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SCHEDULE OF TENDER (SOT)
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The shift to digital banking was likely accelerated by existing trends such as increasing use of digital channels, including banking, broader use of video calls in place of face-to-face meetings, etc. These trends have intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, and high levels of digital adoption are likely to hold even as the pandemic subsides, the survey suggests.
In emerging markets, FinTech apps and e-wallet penetration reached 54% in 2021, compared with 43% in developed Asia–Pacific. In 2017, the penetration was just 38% in emerging markets.
More than half of the respondents in most Asia–Pacific markets report that cash is used for less than 30% of weekly spending, the survey said.
The survey results indicate that banks can expand their digital offering, by leveraging existing assets. According to McKinskey, banks will need to reinvent its business and delivery models by focusing on three key areas – value of branches, customer engagement, and overall competitive positioning.
Approximately 97% of all Asia–Pacific consumers favour mobile and online banking, and 2% of consumers in developed Asia–Pacific and 3% in emerging Asia–Pacific continue to conduct most of their bank business at the branch.
With digital banking becoming more and more popular, the question of functionalities of bank branches arises. However, despite these numbers, McKinsey says that bank branches will continue to be consumers’ primary partner in managing money. Banks can make sure that branch staff have time to concentrate on activities like advising on loans, insurance, or investments to customers, and digitise other processes, it said.
To further engage customers in digital banking, McKinsey’s research suggests that banks should urge customers to buy banking products online. Even though 70% of respondents expressed openness for using digital channels for services beyond transactions, only 20-30% said they were comfortable to buy online banking products like savings accounts, loans, or credit cards.
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Emkay Global sees an of nearly 31% on the stock of NHPC from the current levels. “In the past few years, the company has increased its dividend payout, and the yield stands at 6% currently. With a strong balance sheet (D/E of 0.7x and Rs 22.5 billion of cash on books), NHPC can increase its capex, especially on Solar assets. The company has emerged as the winner of a 1,000MW Solar project under CPSU Scheme II.
We assume coverage on NHPC with a Buy rating and a target price (Sept’22E) of Rs 34, based on SoTP. We expect its RoE to touch 12/13% by FY26E from 9.3% in FY22E and 8% in FY15. Our target price implies 0.9 times Sept’23E BVPS. We believe that improving RoE profile is one of the most important factors for re-rating in Utilities,” the brokerage has said.
According to Motilal Oswal, the year FY21, proved to be a tumultuous year for the Apparel business, impacted Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail even more adversely. “High leverage and squeezed working capital led to a strain on liquidity which was responded well through equity infusion and unwinding of working capital. According to Motilal Oswal, the rejig in product categories to adjust to the changing consumer demands, coupled with steady store addition across formats (Lifestyle/Pantaloons target to add 250/60 stores each annually) is expected to drive healthy growth.
“With leverage reaching comfortable levels and return ratios/cash flows expected to improve, we believe the stock yet does not fully capture the growth potential even after factoring in the losses in Ethnic Wear for couple of years. Maintain Buy,” the brokerage has said.
Investing in equities poses a risk of financial losses. Investors must therefore exercise due caution. Greynium Information Technologies, the author, and the brokerage houses are not liable for any losses caused as a result of decisions based on the article. The above article is for informational purposes only
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Stakeholders in the ATM ecosystem, including banks, White Label ATM Operators (WLAOs) and managed service providers (Brown Label ATM operators/ BLAOs), may take a long hard look at their networks in the wake of the Reserve Bank of India deciding to bring in a ‘Scheme of Penalty for Non-replenishment of ATMs’ with effect from October 1.
While all players in the ecosystem appreciate the objective of the central bank’s scheme, which seeks to ensure that sufficient cash is available to the public through ATMs, they emphasise it does not take into account the fact that they are up against infrastructure bottlenecks.
In this regard, they cite the limited capacity of cash logistics service providers to support ATMs, especially in rural- and semi-urban areas, and the 2018 Home Ministry guidelines, which placed timing restrictions on cash loading and cash transportation.
Further, the fact that ATM downtime can occur not only on account of cash-outs but also due to the very small aperture terminal for data communication not working, the machine having some problem, and power supply issues, among others, seems to have escaped the RBI’s attention when formulating the scheme.
