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AI & Digital Lending
A colleague asked whether AI adoption in banks really has depth. I paused to examine the public evidence. A colleague who had been reading my recent blogs on AI in lending called me with a simple question: “Is there really so much depth in AI adoption within banks, or are we overstating it?” It w…
AI & Digital Lending
Early Warning Signals in lending must move beyond periodic reports and static triggers. Episode 4 of From Paperless Lending to Intelligent Lending explains how AI can help banks and NBFCs shift from EWS reports to early warning sensing by connecting conduct, cash-flow, business, governance and po…
AI & Digital Lending
AI in lending should not digitise waste faster. Episode 3 of From Paperless Lending to Intelligent Lending uses the Johari Window to explain how banks and NBFCs can move from data abundance to judgement clarity. It explores signal platforms, the blind zone of unused analytics, the 40% signal wast…
AI & Digital Lending
The AI Lending Flywheel explains how financial institutions can move from isolated AI pilots to intelligent credit flow. Built around six stages — capture, understand, flag, decide, engage and learn — the model shows how AI can improve the quality, timing and context of credit judgement without r…
AI & Digital Lending
Paperless lending is only the first stage of transformation. The real opportunity lies in removing hidden waste in lending — waiting, rework, repeated checks, late exception discovery, dashboard noise and underused human judgement. This article uses a Lean lens to explain how AI can help move fin…
AI & Digital Lending
This article revisits the classic fraud triangle and argues that in the AI era, it must be expanded into a broader fraud geometry that includes capability, scale, anonymity, synthetic identity, and automation.
AI & Digital Lending
Why banks spend more time gathering data than understanding MSME risk. Exploring CCV algorithms, STP journeys and the due diligence gap in modern lending.
AI & Digital Lending
Fraud is evolving in the age of AI. Learn how decision manipulation and data engineering are enabling new forms of asset stripping in modern lending.
AI & Digital Lending
How banks structure decision power: centralized control, delegated authority, relationship banking, algorithmic lending and emerging data-driven models.
AI & Digital Lending
Finance is not just numbers on a spreadsheet or dry reports stacked in a dusty cabinet. It’s a living, breathing ecosystem, full of stories, risks, and opportunities. And if you want to truly understand it, you need more than just data—you need perspective. That’s where Vivek’s unique perspective…
AI & Digital Lending
From Sundaram Finance’s iconic motto — “Neththiya Paarthu Panam Kudukaradhu” — to today’s digital lending, this article uncovers timeless risk wisdom and the real lessons behind OneCard, BNPL crashes, and RBI’s push for responsible speed.
AI & Digital Lending
Every bank trusts its limit tree — until the breaches appear. In a multi-LOS world, one borrower often becomes many, each with its own CIF and sub-limit. The system smiles; the exposure doubles. The real culprit isn’t technology — it’s fragmented code governance. Until banks build one golden sour…
AI & Digital Lending
Many of us in banking and MSME lending encounter the term LEI (Legal Entity Identifier) often — but few truly understand its purpose. To most, it’s a compliance checkbox. In reality, it’s a global key to credit transparency.
AI & Digital Lending
Tiruppur’s MSME exporters are battling shrinking margins, delayed payments, and relentless cost pressures — worsened by global tariff shifts and domestic inefficiencies. This blog unpacks the real bottlenecks holding MSMEs back — from outdated credit frameworks to lack of real-time market support…
AI & Digital Lending
Card-testing hits three Chennai banks, each seeing only a sliver of the truth. If they pooled data, the fraud would light up—yet privacy rules and contracts say no. Enter Federated Learning: a way to bring the model to the data, so institutions learn together without moving customer records. In t…
AI & Digital Lending
In the fast-paced world of retail and MSME lending, fraud prevention often leans on two cornerstones — RBI’s Central Fraud Registry (CFR) and Hunter. While these tools are indispensable, frontline realities show a widening gap between policy intent and practical execution. This first episode of t…
AI & Digital Lending
"India’s MSME lending is evolving fast — but policy intent and on-ground practice still don’t always meet. This episode dives deep into real-world experiences, data, and actionable insights for lenders and borrowers alike."
AI & Digital Lending
While ratios offer a snapshot, they often miss the story behind the numbers. This episode reclaims the forgotten art of Fund Flow Analysis — a method that reveals the movement of money, not just its position. Through the case of SE Forge Limited, we explore how profits may mask deep liquidity gap…
AI & Digital Lending
BEYOND RATIO SERIES Introduction - Account Aggregator - Microfinance Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) have long been the torchbearers of...
AI & Digital Lending
Suresh’s digital credits are real, regular, and reliable — but not ‘reliable enough’ for traditional credit appraisal. This is the paradox of India’s MSME credit ecosystem: real-time data exists, yet trust still resides in paperwork. Despite the potential of the Account Aggregator (AA) framework…
AI & Digital Lending
Cash budgeting isn’t new—but it’s forgotten. MSMEs often operate with fluid, real-time decisions, and their survival depends not on audited profits, but on daily cash flow smarts. This episode reintroduces cash budgets as a practical bridge between traditional lending models and modern digital cr…
AI & Digital Lending
In an era where income flows through UPI apps and clients are onboarded via Instagram, traditional credit assessment models struggle to keep pace. This episode explores the story of Priya, a digital fitness coach, whose bank statement tells one story but whose digital footprint tells another. Can…
AI & Digital Lending
Traditional credit models often fall short when evaluating MSMEs that operate on digital payments, informal records, and real-time cash flows. This blog explores how alternate credit indicators — like UPI transactions, GST trails, and behavioral patterns — can offer deeper, more accurate insights…
AI & Digital Lending
Traditional credit assessment models in India, built on inventory cycles and turnover norms, no longer reflect the operational realities of many MSMEs — especially traders, service providers, and digital-first entrepreneurs. This blog challenges the legacy frameworks of Tandon, Chore, and Nayak C…
AI & Digital Lending
When a forged WhatsApp letter drained ₹42.5 lakh from a government FD, no one questioned it. Why? Because everyone assumed someone else had. In this episode, we explore the subtle yet dangerous force of Collective Bias — how familiarity, symbols of authority, and social proof lull entire teams in…
AI & Digital Lending
Episode 11: Dormant Truths & Forgotten Claims “You don’t need to erase facts to erase hope. You just need to erase records.” A staggering ₹24,000 crore lies unclaimed from the Sahara refund pool — not because there are no investors, but because most have no way to prove they ever existed. This ep…
AI & Digital Lending
(Based on the true story of the Susi Emu Farms scam, 2006–2012) If you drove past the outskirts of Perundurai , in Tamil Nadu’s Erode...
AI & Digital Lending
As AI becomes the new credit officer, can it judge fairly? This thought-provoking article explores real-life cases, RBI mandates, ERM risks, and the unseen consequences of algorithmic decisions in lending. When models exclude honest borrowers or overlook intent, we must ask: is the system accurat…
AI & Digital Lending
Originally written on Jul 21, 2018 There are those moments when it becomes difficult to tolerate broad brushing. This was a formal group...
AI & Digital Lending
AI-driven lending is fast, digital, and convenient—but are borrowers really aware of the hidden risks?Interest rates that dynamically change without notice Hidden processing & penalty fees buried in fine print…