The India FinTech Forum (IFTA) 2025, ahead of the 10th Annual India FinTech Forum on Dec 10, 2025, released its Fintech Trends 2026 report, highlighting agentic AI, embedded finance, cross-border wealth access, cyber resilience and fintech solutions for Bharat. The forum also named startups using next-gen tech to transform compliance, credit, payments and wealth distribution.
Agentic AI: from pilot to production
Agentic AI is the clearest theme in IFTA’s Trends 2026. After years of experimentation, Indian fintechs are deploying autonomous AI agents that complete tasks end-to-end — from data ingestion and risk scoring to compliance investigations and remediation. The report highlights firms building verticalised AI agents for BFSI workflows:
-
AutomationEdge and OnFinance AI are focused on automation for compliance and audit.
-
O2V and ProFinTech supply agentic solutions for risk intelligence and finance co-pilots.
-
TartanHQ and Timble deliver the API and workflow plumbing that lets agents act reliably across systems.
For enterprise buyers the payoff is practical: lower operational costs, faster investigations and scalable compliance. The challenge remains governance — explainability, audit trails and human-in-the-loop controls will decide which agentic deployments scale responsibly.
Embedded finance
Embedded finance is moving beyond payments into vertical ecosystems — travel, healthcare, retail and local commerce. IFTA points to startups building rails that let non-financial platforms offer credit, insurance and payments seamlessly:
The commercial logic is simple: embedding finance where customers already transact lowers friction and unlocks fresh customer acquisition channels. For incumbents, partnering with these rails becomes a distribution imperative.
Fintechs are remaking wealth creation through fractionalisation and cross-border access. Platforms cited in IFTA’s report (Altcase, RealX, Rupeeflo, AssetPlus, StockGro, Volt, and Angel One) are expanding alternatives—private markets, real estate fractions, and instant loans against mutual funds—for retail and mass-affluent investors.
This wave is less about novelty and more about accessibility: lower ticket sizes, regulated frameworks for fractional ownership, and tools that simplify cross-border investing. The long arc will depend on investor protection, platform transparency and robust KYC/AML guardrails.
Risk, compliance and cyber resilience as competitive edges
With fintech scale comes new attack surfaces. IFTA emphasises platforms that bake risk and cyber resilience into product design:
-
Drona Pay, Tutelar and Mitigata are examples of vendors offering real-time, AI-driven risk controls and cyber-insurance blends.
-
Fyno positions compliant communications as a mission-critical layer for BFSI.
The narrative shifts fintech compliance from cost centre to strategic moat: companies that can prove resilient operations and proactive controls will win trust and market share.
Fintech for Bharat: inclusion, credit and entrepreneurship
IFTA’s trends centre on inclusion: fintech for Bharat startups focused on MSME credit, last-mile payments and women-led financial access are prominent. The report highlights companies enabling digital finance at scale:
-
Eko Bharat and FamApp are expanding basic payments and merchant acceptance.
-
Navanc and Verto are solving asset-backed lending and cross-border flows for SMEs.
-
Sahi and other niche tools aim to bring advanced trading and financial tools to wider audiences.
These solutions are less about cutting-edge models and more about distribution, low-friction UX and cost-efficient onboarding for non-urban customers.
Startups to watch (as listed by IFTA)
Agentic AI & Automation: AutomationEdge, O2V, OnFinance AI, ProFinTech, Finfactor, TartanHQ, Timble.
Embedded Finance rails: OnArrival, Riskcovry, SaveIN, RocketPay.
Wealth & alternative assets: Altcase, RealX, Rupeeflo, AssetPlus, StockGro, Volt, Angel One.
Risk & cyber resilience: Drona Pay, Tutelar, Mitigata, Fyno.
Fintech for Bharat: Eko Bharat, FamApp, Navanc, Sahi, and Verto.
Forum & speakers: what to expect
IFTA 2025 (taking place Dec 10, 2025, at Aurika, Mumbai) brings senior voices from markets and banking: Ashishkumar Chauhan (MD & CEO, NSE), Ashwini Kumar Tewari (MD, SBI), Venkat N. Chalasani (CEO, AMFI), and Ganesh Rengaswamy (Quona Capital). Expect sessions on governance for agentic AI, regulator-industry choreography for embedded finance, and capital flows into Bharat-facing models.
IFTA’s Trends 2026 report reads less like futurism and more like pragmatic road-mapping. The standout threads:
-
Adoption over novelty: Agentic AI is valuable where it replaces manual toil with measurable ROI.
-
Distribution matters: Embedded finance & fintech-for-Bharat will scale via partnerships, not isolated products.
-
Trust is a competitive advantage: Cyber resilience, explainability, and compliance will decide platform winners.
-
Inclusion is non-negotiable: democratising wealth and credit will shape long-term financial stability and market depth.
