Financial education rarely stays static for long, and that has never been more evident than in how India’s financial services landscape has been evolving. Ashutosh Financial Services runs regular sessions of this kind because informed decisions rarely emerge from static knowledge; they come from continuously updating how people understand money, markets, and the systems that move both. It is this belief that shaped the recent webinar, “Emerging Trends for Financial Services in New Age India,” held on 14th July for a select audience of high-net-worth individuals, with Daxesh Kothari as the speaker.
The choice of audience was deliberate. High-net-worth individuals typically manage more complex portfolios, spread across asset classes, and are more directly affected when regulatory shifts, technology adoption, or changing investor behaviour reshape how financial products are built and delivered. A webinar format allowed the session to reach this audience conveniently while still covering ground in enough depth to be genuinely useful.
Kothari opened by mapping out the five major areas that make up financial services in India: transactional banking, financial lending, investment in financial assets, insurance and risk management, and investment banking. This framework served as the backbone for the rest of the session, with each area examined for how it is being reshaped by three forces he described as engines of change: the actions of regulators such as the RBI, SEBI, and IRDA; the rapid rise of fintech; and a changing customer base increasingly dominated by millennials. Together, these forces are moving India toward a system where peer-to-peer payments, both domestic and cross-border, are becoming routine, and where physical instruments like cheques and demand drafts are steadily disappearing in favour of instant, delay-free transfers.
On lending, the session explained how credit appraisal is shifting toward fully electronic processes that draw on independent data sources rather than relying solely on paperwork submitted by the borrower. This matters because it allows lenders to assess risk more accurately and more quickly, which in turn is expected to make retail lending both faster and more competitive as more players enter the space with technology-driven underwriting.
A significant portion of the discussion focused on how physical assets are gradually converting into financial instruments that are easier to trade and access. Real estate, for instance, can now be accessed through REITs, or Real Estate Investment Trusts, which let investors gain exposure to property income without owning physical buildings. Infrastructure assets have a similar equivalent in InvITs, while precious metals and commodities are increasingly accessed through ETFs and instruments like Sovereign Gold Bonds rather than physical holdings. Alongside this, global investing was described as the new normal, with attendees encouraged to think about stock and ETF selection abroad, valuation differences across markets, and the currency advantage that can come from holding assets in a different currency. On the equity side, direct stock market participation is being fuelled by fintech platforms and rising interest from younger investors, which is putting pressure on traditionally managed products like equity mutual funds and portfolio management services to continue proving their value. Fixed income was flagged as an area set to expand too, with instruments such as corporate bonds, corporate fixed deposits, perpetual bonds, and subordinate debt bonds likely to see wider adoption as government involvement in this space recedes.
The insurance segment is expected to grow substantially, supported by fintech across the entire delivery chain, from sales to claims. One nuance worth understanding is that insurance products historically bought mainly for their tax benefits may see reduced demand as other avenues develop, a reminder that insurance planning works best when driven by protection needs rather than tax considerations alone. On investment banking, Kothari pointed to a steady rise in activity, with many promoters now preferring mergers and acquisitions as a route to resolve financial stress before matters reach the National Company Law Tribunal, alongside broader consolidation across businesses.
The session closed with a candid look at the startup ecosystem itself, noting that while platforms and information providers have multiplied, genuine solution providers remain scarce, and that fintech has become a crowded space where standing apart from copycats requires a deliberate combination of physical infrastructure and technology, much like the models built by companies operating in delivery and mobility. This led naturally into a discussion on correct positioning, distinguishing how manufacturers of financial products, intermediaries who distribute them, and the end users who consume them each need to think differently about the changes underway.
Sessions like this one are a reminder that financial literacy is not a one-time exercise but an ongoing process, particularly in a market moving as quickly as India’s. Ashutosh Financial Services continues to organise conversations of this nature because staying informed is what allows individuals to make sound decisions in a financial environment that keeps changing shape.