The flat penalty of ₹10,000 per ATM for cash-out at any ATM of more than 10 hours in a month has got the goat of players as it will eat into their margins, possibly turning ATM operations financially unviable. Some of them are weighing the option of pulling the plug on ATMs in rural- and semi-urban areas.
If they shut down these ATMs, it will undermine the cause of financial inclusion as people getting direct benefit transfer (DBT) under various government schemes will not have access to one of the key alternative channels for doing banking transactions. About 20 per cent of the total 2,39,761 ATMs deployed by banks and WLAOs as of June-end were in rural areas, per RBI data. About 28 per cent of the total ATMs has been deployed in semi-urban areas.
The condition “when the customer is not able to withdraw cash due to non-availability of cash in a particular ATM” for counting instances of cash-outs in an ATM has not gone down well with players in the ATM ecosytem.
Their fear is that the regulator may slap penalties even in cases where cash is available in the ATM, but is not able to dispense due to some technical issues.
Pranay Jhaveri, Member of the Board of Directors of the Confederation of ATM Industry (CATMi), said: “While the intention of the RBI to improve end consumer servicing is positive, I think, some of the infrastructure challenges that we are facing, don’t seem to have been taken into account.
“I am not sure if they have consulted the industry players – banks, managed service providers, white label ATM operators, and cash-in-transit (CIT) companies.”
He emphasised that after the RBI, in 2018, prescribed that banks can engage only those cash management logistics providers which meet minimum standards, including minimum net worth of ₹100 crore, minimum fleet size of 300 specifically fabricated cash vans, and two armed security guards (gunmen) in each cash van, there are only a handful of CIT companies. “Essentially, when one considers Tier-IV, Tier-V, and Tier-VI centres, CITs might service these centres, maybe, once or twice a week.
“For example, in a city like Mumbai, CITs service ATMs possibly every single day,” said Jhaveri.
He underscored that CITs/ cash replenishment agencies can’t replicate the daily service/ support capability they provide to an ATM in, say, Bandra (Mumbai) or Mount Road (Chennai) to an ATM in a village in UP or Bihar.
As per the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) 2018 guidelines, no cash loading of the ATMs or cash transportation activities can be done after 9 pm in urban areas; after 6 pm in rural areas; and before 9am or after 4 pm in the districts notified by the Central government as Left Wing Extremism-affected areas.
ATM operators pointed out that bank branches are unable to give them cash to fill the ATMs till about 12 noon as they are dependent on cash deposits from customers. This further restricting their actual hours for logistics operations.
So, the entities that have deployed ATMs are caught between a rock and a hard place. If an ATM goes cash-out in a rural or semi-urban centre after the MHA prescribed cash loading and transportation hours, it can take anywhere between 12-16 hours to replenish it with cash.
Hence, there is a distinct possibility of such an ATM being cash-out for more than 10 hours in a month due to the MHA’s restrictions, resulting in RBI imposing penalties. Also, the players in the ATM ecosystem cannot overcome the cash-out problem by filling the ATMs with higher denomination notes as the ₹2,000 bank note is becoming scarce.
As per the RBI’s latest annual report, the last time an indent was placed for ₹2,000 bank note and the same was supplied was in 2018-19. Bank branches with onsite ATMs may be able to ensure that there is no cash-out in their machines.
But when it comes to offsite bank ATMs, ATMs managed by BLAOs and those deployed by WLAOs, there is only so much that stakeholders do to ensure continuous uptime as many of the variables are outside their control.
Banks will simply pass on the penalties imposed by RBI to WLAOs and BLAOs, said the MD of a WLAO.
In this regard, he mentioned that Central Bank of India’s request for proposal for deployment of 2,600 Cash Dispensers (including 50 mobile ATMs) requires the bidder to give an indemnity covering damages, loss suffered by the bank arising out of “claims made by regulatory authorities”.
Per industry estimates, cash-out penalty of ₹10,000 a month means a loss of about 30 per cent of WLAOs monthly revenue from an ATM. This will severely dent their bottomline.
So, the four WLAOs, who collectively deployed 52 per cent of their total 25,995 ATMs (as of June-end 2021) in rural areas and 33 per cent in semi-urban areas, may be left with no incentive to either add ATMs or even continue with the existing ones, the WLAO official quoted above said.
Similarly, if banks pass on regulatory penalties levied on them to the service providers (majority of bank-deployed ATMs are outsourced to managed service providers), it would put a huge burden on their financial position.
