Warren Buffett, Goldman Win From Fintech Gold Rush in India

$Amazon(AMZN.US)$ $Meta Platforms(FB.US)$ $Alphabet-A(GOOGL.US)$ $Alibaba(BABA.US)$ $Walmart(WMT.US)$ China’s transformation from a financial-technology backwater into a $46 trillion-a-year global leader in digital payments left most international investors watching in awe from the sidelines. Now India is undergoing its own fintech revolution, and the race is on to grab a piece of the action.

As online payments and digital loans in the second-most populous country soar at some of the fastest rates worldwide, money is pouring into India’s financial technology sector at an unprecedented pace. The sector’s sharp ascent will be on show this month as Indian payments firm Paytm — backed by foreign heavyweights including Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Masayoshi Son's SoftBank Group Corp. — seeks a valuation of about $20 billion in what would be India’s largest ever initial public offering. Some foreign players in India are poised to see payoffs. Berkshire Hathaway, which invested $300 million in Paytm in 2018 for a nearly 3% holding could see the value of its stake rise about 70% at a $20 billion valuation, while Paytm’s other international backers would also profit.

Despite the risks, digital lending is a necessity in a country of 1.3 billion where the World Bank estimates that only about 10% of adults have access to formal loans. India’s fintech boom is filling those and other gaps.

Article excerpted from Yahoo.