Sachin Bansal reported that the company Navi is actively implementing artificial intelligence across all its operational processes. These processes include developing models for fraud detection and creditworthiness assessment, as well as working on coding, customer support, marketing, and feature engineering.
Speaking at the Global Fintech Festival, Bansal emphasized that simple access to AI is not enough for companies to stand out. As software creation becomes more accessible and easier, the competitive advantage will increasingly depend on selecting the right problems and building hard-to-replicate capabilities. This approach also defines Navi's strategy in the financial services sector.
Bansal noted that the company prefers deep immersion into problems rather than functioning solely as a technology or distribution platform. In areas such as insurance and lending, this means building competencies across the entire value chain, including risk management and credit decision-making models. He added that companies that tackle more complex tasks and build systems that are difficult to copy have a greater chance of becoming long-term institutions.
These statements came several weeks after Navi raised $100 million from Prosus, which was its first institutional funding round. According to the company, Navi Finserv exceeded 13,000 crore rupees in assets under management, and the group achieved consolidated profitability in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 26.
Bansal also views banks and fintech companies as complementary forces. He believes that banks remain regulated and reliable custodians of value, while fintech companies can focus on simplifying and increasing the accessibility of financial products. In his view, India has already reached a basic level of financial inclusion through bank accounts and digital payments, but there remains significant potential to expand access to products such as insurance and loans.
Bansal called credit a vital element of India's economic aspirations, placing it on par with electricity, education, and healthcare. Navi's long-term goal, he said, is to provide credit access to a billion people, even if it takes decades. Furthermore, Bansal asserted that customer data should ultimately belong to the customer and be transferable between authorized institutions while adhering to necessary privacy measures. His broader thesis is that as technology becomes widely available, the technological infrastructure itself will matter less than how companies choose to use it.