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Arvind Iyer, Piramal Finance
New Delhi: While the banking sector in India may have advanced to provide better services, access to formal credit remains a challenge for many in India. Over 50% of urban poor households in India continue to rely on informal credit sources, contributing to an unorganised lending market estimated at nearly $100 billion (Economic Laws Practice Research).
Trying to tap into this market, Piramal Finance has introduced a new initiative called ‘Parakh’. Celebrating the inspiring stories of borrowers, ‘Parakh’ brings to life the ‘neeyat’ (intent) of borrowers who hold the ability to repay their loans on time but do not have access to formal credit due to a lack of paperwork.
The Parakh series is anchored by celebrities such as Neelesh Misra, Nivedita Saraf, Brahmaji, Nizhalgal Ravi, and Vinaya Prasad, who bring these powerful, real-life stories to the forefront. Parakh features authentic stories of real customers shared through candid conversations with local celebrities. The films highlight individuals and small business owners navigating financial challenges, underscoring Piramal Finance’s dedication to fostering economic inclusion and supporting underserved borrowers.
Marching with the slogan “Hum Kaagaz Se Zyada Neeyat Dekhte Hain,” Piramal Finance aims to provide credit services to “Bharat which accounts for 80% of India’s population and includes “blue collar, grey collar, no collar workers such as a security guard working day in and day out at an ATM and has the ‘neeyat’ to pay us back but no paperwork to back his intent,” said Piramal’s marketing, Arvind Iyer, Head of Marketing at Piramal Finance, in an exclusive interaction with BestMediaInfo.com.
He added, “Parakh is more than just an initiative for us at Piramal Finance; it’s a reflection of our commitment to understanding our customers beyond paperwork. It's about recognising their true intent and aspirations. These real, unfiltered stories highlight individuals who, despite challenges, take the important step to seek support and turn their aspirations into reality. Through Parakh, we’re showcasing the humanity behind the numbers and redefining what lending means in India. Our belief in 'Doing Well and Doing Good' drives us to build an empathetic financial system, one that empowers individuals to achieve their goals, no matter how big or small. These authentic stories not only demonstrate our impact but also reshape the narrative of lending in India."
Going in-house
Moving on, Iyer shared an interesting fact mentioning that while the campaign for Parakh has been co-created with The Womb, most of their marketing operations are carried out by an in-house team.
Expanding on his thought, he said, “Although our spending may not seem evenly divided, much of our output is produced in-house. We have an agency on record, but everything you see on social media and below the line is done in-house, handcrafted, and put together using both human effort and AI. We don't work with external partners; instead, we have all the necessary capabilities, including a studio and a full production setup, in-house.”
When asked why Piramal does not rely on external partners, Iyer answered by saying, “ We discovered early on that we serve a very large and diverse population, which requires an in-depth understanding. Reducing our brand strategy to a brief limits the intelligence of that person working on the project. In our case, whether it's a videographer or someone at the content desk, everyone has met customers and knows the entire ecosystem well.
Their empathy and understanding are reflected in their work, resulting in fresh ideas that align with our goals. We have a fluid marketing ecosystem internally, working with every function without following the traditional brief-ideation-execution process. We're constantly working on new ideas, much like a running kitchen.”
A digital-first brand with phygital marketing
With more than 2 million customers, 500 branches, and a presence that spans over half the PIN codes in the country, Piramal Finance is a “tech-focused” company that runs its operations on cloud and generative AI.
Shedding light on the physical aspect of Piramal’s marketing, Iyer said, “Phygital marketing forms a large component of what we do, with physical marketing being a significant portion. As a young brand, we need to support our points of business. We focus on two main areas: brand and point of discovery, which are the locations themselves. Roughly 70% of our budget goes to these areas, with the rest allocated to everything else.
There is, of course, a substantial digital angle that we have to everything that we do, but we are extremely physical.
To reach people in the hinterland, Piramal focused sharply on apps that resonate with netizens in tier-2 and tier-3 cities with an inclination towards influencer marketing and collaborating especially with regional influencers.
Remember Taambdi Chaamdi? The Marathi rap song that made the whole world go ‘lakalakalaka’. Well, DJ Kratex also worked with Piramal Finance before his rap song went viral.
Sharing his thoughts on Piramal’s influencer marketing strategy, Iyer said, “Bharat runs on dark social, and we've done a lot of work with Moj and Koo. We do a lot of regional work by doing different things. We have an always-on micro-influencer program. In fact, DJ Kratex worked with us before releasing “Taambdi Chaamdi.” We have a strong focus on influencer marketing, which we started right from the beginning. We are also helping some of our employees turn into influencers.”
What makes Piramal Finance’s marketing unique is its focus on regional languages. Elaborating upon the approach, Iyer said, “When you talk to someone in English, they listen but when you talk to them in their mother tongue, they feel. Thus, we have a language-first approach to our marketing, ensuring that we connect with our customers in their native languages. This approach helps us create meaningful connections with our audience.”
Brand versus performance:
Moving on, refusing the industry chatter that BFSI brands are spending more on performance marketing than brand building, Iyer said, “We have a healthy mix of 50% of our spending going to performance and the rest to brand building, although the split changes based on the requirement. When we focus on acquiring new customers, we give it our full attention. Similarly, when we work on building our brand for existing customers, we concentrate on that. We've developed our ways to balance both tasks.”
Single view of the consumer
As brands race towards building an omnichannel customer experience, gaining a single view of the customer is becoming one of the key priorities. A comprehensive perspective of the customer allows businesses to understand their customer better, deliver personalised experiences, and make data-driven decisions.
Modern consumers expect a seamless experience when engaging with an organisation. This seamless communication can only take place if the brand has a single comprehensive view of the customer. A single view of the customer also streamlines operations by reducing data duplication as well.
The acceleration to develop a unified view of the customer may also stem from the news about Google’s decision to ultimately phase out third-party cookies, forcing marketers to rely on first-party data in 2025.
Giving us a piece of his thoughts on how far Piramal has come in developing a single view of the consumer, Iyer said, “We are still putting things together, but we do have a single view of the customer. This view is constantly improving as we discover new ways to enhance customer experience (CX). Being omnichannel is a way of life for us, rather than a North Star destination and we are actively trying to fill any gaps in the comprehensive view that we have of the user.
We are constantly putting together different pieces of digital real estate to understand our customers better. It's like a city with ongoing construction and new inaugurations because a single view of the customer will make things easier for our customer service agents as well.”
Further into the conversation, Iyer mentioned the challenges in developing a single view of his target audience and said, “While the digital footprint is there, reaching people within that footprint is a harder challenge. Using just two or three techniques in your arsenal is probably not enough. Similarly, there's no all-encompassing solution for addressing dark social such as Moj and Sharechat. However, we haven't found this to be a challenge because we are also phygital.”