Building income and employment verification for every Indian

As India rapidly advances technologically as well as economically, FinTech developers are looking at ways to tap into the vast Indian market by revolutionizing the way in which Indians manage their growing financial resources. Everyone seeks to live a life where they have financial security, and thanks to FinTech, it has become a reality for many of us. 

One of the most powerful components of financial management is the ability to control your income and employment data. Employment data is transforming underwriting, compliance and consumer experience across various financial services. With so many financial resources to manage, the ability to control such payroll data empowers you to assess your current economic state and make sound financial decisions. It is this need that has inspired FinTech startups to look for ways to enable increased user control over payroll data.

What is Payroll Data?

In simple terms, payroll data means the collective data of your overall finances, starting from your income records to your employment history. It includes everything from how much you earn, how you earn it, who it is transferred to, how it is utilised and all ancillary financial transactions. Owing to the vast number of metrics that are involved in its calculation, it is often a very tedious and complicated task. Thus, it makes it very hard to get a complete picture of your financial status. 

Identifying the Problem Space

Although India is the second-fastest-growing freelance market in the world with an active workforce of over 15 million people who are engaged in the freelance gig economy, traditional banking and financial institutions often view a lack of verified employment history or an irregular income as a sign of instability. They are reluctant to extend any form of credit services to them. So, anybody who has to apply for such credit has to go through the tedious task of collecting all relevant financial records and employment history to establish themselves as a trustworthy and financially stable person. This task can be very complicated if the person is in a non-traditional industry where there are no stable employment records or multiple income sources. Moreover, the records have to be verified manually by the financial institution, and the rising cases of payslip frauds have increased the focus of stricter scrutiny of such records. This makes underwriting a cumbersome job and eventually leads to unnecessary delays in the approval of the loan. With so many records to be submitted and verified, there is a massive waste of both time and resources for the institution as well as the applicants.

Payroll API as a Solution