“Financial Institutions need better data to do a verification of employees and their income while employees need better options in the form of benefits” – Meet Semlani, Co-Founder and COO, Tartan
CXOToday has engaged in an exclusive interview with Mr. Meet Semlani, Co-founder and COO of Tartan
How did the idea for Tartan come about and how has your journey been so far?
Both Pramey and I, go a long way from our initial years when we started our careers together and that’s how we were driven by a common goal of helping the gig economy workers. We noticed the pain point of the food delivery personnel who couldn’t manage their finances and Covid made things even worse for them. Through this idea, we planned to help these people not just in terms of finances but help them upskill themselves as well, help them open up to the banks which further presented another set of problems. Working classes like these didn’t have a credit score and banks and fintech companies would outright reject them of any such financial possibilities. Tartan is the genesis of this insight and initially started as a personal finance management app for gig economy workers. An individual’s employment and income verification are what banks need today to issue loans or credit cards to an individual. At Tartan, we focus on real-time data and verification (through a single API), enabling consent-driven income, employment and identity verification in less than a minute. And this unique solution is built via direct sources like payrolls, govt APIs etc. Once the Tartan business model was established, we further identified gaps in the way employee engagement happens in companies and thus created a platform- Batik- where employees can get various benefits from their employers.
What are the gaps in the payroll system and from an employee engagement perspective, in the industry?
We are the first movers in India to provide a complete verification stack of both income and employee verification directly from the data stored on a payroll or an HR management system. When it comes to distribution, employee well-being is not well addressed. Also, employee benefits today are loosely addressed from the point of view of leaves, insurance, power naps, free food etc which has no bearing on their competitive advantage. Financial service institutions need better data to do a verification of employees and their income. And, employees need better options in the form of benefits with their companies. At Tartan, we are solving two issues at the same time.
What challenges and barriers do you see in this ecosystem, and how are you planning to address them via your services?
Being open to trying new things is one of the challenges and barriers I see in the ecosystem. Many professionals use various systems and tools today, especially the HR team, decision-makers, and C-level executives, who can help the employees. I think more and more companies need to be open to that as they grow. Now we’re in this whole future of work era where remote work is the norm. I think that is one of the biggest challenges we want to address regarding the barrier. And it’s also inclusive as an ecosystem. If we were to go with the idea that worked a decade ago and implement the same in these times, it will not work. According to the GOI’s data, today we are at a time where at least 80 start-ups emerge every day and there are over 30,000 people joining the workforce daily at various levels. Hence, the requirements of CHRO for a large size organization are different than for a CHRO of a start-up and a lot of customization is necessary to address this. At Tartan, we are open to customisation and ready to change the status quo with our approach. We help verify an employee’s identity or income level quickly and easily. We help businesses comply with regulations by providing them accurate, reliable information about their customers’ financial status.
Post-pandemic, how have employee expectations changed?
The pandemic has changed the way employees look at their jobs and careers. They want to explore their options beyond the regular CTC, options that match their lifestyle, attitude, and anything that can be customized towards their areas of interest. Benefits like travel, health, wellness, fitness, financial wellness, upskilling and entertainment are some of the areas they strongly identify with. It, therefore, becomes a bigger challenge for HR professionals to stay away from the usual and think outside the box and be more creative with their offerings and policies. With Batik, we have a lot of such ideas and offerings onboarded onto our platform. And the list is growing by the day!
Amidst layoffs, reports suggest that the gig economy is here to stay. What are your thoughts on the future of the workforce?
The gig economy will help in boosting economic growth and will fill the gap between income and unemployment. There are currently 15 million gig workers in India and this sector is rapidly adjusting to the working styles of the millennials and Gen Zs. A recent report on “India’s booking gig and platform economy” from the Government think tank NITI Ayog has estimated that the gig economy will grow swiftly and this report has given recommendations on how this sector can improve. It also focuses on how the financial inclusion of this sector is very important. And a lot of companies are now investing in gig work platforms which shows how vital they are for the future of job growth in India.
What does the roadmap for Tartan and Batik look like?
Tartan is planning to get more investors on board and our team is very bullish about the future prospects of the business. Our goal is to become the go-to Data-to-Distribution platform for all the Corporates and Employees in India. We aim to become the KYC preferred data platform for a lot of banks and fintech companies. We are aware that we have built a strong and niche product, and given how the account aggregator ecosystems are shaping up in India, we want to firmly mark our place up there. While India is our focus market this year, Southeast Asia, Europe and the US are definitely in the future, depending on how soon we scale up the business operations in India.
How has the year 2022 been for both the fintech and HR Tech sectors? What trends do you expect in 2023?
Overall, it has been a positive year with the much-needed regulatory push and everything was bullish throughout the year. Most of the clients are fintechs who have seen great addition to their product demand and usage, thanks to more awareness and general openness and the success of UPI, opening up new possibilities for the industry. The industry as a whole has come together with more partnerships and generally helping each other. In recent months the economic downturn and macro situation have certainly put a dent and slowed things down generally but we also know that this is the market correction that was needed.
We also will see the following trends in 2023 namely: Increase in adoption of new age fintech products; data being more important (account aggregators) and a greater push from the government for fintech and the general start-up ecosystem. And from the HR point of view, we see that most of the HR professionals today are looking beyond the typical CTC models and exploring ideas which could help them engage a lot more with their employees. Creativity, comprehensive solutions and customisation are the new areas many HR professionals are focusing on and we as a company are driven by that passion as well.
