#8 | Sreedhar — Future of Data Sharing

By Dhriti Agarwal & Lakshmi Ajayan

Published in

D91 Labs

15 min readFeb 2, 2021

This interview was conducted as a part of ‘Future of data sharing’ sponsored by Facebook. In this series, we interviewed participants around their access, adoption, and usage of financial products along with their perception of data sharing to financial institutions.

Disclaimer: The income range was self-reported by the participant. D91 Labs does not request the participants to disclose their exact income.

Short Story

38-year-old Sreedhar works as an Area Manager at a pharmaceutical company in Hyderabad. Born and brought up in the Adilabad district of Telangana, he is now settled in his own apartment in Hyderabad with his wife and daughter. He dreams of building an independent house from scratch and giving his daughter a good education. He is working towards his dreams through various investments in gold, land, a PF and a retirement pension scheme.

Banking

Sreedhar has 3 bank accounts. His first account was his salary account opened in ICICI bank by his employer. He has 2 credit cards and 1 debit card linked with it and he also uses it for Net Banking.
He also opened a zero balance bank account with HDFC in 2008. He has linked UPI with it to make payments through Paytm and Google Pay. He has 1 credit card and 1 debit card linked with it and also uses it for Net Banking.
Sreedhar has 2 bank accounts with IndusInd Bank — one for personal savings and one joint account with his wife. He uses the joint account for its locker facility. He has a debit card and Net Banking linked with his personal account. He uses this account for payments of his life insurance policy.

“I had been looking for a locker facility with my existing bank accounts to store ornaments but they did not have it. By chance I came across IndusInd and they provided this facility so I created an account with them.”

How did you decide to open your first bank account with ICICI bank?
When I started my first job, my employers themselves opened an account for me to credit my salary. We did not have any choice regarding the bank they chose since I didn’t have a bank account at that time. Anyone who already had another bank account could continue with that but for freshers they preferred ICICI bank only.
Why did you open an account with HDFC Bank?
My head office was located in Mumbai so the ICICI bank was also with a Mumbai branch. I was not able to start an FD in ICICI bank because I couldn’t visit the branch. Otherwise, I would have preferred ICICI bank. The HDFC bank was near my residence and since they needed me to have a zero balance account to start an FD, I opened an HDFC bank account.

Payment Modes

Sreedhar’s most preferred mode of payment is Net Banking which he uses for payment of credit card bills and insurance premiums.
He uses Paytm’s digital wallet for mobile recharges and paying DTH and utility bills. He recharges it as and when needed. He uses UPI to pay for groceries and medicines.
Sreedhar has 5 credit cards — 2 with ICICI bank and 1 each with HDFC, SBI and Citibank. He uses them to pay for petrol and diesel, for shopping and at restaurants.
He only withdraws cash once in 2 months and uses it when there are no digital payment options available.

Why have you connected your UPI accounts to HDFC and not ICICI?
My ICICI account already has a lot of transactions because my salary is credited there. Payments and credit cards are linked to it so it was becoming hard to track. I have linked UPI to my HDFC account so that I can track how much and where I have spent my money. Besides, it makes sure the account doesn’t become inactive.
You mentioned that you have taken multiple credit cards. What was your motivation behind that?
To swipe any debit card, I need to have that much in my account whereas credit cards allow me to spend now and repay the amount within fifty days. That sounds very good to me. Each bank calls me and offers some advantage on their credit card (airport lounge, cashback on petrol and waivers on restaurant bills). That’s why I have multiple credit cards.
How did you start using CRED?
One of my friends told me about it. He convinced me that I will miss my bill payments because I use multiple credit cards. He advised that CRED could provide guidance, cashback offers and reminders for credit card bill payments. It sounded good to me so I started using it.

You mentioned that you have PhonePe but you don’t use it. Any particular reason?
Once I used PhonePe but I already use Paytm and Google Pay and I didn’t want too many apps. That’s why I have minimised everything.

Expenses

Sreedhar’s regular monthly expenses include utility bills, groceries, fuel, WiFi, travel, shopping, entertainment and subscriptions.
He makes most of these payments using his credit cards which he has carefully assigned for each purpose depending on the benefits or convenience of saved cards on apps — Citibank’s credit card for fuel, his wife’s SBI credit card at Big Bazaar and ICICI’s credit card for paying his daughter’s school fees.
Sreedhar uses multiple digital wallets which are linked to his credit cards — Paytm to pay his utility bills, Airtel wallet for mobile and DTH recharge, Goibibo wallet for booking flights and hotels.

How do you choose your payment method for your expenses?
I usually opt for credit cards. I choose them based on the date of their bill payments. But if the credit card option has additional charges, I go for other options.
How do you keep a track of your expenses?
I have maintained an Excel sheet where I note all the payments that need to be made in the month — my credit card bills, LIC premiums, school fees and house and vehicle loan installments. Whenever I receive my salary, I split that up for these expenses and then check the remaining balance with me. If it is correct, I make all the payments. This way I can calculate our monthly expenditure and annual budget.

