For Revolut, India is just the first in a series of countries it plans to enter in the next 18 months

• Revolut is a $5.5 billion European fintech company and it’s planning to enter India in 2021.
• “India is the most advanced market,” said Nikolay Storonsky, co-founder of Revolut in an exclusive interview with Business Insider India.
• He thinks the Indian market is ripe for consolidation, despite three players dominating the digital payments space in the country.

The $5.5 billion fintech startup Revolut is planning to make its entry in India in 2021. India is the first country on Revolut’s expansion radar over the next 18 months.

Nikolay Storonsky, the company’s founder and chief executive told Business Insider in an exclusive interview that after India, Revolut plans to enter other Asian countries like Indonesia, Philippines, South Korea and China. Beyond Asia, Storonsky has his eyes set on Brazil and Mexico in the Americas.

However, India is first on Storonsky’s radar in the next 18 months. He believes the Indian market is the most advanced, and although unified payments interface (UPI) is a huge advantage for existing payment startups in India, he thinks the time is ripe for market consolidation.


He also believes that launching a new payments company in India in 2021 is a good idea -- at a time when the trio of PhonePe, Google Pay and Paytm process over 93% of the total UPI transactions.

“If you’re in India and want a US account, you can do it in one click. If you want to buy a US stock like Apple, you can do it at the inter-bank rate,” he explained, pointing out that these factors are “ground-breaking”.

And there’s reason for Storonsky to be excited about India. According to the Boston Consulting Group and FICCI, the fintech industry in India is a $100 billion opportunity. India could prove to be a big boost to Revolut’s fortunes -- the company reported £162.7 million in revenue in 2019.

With the Indian fintech ecosystem being dominated by three players -- Google Pay, PhonePe and Paytm -- Revolut might have to consider acquiring an existing fintech player. Over the next five years, Storonsky said that a fintech acquisition is a possibility, but refrained from pointing out any names.

The company plans to invest up to $25 million in India and hire up to 200 people.

Free plan first, subscriptions later

Storonsky also noted that his company will launch its free plan first, with the subscription variants to come later. The standard product is free and allows users to manage money, send and spend money abroad, among other things.

Revolut currently offers one standard plan and three subscription plans that go as high as up to £12.99 per month (approx. ₹1,300). Storonsky said that his company will do a detailed analysis later.

With that said, subscriptions contribute a fraction to Revolut’s revenue, with the other services contributing the lion’s share at 75%.

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