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Bank–fintech associations are significant globally, establishing purposeful eco-systems towards extending and complementing capabilities, reach and customer experiences. This paper aims to explore 39 leading fintechs in India catering across payments, lending, wealth management, regulation, neo-banks and other banking functions. Alongside fintechs, the research studies 19 leading banks (public and private) to understand the nature of bank–fintech associations in the Indian context.

The research focuses on narratives from leading banks and top fintechs in India, captured from public disclosures and leadership interviews. The study leverages qualitative research techniques, including grounded theory approaches of inductive analysis, to codify interview and narrative observations to discover relevant objectives, scenarios, challenges and outcomes in India-centric bank–fintech associations.

Bank–fintech associations in India are increasingly focusing on financial services portfolio diversification and improvement in customer experience. Simultaneously, both banks and fintechs, differentiate with innovations and extend offerings to target underserved customer segments. The associations are beneficial for both banks and fintechs in transforming offerings and improving efficiency, scale across channels. Through codification of observations, review of existing literature and evaluation of best practices, alongside subject matter expertise, the study evolves a generalized “Association Model”. The model can steer meaningful bank–fintech associations in India and globally. The association model relates to observables like objectives, enablers of bank–fintech associations, challenges and association-driven value outcomes. Built from study of practices, the proposed model is relevant for strategic orientation in bank–fintech associations.

The findings reveal practices in bank–fintech associations in India with significant learning opportunity for organizational leaders globally. Understanding the nature of association is relevant for strategic interventions, particularly in scenarios of inter-organization collaborations. Central banks, policymakers, governments, investors, banks and fintechs can use the derived association model to establish, govern and steer purposeful value-driven associations.