Loans

Sreedhar took 2 vehicle loans on the suggestion of the respective showroom s— a 4-year loan from ICICI for his 2-wheeler and a 4-wheeler loan from SBI. The payments of his 4-wheeler loan are auto-debited from his wife’s HDFC account.
He also took a gold loan from IndusInd to buy his first 4-wheeler.

How did you choose IndusInd? Did you consider any other options for the downpayment for the vehicle?
I have my locker there and every time I go to the bank, the bank officers would talk about the benefits of a gold loan. I didn’t have any interest in borrowing from anyone else — I kept my own gold in the bank for 3 months and as soon as I got my salary, I released my gold.

Sreedhar also took a 19-year home loan from ICICI bank. The EMI is auto-debited from his ICICI account.

Why did you choose ICICI bank for your home loan?
This apartment only had 3 options — HDFC, ICICI and LIC. After comparing the rate of interest and documentation process, I felt good about ICICI. They collected the required documents from my email itself, while HDFC required me to submit the printouts by myself.
You mentioned that getting the loan was a difficult process. Does that mean you won’t go to ICICI again for a loan?
Nothing like that. In my salary slip, there was an abbreviation that they didn’t understand so I had to ask my head office to explain and verify it. They could’ve just let it be but it won’t make me change my mind about the bank. Different people have different points to consider before taking a loan.

In the past, Sreedhar has purchased an AC, washing machine and refrigerator on 3–6 month EMIs using Bajaj Finance. The EMIs were auto-debited from his ICICI account.
He also chooses the “Pay Later” option on Amazon while buying certain things:

“Sometimes there are offers at the last moment and there is no time to give credit card details and OTP for the payment. Then, I select this option (Pay Later), finish the shopping and the money is auto-debited after a month.”

Sreedhar is open to taking personal loans in the future for his daughter’s education after considering the interest rates.

Investments

Sreedhar tries to maintain a balance of ₹1,00,000. He has 2 FDs, 2 Mutual Funds, 1 PF and 1 Post Office deposit.
His first FD was with HDFC and second one with IndusInd. He started a Sukanya Samriddhi Fund at the post office in his daughter’s name. He pays a bulk amount of ₹5,000–12,000 every 3–6 months in cash at the Post Office and will get back a fixed amount after 15 years. After the COVID-19 lockdown, he started paying it only once in 6 months.

Did you have any specific aim while taking the FDs?
I tried applying for a credit card at HDFC but they declined my request because I was not an eligible candidate. An alternative they suggested was to create ₹1,00,000 FD and then they would grant me a credit card. So I made the FD and was allotted a credit card.
Why did you open an FD with IndusInd Bank as well?
It was a way of saving some money which I got around that time, instead of unnecessarily spending it. The rates offered by the IndusInd Bank were better so I opened my FD there.

Sreedhar has also invested in 2 Mutual Funds on the recommendation of a friend who is a Chartered Accountant. The payments for the Mutual Funds are made every 6 months — For ICICI, it is auto-deducted from his salary account. He visits the bank to pay for his HDFC Mutual Fund via credit card.

What made you invest in Mutual Funds?
4 years ago, while filing my ITR I had to show some savings. I only had an FD and a life insurance policy. I did not own a house. So I invested in Mutual Funds to avail some tax benefits and savings too.

Sreedhar purchases 2 tolas of gold and silver ornaments every year as savings.
He has a PF started by his employer that he tracks every month on the company website. He has also opted for the company’s pension scheme that is debited from his salary. It will be auto-credited to his account monthly after his retirement till his death.
Sreedhar also bought 2 plots of land in 2016 that he plans to resell when the land value increases — He currently pays in instalments for the second plot through his debit card.

This is one of the only places you use your debit card. Any particular reason for doing so?
If I use any credit card, they charge me an extra 2 or 3%.

Sreedhar used to invest in Chit Funds but stopped after he took a big amount from his Chit Funds for his new house.

How did you decide to be a part of that chit fund?
It’s not authorized. It’s within my friend’s group. We give ₹10,000 rupees monthly for 20 months and he would give us ₹2,20,000 on an auction basis. We did it for savings because if we have excess bank balance, there will be unnecessary expenditure. I always invest in things like these so we are financially tight and don’t spend unnecessarily. But after buying the house, I have home and vehicle loans which makes things financially tight so I stopped.
You mentioned that you are not interested in the stock market. Why?
I tried getting into stocks in 2010. I gave a ₹5000 cheque to a Share Khan employee and asked him to confirm with me before depositing the cheque. I don’t know if he was trying to complete a target but he deposited it without my confirmation. I didn’t have any bank balance at that time and the cheque bounced. I lost all hope and they kept calling me but I decided that that would be my first and last attempt to get into the stock market.

Insurances

Sreedhar bought life insurance from HDFC on the recommendation of a friend’s cousin who works in HDFC Mutual Funds.
He has an LIC policy in his wife’s name that he pays for by debit card since he is charged an additional amount if he pays via credit card.
Sreedhar opted for an Aviva life insurance policy in 2013 as a prerequisite to get the locker facility at IndusInd Bank. On his request, it was split in Sreedhar and his wife’s name and is auto-debited from his account.
He has health insurance provided by his company whose premiums are deducted from his salary. Payments for his HDFC health insurance are auto-debited from his credit card annually.
Sreedhar bought vehicle insurance from ICICI Lombard at the showroom — 2 wheeler in 2010 and 4 wheeler in 2019. He renews them online on the ICICI Lombard website using a credit card.

