'Consumer first' approach driving innovation: Sanjiv Bajaj

Hailing technology as a great enabler for providing right products and services, Bajaj Finserv chief Sanjiv Bajaj on Wednesday said his company is following "consumer first" approach to innovate the way it does business.

At a session on 'India 4.0: Making technology work for all' at the WEF annual meeting 2019, Bajaj said his company now provides consumer loans on the spot and that has been possible because of right use of technology and a right approach to do business.

"Technology has become a big enabler for companies like ours in terms of providing right products and services to customers.

"A typical consumer loan used to take 3-4 days earlier, but my company went down to the root level and found that consumers wanted to buy that plasma TV immediately to watch a cricket match or something, rather than waiting for three or four days," Bajaj said.

He also said that a lot of innovation comes from thinking about the consumers first and that is happening a lot in India.

At the same session, Andhra Pradesh IT minister Lokesh Nara said his was a new state and his aim is to make the state number one in terms of per capita income and happiness.

He said data is being used in a big way for achieving these targets and the state is using technology as an enabler as also as a tool that can make the government accountable.

"In our small journey, we have achieved a great deal of satisfaction," said Nara, son of Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

With one of the youngest labour forces in the world, the second largest number of Internet users on mobiles and the second largest English speaking population, India is well positioned to enhance its global leadership in a post fourth industrial revolution era, according to the panelists.

NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said technology is being used in a big way to bring in efficiency in government functions and in delivery of services and schemes to the citizens.