US-based data analytics firm FICO launches its cloud platform in India

Fair Isaac, the US-based data and analytics company better known as FICO, on Tuesday launched its cloud-based platform in India. Indian banks like HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, and AU Small Finance Bank are among the early adopters set to elevate customer satisfaction and drive innovation in the banking sector. FICO Platform brings to market a suite of advanced decisioning and artificial intelligence capabilities tailored to empower local businesses.

“In India's dynamic business environment, financial institutions will now have the potential to deliver hyper-personalized customer experiences, reshape business models, and achieve optimal outcomes for customers and stakeholders,” said Dattu Kompella, managing director in Asia for FICO.

The company said the implementation of its platform will enable Indian enterprises to unlock invaluable insights, optimise operations, and drive impactful commercial outcomes.

“As we integrate FICO Platform into our operations at Axis Bank, we're already witnessing promising outcomes,” said Balaji Narayanamurthy, head of the business intelligence unit at Axis Bank. “As part of our commitment to elevating the credit card customer experience, we eagerly anticipate moving to real-time decisioning for overlimit approvals using richer customer data.”

Abhijit Singh, group head - banking as a service (BaaS), international banking and digital ecosystem banking at HDFC, said the organisation’s mission was to simplify the home loan process. “FICO Platform has proven to be an invaluable asset,” said Singh. “It has helped improve our straight-through processing rates, resulting in an enhanced customer journey.”

By embracing FICO's technology, Jaipur-based AU Small Finance Bank achieved an immediate and notable 30 per cent increase in vehicle loan automation. This is helping in its financial inclusion mission, particularly for underserved and unbanked populations.

“We can deliver vehicle loans faster and more accurately,” said Uttam Tibrewal, executive director, AU Small Finance Bank.

A recent Forrester Consulting study commissioned by FICO on the ‘Current State of Advanced Analytics Adoption’, reveals that three out of four industry decision-makers in India prioritise improving customer experiences. Financial services firms that leverage advanced analytics technologies experience increased customer acquisition, improved profitability, and enhanced compliance.

"In India, with 40 per cent of the 1.4 billion population already using digital banking, the trend toward online financial services is clear,” said Kompella. “As more embrace digital banking, institutions compete to enhance customer experiences, emphasising the benefits of AI, decision automation, and business outcome simulation."

Bill Waid, chief product and technology officer at FICO, said that the company is also scaling up its operations including expanding its research and development team in the country. He said the firm has been present in India since 2003 and growing its staff here at an average of 12 per cent per year.

“We have over 100 open positions in Bengaluru for the engineering team alone,” said Waid, in an interview. “We do both core engineering and innovation work as well as operations. We have a data sciences and security team there.”