TheCconnects: Birju Patel, thank you for joining us today. Your journey in transforming India’s BFSI
sector through PropLegit is inspiring. Can you walk our readers through your professional path and
how you arrived at your current role as COO and Director?
Birju Patel: The journey began in 2015 with a very vague idea on safeguarding one’s hard-earned land
property. This gave birth to a unique B2C platform catering to all services related to land/property
for Individuals. Later on, after testing the water for 4 years, the services were expanded for the BFSI
sector, especially for managing their loan portfolio to bring down the NPA and improving the efficiency
and productivity. And here I am today, managing a team of 70+ young talented pool of professionals
and providing a bouquet of pre and post disbursement services to our BFSI clients PAN India.
TheCconnects: Who would you say has been the most influential figure in shaping your perspective,
both personally and professionally?
Birju Patel: On the personal front, I would say my father is the most influencing and inspiring figure. I
am what I am today only because of his perseverance in my upbringing with a very little expectation
that I make him proud someday. Professionally, our respected Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modiji has
inspired me immensely. I had an opportunity to work under his able leadership and I always try to
inculcate some of his traits even today be it dreaming big, have an action-oriented plan to achieve the
dream, trusting your team and giving them a vision for their personal and professional growth and last
but not the least, never give-up, cause there is nothing impossible to achieve in this World.
TheCconnects: Your work addresses some of the most pressing challenges in India’s real estate and
lending ecosystem. What’s been the biggest hurdle you’ve faced, and how did you overcome it?
Birju Patel: I would say the biggest hurdle that I faced is changing the mindset of the BFSI clients for
adopting new and unique solutions coupled with latest state of the art technology and system
architecture. The perception still remains of the old ways of doing things, manually, heavily dependent
on individuals, time consuming and prone to errors or intentional omissions. But as they say, seeing is
believing and that’s how PropLegit has been successful in changing the mindset by demonstrating its
technical abilities and making the life of BFSI clients easy.
TheCconnects: What are some key lessons you’ve learned over the years that have shaped your
approach?
Birju Patel: Lots of learnings. But if I have to mention few of them, I would say stick to whatever you
believe is good, both for your clients and the Company, and go all out until you achieve your goal,
persistence always pays. Never say no, try to understand the problem and feel the pain from your
client’s perspective, solutions are always there but you need to go and find them. And last but most
important learning, always stick to ethical ways of doing business, rather than going for shortcuts to
be in limelight for some time. It never pays in long term.
TheCconnects: The digital landscape is transforming every industry, including BFSI. What do you see
as the biggest challenge for brands in this space today?
Birju Patel: I would rather say there is actually no challenge in this space today. Digital ecosystem is a
very open for all platform and sky is the limit, if you have the right solution for addressing the real
challenges faced by the Industry and a confident and skilled team of professionals who always keep
Company first before individual gains.
TheCconnects: Let’s talk about Proplegit’s impact. How does your platform address the specific pain
points of your BFSI clients?
Birju Patel: One of the most important and unique USP of PropLegit’s platform is it’s all in one solution,
covering both pre and post disbursement stages, covering an entire life cycle of a loan application
journey, right till the completion of loan tenure. Such a platform that brings together all key
stakeholders that are independently providing their services currently in bits and pieces, and through
manual modes of delivery, was not available till now for the Indian BFSI industry. Then there is also a
very important aspect related to mandatory compliance of RBI’s Fraud Risk Management Framework
which even though is available to all but was rarely put into practice diligently, even by top industry
names. PropLegit’s services are designed in such a way that Banks / NBFC’s automatically complies
with the watchdog’s framework, in letter and spirit. Another major pain point that our services address
is making the life easy of the most critical player in the entire loan application journey, i.e. the local
credit manager. The poor fellow was taking all burden till now, be it processing the loan application,
coordinating with legal and valuers, coordinating with the applicant till loan disbursement and also
doing some sort of annual status check on the mortgaged land / property (but not always for entire
disbursed portfolio!) and that too, all through manual processes. I am not adding to this the month
end pressure of generating more business which we all know is a reality in this ever-competitive
business environment. So making his life easy is the ultimate pain point which PropLegit is addressing
now, enabling the other by-products as extra gain, such as time, effort and expense saving along with
reduction in the NPA and strong business growth.
TheCconnects: That’s a game-changer for the industry. Given the demands of your role, what do you
do to unwind and recharge in your free time?
Birju Patel: I love to keep myself updated on what’s happening around the World, politically,
economically and of course, on the technology front. I cannot sleep without having a dose of daily
news. There are few games which I often play in free time to refresh and recharge my mind. And yes,
time spent with the family and my kids is the greatest booster that makes me ready for the next day
grind.
TheCconnects: That’s a great mix of personal and professional passions. Speaking of mentoring, what
advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs looking to enter the BFSI or legal-tech space?
Birju Patel: My advice to them, follow your passion, chase your dreams and never give up!!! There is
always a space for everyone in this small World.
TheCconnects: You’ve mentioned the importance of technology in driving change. How do you see
technologies like AI and blockchain shaping the future of BFSI?
Birju Patel: AI and blockchain are useful technologies but in my view, they can never replace human
mind. In fact, it can lead to decline in human skills and critical thinking abilities and the young
generation should always keep this in mind. New technologies or innovations always help simplify the
process and makes life easy in replacing the age old, outdated ways of doing things and improving
productivity and efficiency. But after all, they are technologies and are vulnerable as well. So a
measured and balanced approach should ideally be the way forward.
TheCconnects: India’s BFSI sector is poised for massive growth. How is Proplegit positioning itself to
support this?
Birju Patel: Proplegit has positioned itself right at the top of this massive BFSI growth story. New and
innovative solutions aided by latest technological interventions, making a paradigm shift in the way
BFSI players work by getting rid of old methods and replacing them with new ones, taking along the
BFSI clients and making them a partner in this journey backed by digitization, and most importantly,
addressing their pain points and giving them business growth. And this is how Proplegit is supporting
this massive growth.
TheCconnects: One last question, Birju. What’s next for Proplegit, and what legacy do you hope to
leave in the industry?
Birju Patel: Proplegit don’t believe in leaving any legacy as we have just started and we are here to
stay!! Until we achieve our vision and mission of transforming the way BFSI industry should ideally
operate in this ever-evolving dynamic World of constant change.
TheCconnects: Birju, your vision and passion are truly inspiring. Thank you for sharing your insights
and for the incredible work you’re doing at Proplegit.
Birju Patel, We wish you continued success in reshaping the BFSI landscape.
Birju Patel: Thank you for the opportunity to share our story. It’s an exciting time for the industry,
and I’m thrilled to be part of this transformation.