Any particular reason you chose ICICI for vehicle insurance?
Because most of the vehicle showrooms have ICICI Lombard only.

Technology

Sreedhar has been a smartphone user for 7–8 years now and has 2 mobile numbers — one for official and one for personal purposes. His daughter uses his second phone for online classes and keeps it with her all the time.
He owns a wide range of devices and plans to add Alexa or Google Home to the list. He uses the Google voice assistant for navigating on Google Maps.

Data Sharing and Privacy

Sreedhar would prefer taking future loans from one of the new fintech apps since he has already used all other methods except fintech apps. He wants to try these new apps and rate them. That is the reason why he has loans across different entities.
His second choice would be government banks since they usually have lower rates of interest and are more trustworthy.

“I have recently watched on the news that some NBFCs are harassing people to pay the installments even though government regulations have given a 1 month moratorium.”

Did you always have this mindset of wanting to try different entities for different loans?
It is not like that, it is based on the situation. In 2011–2013, when I had to purchase the AC or refrigerator, credit cards were not widely used. The only financial option available was Bajaj Finance so we utilised it. But given the option, I would like to try something new.

We asked the participant what kind of data they would be interested in sharing across the different types of loan providers to borrow a personal loan.

Sreedhar is uncomfortable sharing his KYC details with non-banks because Aadhar card is linked to multiple aspects. After seeing the news of Bajaj Finance harassing customers over payments during COVID-19, he lost trust in them.
On further prodding, he mentioned that he didn’t mind sharing his details:

“If they are giving me money, they will need my permanent address. Loan amounts are based on personal finances and investments — if I want more money, I will have to provide these details so that they can see whether I can repay them or not. They need insurance proof of me being perfectly fine otherwise if something happens to me tomorrow, it will be a loss for the bank. We need to be supportive to them. I will give all my details.”

What if the lender asks for your social media information because they are profiling customers whom they are giving a loan to? Would you share it?
I don’t think this data is required. I will not be willing to share this with any of these entities.

To further cross their statements we asked the participants to choose from two different types of loans based on their varying data requirements and captured their thoughts.

Although Sreedhar is comfortable with sharing the usual data requirements for a loan, he believes that it would violate his privacy if he had to give the lender access to his bank statements during the entire repayment period even for a lower rate of interest.

He is open to sharing his information with third parties as long as he knows what is being shared and with whom.

Sreedhar has done his KYC for Paytm, Ola Money, Amazon and Airtel. He believes that KYC needs to be done for everything and he doesn’t mind it.
He never reads the terms and conditions or privacy policies of these apps and doesn’t mind giving them permission to access his camera and location except in certain situations.
Sreedhar uses his Facebook and Google account to log into other accounts and doesn’t restrict his privacy settings:

“I don’t keep any of my personal data in Facebook. I just post and share. Plus, it is very easy to log in (to other apps) with Facebook.”

When do you deny app permissions? Why?
I may deny a few things based on the situation. For example, Arogya Setu asks for location access before you can use it. I gave access, filled the details and immediately switched off the location. I live in a gated community. If something goes wrong, everyone will start fearing me. GoIbibo also asked if they could send referral messages to my contacts — sometimes I deny that.

Goals and Aspirations

Sreedhar’s short term goal is to build an independent house from scratch and his long term goal is to give his daughter a good education.

How do you plan to fulfill these goals?
I already have various investments — gold, individual plots and my own flat. If everything goes well, I will get a lump sum amount on the land with which I can at least purchase the land where I want the house constructed. I also have a PF and a retirement pension scheme.

Credits

Interviewed by Lakshmi Ajayan
Analysed and written by Dhriti Agarwal
Edited by Lakshmi Ajayan

Future of Data Sharing:

‘Future of Data Sharing’ aims at designing a playbook for consented data sharing to enable financial services in India. The objective of this research is to develop a design toolkit with the upcoming public infrastructure Account Aggregators as the main theme in focus. The toolkit will host resources and assets around designing better user experiences for data sharing and data portability.

Future of Data Sharing is sponsored by Facebook and executed in collaboration with D91 Labs, DICE, Parallel Labs and TTC Labs.

Future of Data Sharing by D91 Labs is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Look up our Research Series

About the Research

This documentation is a result of the in-person interview, along with the participants’ consent. The interviews might be conducted in their native languages and translated to English in the best possible way to reach a large audience.

Disclaimer: The identities of people and places in this documentation have been changed to honour the privacy of the participants.

About D91 Labs

This research was executed and documented by D91 labs. D91 labs is an open-source initiative by setu.co to help Bharat build great fintech products. We organise and publish user research, insights, and frameworks for fintech in India. Please follow us on medium for more exciting stories and insights on Bharat.

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