Some of the players in the ATM industry will soon find themselves at a crossroads. If the regulator implements the ‘Scheme of Penalty for non-replenishment of ATMs’ as it is, they may have to take a tough call – either scale down the network to avoid penalties or exit business altogether. This can have implications for people living in the hinterland.
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ICICI Bank has developed this new facility that functions on the back of an industry-first scorecard to evaluate credit worthiness of sellers based on their financial profile including Credit Bureau scores.
The new credit assessment method offers convenience to the sellers as it does away with the paper-intensive bank statements or income tax returns for assessing credit worthiness. Further, it empowers small businesses and individual sellers who are ‘new-to-credit’ and ‘existing MSME borrowers’ to unlock the value of their digital transactions and get access to instant credit.
In a statement, Pankaj Gadgil, Head- Self Employed Segment, SME & Merchant Ecosystem, ICICI Bank said, “This process will help the sellers, who may otherwise not get access to adequate credit when assessed in the traditional way of using only balance sheets, bank statements and tax returns. This new proposition resonates our effort in developing innovations for MSME customers and will empower them with new avenues of business expansion.”
Benefits of InstaOD:
“We are prioritizing our efforts to help sellers on amazon.in bounce back from the disruption owing to COVID-19. We want to enable easy access to credit for sellers with transparent policies and at low costs” said Vikas Bansal, Director – Amazon Pay India, in a statement.
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A company’s earning per share, or EPS, is its net profit, or profit after tax (PAT), divided by the total number of outstanding shares. Although dividend payout is not directly tied to earnings per share, it is usual to notice that only companies with consistently stable or growing earnings per share pay dividends to their shareholders. Though dividends are very subjective, and many factors are taken into account before a dividend is paid, investors seeking dividend income should look at the company’s EPS before investing.
Analysts can use the EPS computation to undertake a fundamental examination of a company. A corporation with a greater earnings per share (EPS) is thought to be more prosperous and financially stable. Analysts use earnings per share (EPS) to assess a company’s financial health. It is frequently referred to as the value of a company’s bottom line.
Technical Grade Pesticides and Intermediates are manufactured by Bharat Rasayan Limited (BRL). BRL has production facilities in Rohtak, Haryana, and Dahej, Gujarat. The stock returned 92.28 percent over three years, compared to 61.01 percent for the Nifty Smallcap 100. The company’s EPS is 377.02, which is high and good for investors.
Bharat Rasayan has consistently generated good financial results, with a Net Profit growth rate of 40.8 percent CAGR over the last five years. In addition, the company boasts a great ROE of 31.9 percent for the year. Cost optimization and operational efficiency have also helped it increase its operating profit margins from 6% in 2010 to 19% in 2020. Given the company’s outstanding growth, it trades at a reasonable 27.5x P/E valuation.
In India, Bayer CropScience Limited manufactures, sells, and distributes insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, and other agrochemical products. The company has enough cash on hand to cover its contingent liabilities. In the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021, the company spent less than 1% of its operating revenues on interest charges and 8.5 percent on staff costs. Stock returned 21.52 percent over three years, compared to 70.22 percent for the Nifty Midcap 100.
On the financial front, the company has maintained a consistent performance, with a ROE of 19.1 percent in FY21. It has generated stable cash flows, with operational cash flows rising at a 27.24 percent CAGR from Rs. 206 crores in 2016 to Rs. 687 crores in 2021. Bayer is debt-free and has significant liquidity, having cash and cash equivalents of Rs. 1,210 crores at the end of FY21. The stock also has a P/E of 48.61x, which shows that the company is valued fairly.
The company’s yearly revenue growth rate of 37.67% surpassed its three-year CAGR of 25.94%. The stock returned 335.25 percent over three years, compared to 61.69 percent for the Nifty 100. PI Industries Ltd., founded in 1946, is a Large Cap business in the Pesticides/Agro Chemicals industry with a market cap of Rs 48,608.21 crore.
The domestic business is likely to improve over the medium term, thanks to a strong product line-up, a helpful policy environment, and a regular monsoon. Following the successful Rs. 2,000 crore equity injection via QIP method in July 2020, PI Industries now has a healthy financial risk profile and liquidity.
Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd., founded in 1976, is a Small Cap business in the Fertilizers industry with a market cap of Rs 6,301.45 crore. The stock returned 11.77 percent over three years, compared to 70.22 percent for the Nifty Midcap 100. Over a three-year period, the stock returned 11.77 percent, compared to 85.52 percent for the S&P BSE Basic Materials index. The company has good EPS of 60.21.
| Company | Price in Rs | EPS | Div Yield |
| Bharat Rasayan | 12,390 | 377.02 | 0.01% |
| Bayer Cropscience | 5,302 | 110.16 | 0.47% |
| PI Industries | 3,170 | 51.41 | 0.16% |
| GNFC | 437 | 60.21% | 1.87%. |
The Indian weather has been notoriously fickle in the past, with erratic rains across the country. In the event that rainfall is lower for a given year, farming activities for a specific crop or state may be reduced, resulting in a lesser need for fertilizers and pesticides for that year. Increased input costs, higher interest rates, excessive borrowing, larger cash obligations, a lack of adequate cash or credit reserves, and adverse changes in exchange rates in the case of company imports can all contribute to financial hazards.
Agriculture is one of the most important sectors in the country, with plenty of space for increased consumption; the sector requires tried-and-true products like pesticides, tractors, and current irrigation systems, among other things.
The opinions and investment ideas offered by Greynium Information Technologies’ authors or employees should not be construed as investment advice to buy or sell stocks, gold, currency, or other commodities. Investors should not make trading or investment decisions solely primarily on information given on GoodReturns.in. We are not a qualified financial counsellor, and the material provided here is not intended to be investment advice.
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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed, by an order dated September 23, 2021, a monetary penalty of ₹11.00 lakh on The Jammu & Kashmir State Co-operative Bank Limited, Srinagar (the bank) for contravention of section 23 read with section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. This penalty has been imposed in exercise of powers vested in RBI under the provisions of Section 47 A (1) (c) read with Section 46 (4) (i) and Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. This action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers. Background The statutory inspection of the bank was conducted by NABARD with reference to the bank’s financial position as on March 31, 2019 and the Inspection Report pertaining thereto, revealed, inter alia, contravention of section 23 read with section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 as the bank had opened branches without obtaining the prior permission of the RBI. Based on the same, a Notice was issued to the bank advising it to show cause as to why penalty should not be imposed for violation of the said directions. After considering the bank’s reply, RBI came to the conclusion that the aforesaid charge of contravention of section 23 read with section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 was substantiated and warranted imposition of monetary penalty. (Yogesh Dayal) Press Release: 2021-2022/934 |
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The Reserve Bank has issued Master Direction on loan transfer, requiring banks and other lending institutions to have a comprehensive board-approved policy for such transactions.
Loan transfers are resorted to by lending institutions for various reasons, ranging from liquidity management, rebalancing their exposures or strategic sales. Also, a robust secondary market in loans will help in creating additional avenues for raising liquidity, the RBI said.
The provisions of the direction are applicable to banks, all non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), including housing finance companies (HFCs), NABARD, NHB, EXIM Bank, and SIDBI.
Minimum holding period
The Master Direction has also prescribed a minimum holding period for different categories of loans after which they shall become eligible for transfer.
“The lenders must put in place a comprehensive Board approved policy for transfer and acquisition of loan exposures under these guidelines.
“These guidelines must…lay down the minimum quantitative and qualitative standards relating to due diligence, valuation, requisite IT systems for capture, storage and management of data, risk management, periodic Board level oversight, etc,” said the Master Direction.
Draft guidelines on Reserve Bank of India (Transfer of Loan Exposures) Directions, 2021, were released for public comments in June last year.
The final direction has been prepared to take into account inter alia the comments received. The direction, the RBI said came into effect immediately.
As per the direction, “a loan transfer should result in immediate separation of the transferor from the risks and rewards associated with loans to the extent that the economic interest has been transferred”.
In case of any retained economic interest in the exposure by the transferor, the loan transfer agreement should specify the distribution of the principal and interest income from the transferred loan between the transferor and the transferee(s), it added.
‘Transferor’ means the entity which transfers the economic interest in a loan exposure, while ‘transferee’ refers to the entity to which the economic interest in a loan exposure is transferred.
It further said a transferor “cannot re-acquire” a loan exposure, either fully or partially, that had been transferred by the entity previously, except as a part of a resolution plan.
