December 5th 2025.
In a recent conversation, Bhasin sat down with Law to discuss his career shift from the world of consumer goods to the financial services giant. With a quarter-century of experience at Unilever, working with globally renowned brands, Bhasin took on the challenge of bringing a fresh, consumer-centric perspective to the banking sector. He was motivated by the immense potential of India's finance industry, given its significant under-penetration in various investment products.
During his time at Kotak, Bhasin noticed that traditional banking often operates from a supply-side mindset, asking, "We created this product; who do we sell it to?". However, Bhasin learned from his experience in the FMCG sector that effective marketing requires a demand-side approach. It involves starting with the consumer's needs, developing a product to meet those needs, and highlighting its superiority over the competition. Bhasin believes that successful brands are built on the foundation of solving genuine consumer problems and maintaining relevance in their lives.
One of Bhasin's most cherished products is ActivMoney, which was born from a key consumer insight. He observed that Indians, having grown up in a scarcity phenomenon, tend to keep large sums of money in savings accounts for emergency purposes. Despite the high interest rates on Fixed Deposits in recent years, these funds remained inactive in savings accounts due to the need for a safety net. In response, ActivMoney was introduced, offering FD returns on savings accounts while retaining the liquidity of a regular savings account. This way, customers could earn FD returns without having to withdraw money from their accounts. To promote this product, Kotak launched a campaign featuring brand ambassador Ranveer Singh, targeting salaried customers and encouraging them to convert their accounts to earn FD interest on their salary balance.
Recognizing the rapid growth of the affluent population in India, Bhasin's team developed the Second Income Plan for the Affluent. Through this program, they aimed to help customers create a second source of income equivalent to their salary, providing a sense of financial liberation. This led to the launch of the Second Income Plan Aspire SIP, where customers can decide on a desired monthly income and invest via a Systematic Investment Plan until a certain age. Then, they can switch to a Systematic Withdrawal Plan, automatically withdrawing the target income every month while the original corpus continues to compound.
In recent news, SEBI has banned financial influencer Avadhut Sathe from the stock markets, frozen his accounts, and ordered him to return ₹601 crore. This incident highlights the struggle for financial literacy in India, where categories such as soap have a 90% penetration rate, while investing remains critically low, with mutual funds at less than 10%, term deposits at 15%, and insurance at only 2%. Bhasin believes that this gap exists because financial products are often seen as complicated or misunderstood. Therefore, it is crucial for financial institutions to continuously educate customers, making products relevant by linking them to their life goals, instead of just focusing on returns. For example, Bhasin suggests that anyone taking a home loan should also purchase term insurance equivalent to the loan value. This additional expense protects the family's dream by ensuring that the insurance pays off the remaining loan if the borrower passes away. However, Bhasin notes that pure term insurance penetration is low due to the belief that one should receive something back when the insurance period ends, leading to a preference for savings-led insurance products.
In recent times, insurers have been racing to arm themselves with advanced technologies such as AI and cyber defense strategies, as seen at the Orlando Conference. This highlights the importance of staying updated with the latest developments and advancements in the financial industry.
Bhasin also shared some leadership mantras and investment advice for young professionals. He believes that one should identify their passion and find work that they would do even without the fear of failure. This answer will reveal their true mission and lead to happiness and success. As for leadership, Bhasin suggests defining it by the followers one has. Instead of focusing on personal traits, one should ask themselves, "Why should my team want me to lead them?". This will reveal true leadership qualities. Finally, Bhasin advises young people to invest before spending, reversing the common habit of spending first and then investing. He stresses the importance of starting early and investing for the long term in equities, which has been the best-performing asset class over the last 10, 20, and 25 years.
In conclusion, Bhasin encourages young professionals to embrace cultural immersion, whether through living in a different country or engaging in activities like watching movies and checking social media. This allows one to gain cultural insights and understand the real pulse of the country. The ultimate goal of the financial industry is to transition Indians from a country of savers to a country of investors.
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