Management Practice Insights
DOI: 10.59571/mpi.v3si1.5
Year: 2025, Volume: 3, Issue: Special Issue 1, Pages: 25-30
Original Article
Renganathan Krishnamurthy 1, Caruna Bhat 2
1 Assistant Professor in the Strategy Department at SPJIMR
2 Assistant Professor in the Strategy Department at SPJIMR
Correspondence
[email protected]
[email protected]
Received Date:26 September 2024, Accepted Date:24 June 2025, Published Date:30 June 2025
Fintech companies worldwide operate within ecosystems comprised not only of buyers of fintech products but also other companies with complementary offerings and digital platforms that connect these various players. These ecosystems and platforms create both an opportunity for scaling fintech and a barrier that inhibits new startups seeking to enter the space. Within platform-driven fintech, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are a popular means to scale rapidly. However, M&A can have negative consequences – not only for the companies involved but also for the overall platform. For instance, rapid M&A could result in market concentration by a few players, which could stifle competition, innovation, and overall growth. Hence, for the CXOs of fintech companies as well as policymakers, we develop a set of best practices by combining insights from two research articles. The first research article by Yongzhi Wang, Lori Qingyuan Yue, Nandini Rajagopalan, and Brian Wu points out that certain types of mergers among complementary companies can strengthen the competitive position of fintech firms.1 The second research by Shiva Agarwal, Cameron D. Miller, and Martin Ganco suggests ways to balance growth among fintech companies with the risk of market dominance by a few.2 We combine these insights and apply them to the context of the Indian fintech industry – the world's third largest by funding.3
1 Yongzhi Wang et al., 'The Entry-deterring Effects of Synergies in Complementor Acquisitions: Evidence from Apple's Digital Platform Market, the iOS App Store', https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3639.
2 Shiva Agarwal, Cameron D. Miller, and Martin Ganco, 'Growing Platforms within Platforms: How Platforms Manage the Adoption of Complementor Products in the Presence of Network Effects?', https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3487.
3 Insights by Tracxn, 'India Ranks 3rd Globally in Terms of FinTech Funding Received in 2024', TRACXN GEO ANNUAL REPORT -FINTECH INDIA (INDIA: Tracxn, January 2025), https://w.tracxn.com/report-releases/india-fintech-annualreport-2024.
4 Sandhya Keelery, 'India: Value of UPI Digital Payments 2025' (Statista, 16 April 2025), https://www.statista.com/statistics/1171872/india-value-ofdigital-payments/.
5 Insights by Tracxn, 'India Ranks 3rd Globally in Terms of FinTech Funding Received in 2024', https://w.tracxn.com/reportreleases/india-fintech-annual-report-2024.
6 BusinessToday Desk, 'BharatPe Acquires Majority Stake in Mumbai Based NBFC Trillion Loans', Business Today, 2 May 2023, https://www.businesstoday.in/entrepreneurship/story/bharatp e-acquires-majority-stake-in-mumbai-based-nbfc-trillion-loans379701-2023-05-02
7 Gyan Vardhan, 'Lendingkart Acquires Personal Loan Provider Upwards for Rs 120 Cr', Entrackr, 8 February 2023, https://entrackr.com/2023/02/lendingkart-acquires-personalloan-provider-upwards-for-rs-120-cr/.
8 Tapanjana Rudra, 'Zomato Completes Acquisition of Quick-Commerce Startup Blinkit', Inc42 Media (blog), 10 August 2022, https://inc42.com/buzz/zomato-completes-acquisition-ofquick-commerce-startup-blinkit/.
9 Aparna Mishra, 'Lendingkart Acqui-Hires E-Lending Platform KountMoney', Inc42 Media (blog), 18 October 2016, https://inc42.com/flash-feed/lendingkart-acuihireskountmoney/.
10 Gyan Vardhan, 'Lendingkart Acquires Personal Loan Provider Upwards for Rs 120 Cr', https://entrackr.com/2023/02/lendingkart-acquires-personalloan-provider-upwards-for-rs-120-cr/.
11 ELIM POON, 'Curlec by Razorpay Bridges Transaction Gap', The Star, 11 September 2023, https://www.thestar.com.my/business/businessnews/2023/09/11/curlec-by-razorpay-bridges-transaction-gap.
12 Anushka Sengupta, 'Fintechs on an Acquiring Spree, Top 10 Deals from 2023 - ET BFSI', Economic Times, 16 January 2024, https://bfsi.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/fintech/fintec hs-on-an-acquiring-spree-top-10-deals-from-2023/106894159
13 FE Bureau, 'RBI Releases Framework for New Umbrella Entity for Retail Payments', Financialexpress (blog), 19 August 2020, https://www.financialexpress.com/business/banking-financerbi-releases-framework-for-new-umbrella-entity-for-retailpayments-2059236/
14 Moneycontrol News, 'Amazon-Axis-ICICI-Visa Consortium to Set up “UPI-like” Payments System via NUE: Report', Moneycontrol, 24 February 2021, https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/amazon-axisicici-visa-consortium-to-set-up-upi-like-payments-system-vianue-report-6565151.html.
15 Ashwin Manikandan, 'Paytm NUE Will Stand Apart from Rivals', Vijay Shekhar Sharma Says -', The Economic Times, 9 March 2021, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/startups/paytmnue-will-stand-apart-from-rivals-vijay-shekhar-sharmasays/articleshow/81414263.cms?from=mdr
16 Press Trust of India, 'SBI Looking to Hive off Yono into Separate Subsidiary: Chairman Rajnish Kumar', The Week, 6 October 2020, https://www.theweek.in/news/biz-tech/2020/10/06/sbilooking-to-hive-off-yono-into-separate-subsidiary-chairmanrajnish-kumar.html.
17 vidhyamunnangi, 'India Extends UPI Market Share Cap Deadline by Two Years', Electronic Payments International (blog), 2 January 2025, https://www.electronicpaymentsinternational.com/news/indiaupi-market-share-cap-deadline/.
© 2025 Published by SPJIMR. This is an open-access article under the CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
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