Country’s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank announced today about its interest in investing in startups in the financial technology space, even though it has not earmarked a dedicated corpus for the investments.“We are looking whether we should also invest in these companies. And if there is any opportunity and a compelling proposition, we will look at it, “said the bank’s Executive Director Rajiv Sabharwal.
Last year in September, its rival, South-based Federal Bank, announced a dedicated investment of Rs. 25 Cr. in the startups.
After the launch of Startup India initiative by the Indian Govt., a slew of lenders has announced plans for startups, even though some of the most successful startups have seen an erosion in valuations.
“We don’t have a dedicated fund line, but if there is an opportunity, we will look at it,” he said, adding that the bank is already working with startups personally or through incubators.
The lenders initiatives revolve around having dedicated branches and products with a focus on financial advisory for budding entrepreneurs.
Market leader SBI also launched a dedicated branch for startups in Bengaluru, which was followed by a similar move by private sector lender RBL Bank today.
Sabharwal said, “ICICI Bank is interested in technologies like big data and artificial intelligence, which will help it serve customers better.”
The bank today declared winners of a mobile application developing contest and said over 2,000 entries were received.
The top honor went to Bengaluru-based startup employee Mohit Talwadiya for his Conversational Banking app which will help do banking with ease of conversations based on natural language processing and artificial intelligence on multiple channels like chat and speech.
The bank will try to incorporate the winning innovations into its digital strategy.