App-first to community-first: The people strategy behind fintech’s next expansion

India’s fintech industry loves a good headline: record UPI volumes, billion-dollar valuations, app downloads in the millions.

But step outside the metros and the story changes tone.

The first wave of India’s fintech journey was powered by speed and convenience. Seamless apps, instant payments, digital wallets — urban India embraced frictionless finance. The second wave, however, is unfolding in a very different landscape.

From his vantage point, Shams Tabrej, Co-founder and CEO of Ezeepay, sees a structural shift.

“Convenience for digitally native urban users, enabled by quick and seamless transactions through apps, wallets, and UPI, defined the first wave of India’s fintech journey. The second wave, however, is anchored in access, inclusion, and livelihoods.”

This is not just geographic expansion. It is a philosophical pivot.

“Led by Bharat, where fintech is a necessity rather than a choice, growth has shifted from being app-first to community-first.”

In other words: the growth story is moving from touchscreen convenience to human connection.

Trust is the real infrastructure

India’s digital rails are firmly in place. UPI and Aadhaar have scaled nationally. On paper, the plumbing works.

Yet adoption in rural and semi-urban markets continues to face friction.

“Even with well-established digital rails like UPI and Aadhaar, the largest obstacle is still trust asymmetry,” Tabrej says.

He lists the practical fears that shape behaviour:

Risk of fraud
Failed or stuck transactions
Weak grievance redressal
Unfamiliar user interfaces and language gaps

“The promise of convenience is often outweighed by the risk of fraud, unsuccessful transactions, or a lack of grievance redressal for new customers.”

And then he makes a point that quietly reframes the entire debate:

“People trust people more than platforms in rural India.”

Why being on the ground matters

If the first wave of fintech was app-first, the second requires physical presence.

“In Bharat, being physically present is essential and not optional,” Tabrej says.

On-ground agents, he argues, do more than process transactions. They:

Act as trust anchors
Educate first-time users
Resolve issues face-to-face
Gradually build digital confidence

“The complexity of first-time adoption is frequently underestimated by purely digital models, particularly in situations where devices are shared, connectivity is erratic, and formal banking knowledge is minimal.”

The friction here is not technological — it is behavioural.

Ezeepay’s approach combines technology with local business networks. “Ezeepay's hybrid strategy, which combines technology with local business owners, guarantees that fintech adoption is contextual, sustained, and assisted rather than transactional or fleeting.”

This is fintech as infrastructure, not just interface.

The operational reality no one talks about

Scaling into underserved regions is often presented as a growth story. In reality, it is an execution story.

“Operational consistency at scale is one of the most underestimated issues,” Tabrej says.

Expanding across distributed geographies demands:

Agent training discipline
Service quality monitoring
Cash logistics management
Compliance oversight
Fraud mitigation systems

“Fintechs need to make investments in procedures, monitoring systems, and regional support networks in addition to platforms.”

He adds that “on-site supervision and AI-driven fraud detection help strike a balance between robustness and scale.”

Scale without sustainability won’t last

In price-sensitive markets, growth built purely on incentives rarely survives.

“In Bharat, sustainability is driven by utility-based unit economics rather than vanity metrics,” Tabrej says.

He is blunt about discount-led strategies. “Heavy discounting alone cannot deliver scale.”

Instead, he points to recurring, high-need services:

AEPS transactions
Domestic money transfers
Utility and bill payments

“Regional fintech players succeed when they enable local partners to earn steady incomes while keeping customer costs reasonable.”

Here, sustainability is mutual: the platform survives because the agent earns.

Fintech as a livelihood engine

The conversation shifts from payments to employment.

“Fintech platforms have the potential to boost the economy. They generate micro-entrepreneurship chances by converting neighborhood stores into digital service hubs without the need for substantial funding or specialized training.”

This has particular implications for women in semi-urban and rural markets.

“Assisted fintech models provide women with access to home-based or community-based earning opportunities, particularly in semi-urban and rural settings.”

The social impact narrative often dominates this conversation. Tabrej frames it more structurally: fintech creates distribution nodes that double as income channels.

So who wins Bharat?

Technology matters. But it is not the final differentiator.

“The differentiators will be execution and trust, while technology is the facilitator.”

He emphasises how adoption works in these markets: “Users in Bharat adopt experiences that are shaped by people, dependability, and results rather than platforms.”

And then a closing line that sounds less like strategy and more like caution:

“Platforms that view Bharat as a system to engage in patiently, responsibly, and locally, rather than as a market to enter, will be successful.”

If the first decade of Indian fintech was about building rails, the next may be about building relationships.

Apps opened the door. Community might decide who stays inside.