Savings, credit, jewellery major focus for Jar amid evolving finance needs

Amid growing financial uncertainty, Jar enables Indians to save in digital gold, offering small daily investments and options for jewellery conversion through its platform

When the Covid-19 pandemic struck the world less than five years ago, people were unaware of how their lives would shape up in the absence of adequate health and financial support.

 

For many, the loss of employment, increased expenses, and depleting savings exposed the fragility of personal finance for millions in India. This led Nishchay Ag and Misbah Ashraf to establish Jar, a fintech company that enables individuals to save in digital gold regularly.

 

But in a market that encourages investments in mutual funds, securities, and even real estate, why build a fintech platform for digital gold savings?

 

“You need to be privileged enough to understand what mutual funds, portfolios or investments are. We felt gold is an asset class that Indians understand, and we should build a simple savings platform around it,” said Nischay AG, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Jar.

 

To date, the company has raised $61.4 million from investors, according to data from market intelligence platform Tracxn.

 

The founder believes the company encourages a habit of savings in small ticket sizes on a daily basis among its customers. On average, its users invest in digital gold 22 times a month, with ticket sizes ranging from Rs 10 to Rs 5,000.

 

Apart from daily savings, individuals can invest a lump sum on the platform with a ticket size of their choice. The use cases for saving on the platform vary widely, from family emergencies to anniversaries.

 

“You will find people saying that my mom pledged all her gold for my education or family emergencies. They would save on Jar to ensure they buy enough gold and reclaim some of their lost jewellery,” he added.

 

The company enables individuals to cash out their gold based on market rates or have the gold delivered to their homes. For the company, topline revenue is driven by the arbitrage between wholesale and retail prices of the yellow metal.

 

“For us, we wanted to build a full-stack product around gold and gradually distribute it across channels through partners. We scaled it to a certain level and opened up our platform for third-party players to integrate our services,” he added.

 

For instance, the company partnered with PhonePe for digital gold this year.

 

Over time, the company’s revenue streams have also evolved to include credit and a jewellery business called Nek. The in-house jewellery brand allows customers to convert saved gold into jewellery across types, including gold, silver, and even diamonds.

 

Nishchay claims that the jewellery platform has clocked over Rs 100 crore in less than nine months since its launch. Traditional jewellers with physical stores across the country do not deter his plans to expand the business further.

 

“I do not feel that we would require an offline presence because how do you build a low-cost distribution and then monetise it? I think we have figured that out. If you haven’t figured out low-cost distribution to a massive consumer base, then you would be pushed to start an offline presence,” he said.

 

On that note, the company’s focus will remain on savings, credit, and jewellery in the upcoming months, Nishchay added.