. The surge in credit card applications has been boosted by the widespread use of UPI payments via credit cards. Other factors include the widespread adoption of digital processes with services like Digilocker, Aadhar and digital PAN verification. 

In a press statement, the company stated that it empowers consumers by providing the right financial products with access to last-mile users, especially in Tier II and Tier III cities. It has developed a platform that leverages algorithms and data analytics to provide personalised recommendations that identify the most relevant financial products.

Jitendra Dhaka, co-founder at BankSathi, stated that to meet the needs of customers, the company equipped financial advisors with cutting-edge digital tools, training, and knowledge to offer timely and accurate advice and a seamless online buying experience. A few years ago, the credit card issuance time period was 20 days, but after the current digital adoption, customers can get approval of credit cards within 30 minutes, helping us issue more cards.

"We are thrilled to have achieved this significant milestone as India's third-largest credit card issuer. With increasing digitisation and the proliferation of 'India Stack', the financial distribution industry will expand significantly in the next few years across lending, insurance, credit cards, etc. As a consumer-focused platform, we want to be a part of this evolution." he added.  

BankSathi, a financial products distributor, has raised $4 million in funding from Kotak Securities, Lets Venture, We Founder Circle, Hem Securities, Inflection Point Ventures and JITO.

Some marquee HNIs who backed it included Sunil Singhania of Abakkus Invest, Kunal Shal, founder of CRED, Dr Ritesh Malik of Innov8, Kailash Biyani of Asian Markets, Mukul Rastogi and Bhaswat Agarwal of ClassPlus, Varun Alagh, co-founder of MamaEarth and Manish Dabkara, co-founder of EKI Energy.