Further, “the transferee(s) should have the unfettered right to transfer or otherwise dispose of the loans free of any restraining condition to the extent of economic interest transferred to them”.
Loans not in default
The master direction also provides a procedure for the transfer of loans that are not in default.
Meanwhile, the RBI also issued Master Direction on the securitisation of standard assets to facilitate their repackaging into tradable securities with different risk profiles.
Observing that complicated and opaque securitisation structures could be undesirable from the point of view of financial stability, the RBI said, “Prudentially structured securitisation transactions can be an important facilitator in a well-functioning financial market in that it improves risk distribution and liquidity of lenders in originating fresh loan exposures”.
In its ‘Master Direction – Reserve Bank of India (Securitisation of Standard Assets) Directions, 2021’, the central bank has specified the Minimum Retention Requirement (MRR) for different classes of assets.
For underlying loans with an original maturity of 24 months or less, the MRR shall be 5 per cent of the book value of the loans being securitised. It will be 10 per cent for loans with an original maturity of more than 24 months.
In the case of residential mortgage-backed securities, the MRR for the originator shall be 5 per cent of the book value of the loans being securitised, irrespective of the original maturity.
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HDFC Securities has a ‘Buy’ rating on pharmaceuticals company, Amrutanjan Healthcare for a target price of Rs. 970, i.e. an upside of 15 percent from the last traded price of Rs. 844 per share.
HDFC Securities’ take on Amrutanjan Healthcare scrip:
The company is among the oldest ayurvedic and OTC Indian brand. Focus of the company is on establishing a niche for itself with a product portfolio of affordable healthcare, personal and hygiene care products. Other than its flagship brand ‘Amrutanjan Pain Balm’, the company is constantly strengthening its product range and adding pain management products such as aromatic balms, creams and sprays for headaches, body aches. In the premium range, it offers sub brand ‘Roll on’ and also has come up with brand ‘Relief’ that solves congestion-related issues. The company also offers sanitary napkins under the brand ‘Comfy’ that is positioned as an affordable alternative for larger user base.
The company is working on expanding its distribution network in both semi urban and rural areas. It also plans to widen its existence in the e-commerce space and increase its contribution to 1.3% from the current 0.5% of the total revenues. As per the Economic Times Brand Equity (Most Trusted Brands) 2018 Survey, Amrutanjan ranked 33 among top 50 brands in the “Health and Personal Care” segment.
Valuation & Recommendation: Amrutanjan’s earnings grew at a CAGR 17% FY17-21. Going forward, we are positive on the future growth prospects and expect the company to be ahead of the category performance mainly in the OTC segment, views the brokerage.
“The company’s revenue and PAT is likely to record a growth of 17.5% and 16.7% CAGR over FY21-23E. Along with this we expect the company to generate consistent FCF with consistent high ROEs. The Comfy brand is expected to be the key growth driver for AHCL. We expect, “Comfy” revenues to grow at CAGR 28% while other OTC products are expected to grow at CAGR 13.2% over FY21-23E. However we feel that there is a scope for some upward valuation re-rating in the stock currently”, notes the brokerage.
What can investors do?
Investors are suggested to buy the stock in the band of Rs. 820-830 and further add on dips at Rs. 732 (26x FY23E) for a base case fair value of Rs. 900 (32x FY23E) and bull case fair value of Rs. 970 (34/5x FY23E) for a time horizon of 2 quarters.
HDFC Securities is bullish on the stock of Advanced Enzymes Technologies and has set a target price of Rs. 458.5, an upside of 19.4 percent from the current market price of Rs. 384.
Brokerage’s take on the stock of Advanced Enzymes:
Advanced Enzymes Technologies is a leading player in enzymes and probiotics that play a crucial role in health and nutrition. Its products have applications in various other end-user industries as well. ‘Despite being a small player in a US$ 10bn+ industry, the company has more than 700 clients spread across 45 countries and a comprehensive product basket of 68 enzymes and probiotics and over 400 proprietary products’, notes the brokerage. The other players in the market include Novozymes, Danisco, DSM, BASF, etc. which together account for 75% of the market. The company has the highest market share in India and is among the 15 leading global enzyme companies globally.
“Demand for health and hygiene is on the rise and there is huge headroom for growth in Nutraceuticals, especially in USA. Enzymes are used across all food items, including bakery, dairy products etc. which are big segments”, says the brokerage.
“Largest product which is anti-inflammatory enzyme contributed to Rs 113cr, +10% YoY in FY21. Top-10 clients contributed to 38% of revenue in FY21. Despite losing its top client in the US which contributed US$ 5.5mn to revenue, US sales grew 12% YoY in FY21. Over the last five years, the company has enhanced fermentation capacity. Other than this, the company has superior R&D capabilities”, mentions the brokerage in its report.
Other key takeaways:
– Capital requirement over the next 2-3 years shall be minimal as the company currently operates at 60 percent capacity.
– The company holds a leadership position in the domestic healthcare and nutrition segments.
– The company lately revealed clinical breakthrough in the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of systemic enzymes and probiotics to cater to the issue of ‘long covid’ fatigue symptoms.
– International sales account for around 54% of the revenue, with the US being a major contributor.
– “Enzymes industry has very high entry barriers on account of extensive R&D focus and long gestation period before getting registration approvals for products in USA and EU. Management said that the focus area continues to be on bio-catalysis for API, probiotics and also B2C business in nutraceuticals segment”, adds the brokerage firm.
– Advanced Enzyme acquired 51% stake in Sci-Tech specialties (SSPL) for a financial consideration of Rs 31.6cr in December 2020. The company plans to double its revenue over the next five years with operating margin in the broad range of 42-48%.
Valuation & Recommendation: The three future growth pillars of the company as suggested by the brokerage comprise of continued investment in R&D, expansion of its geographic presence and constant focus on inorganic growth opportunities. The brokerage estimates revenue/EBITDA/PAT CAGR of 16%/16%/17.3% over FY21- 23E. Company has net debt free Balance Sheet with cash & equivalents of around Rs 320cr as on Mar-2021. The company continues to look for inorganic growth opportunities impact of which is not included in our assumptions.
“We expect margins to remain more or less stable in the 45-47% range over FY21-23E. The enzyme industry is dominated by big MNCs like Novozymes, DSM Nutritional Products, BASF etc. However, at the same time smaller players like Advanced Enzyme are gaining ground in the segment helped by innovation and newer technologies.”, adds the brokerage report.
What should investors do?
The brokerage suggest buying the stock of Advanced Enzyme in the band of Rs 380-385 and add more on dips to Rs 332.5 for base case target of Rs 422.5 (23.5x FY23E EPS) and bull case target of Rs 458.5 (25.5x FY23E EPS) over the next two quarters.
Investing in equities poses a risk of financial losses. Investors must therefore exercise due caution. Greynium Information Technologies, the author, and the brokerage houses are not liable for any losses caused as a result of decisions based on the article. The above article is for informational purposes only.
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Akudo, a learning-focused neobank for teenagers in India, on Monday, said it has raised $4.2 million (about ₹31 crore) in funding, led by Y Combinator, JAFCO Asia, Incubate Fund India, and AET Fund.
The seed round also saw participation from Tribe Capital, Cabra Capital, and marquee angels like Lalit Keshre (Groww co-founder), Rohit Taneja (Decentro co-founder) and others, a statement said.
The start-up aims to utilise the funds to expand its team and further refine its product offering to reach millions of financially under-prepared and under-served teenagers in India, it added.
Currently, the company has over one lakh registered customers and has recorded a 75 per cent week-on-week growth in transaction volumes, the statement said.
“We are deeply grateful to have such experienced and established investors join our journey as we craft India’s first learning-focused neobank for teenagers. This capital will help us hire the right team and build in-app intelligence and features which will make financial learning more enjoyable for teenagers,” Akudo co-founder Lavika Aggarwal said.
Akudo wants every teenager to own their Akudo card as soon as they turn 13 and learn crucial lessons early on, Aggarwal added.
“Akudo is also bound to positively impact families of teens who will undertake their first step towards financial literacy and ultimately towards true financial empowerment,” Aggarwal said.
Supriya Singh, Head of South Asia investments at JAFCO Asia, noted that personal finance for young users has largely been unaddressed.
Founded in August 2020 by Lavika Aggarwal, Sajal Khanna, and Jagveer Gandhi, Akudo provides personalised prepaid Visa cards to teens and promotes a financial first learning environment through features to build a healthy habit of saving at an early age. Teens are rewarded for their good financial behaviour through engaging gamified reward systems.
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