According to the Budget, fintech innovation, digital infrastructure expansion, banking, and payments are all welcome in India’s startup ecosystem. The launch of the Digital Rupee, which the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will issue in the next few months, was the most noteworthy announcement made by FM Sithraman.
Furthermore, FM Sitharaman stated that the financial assistance for the digital payments ecosystem announced in the previous Budget will be maintained in 2022-23.The government last year announced a Rs. 1500 crore allocation to boost digital payments adoption in the country.
Startups boost the economy tremendously by driving innovation and creating new job opportunities, as opposed to recycling jobs due to job changes, retirements, or brain drain. As evidenced by the fact that the social media industry, which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 25.38 percent to a market value of $939.679 billion by 2026, started with an ambitious company founded by a young entrepreneur.
In order to carry out the Fintech revolution, India now requires experts with technological and financial expertise. The following are some of India’s fastest-growing “Fintech” platforms, which are causing a stir in the digital lending industry while also allowing Startups and entrepreneurs to flourish:
Eko
Eko, one of the fastest-growing fintech platforms in India, empowers a generation of ambitious entrepreneurs to improve their financial health and access to the formal economy. Eko helps small entrepreneurs discover earning opportunities, tools for digitization and first-time access to credit – each tailored to meet their needs. Since 2007, Eko has built a tech platform which at its peak processed Rs 2500 Crore across 70 million transactions in a month. Eko has serviced over 35 million customers through a network of over 2.5 Lakh sellers, growing 20% month-on-month. These sellers help the brands sell their digital products and services and assist their customers in fulfilling their transactions.
Now, Eko has forayed into the lending ecosystem by creating the ‘first time credit’ module for ambitious sellers. Eko strives to help them overcome such challenges by collaborating with NBFCs and P2P lending organizations. By dispensing $1bn of loans with flexible repayments infrastructure the company wants to provide affordable capital and AI-backed services to MSMEs, allowing them to instill digital transformation within their operations. The fintech platform uses the ‘micro-credit approach’ in its services and designs them to fulfill the same. Its daily repayment infrastructure capability allows sellers to repay loans daily in part or full. They can use this credit to boost their business and serve more customers using Eko’s platform or outside of it. Their proprietary underwriting model based on transactions done on Eko’s platform, another notable feature, offers credit to sellers and customers who lack a CIBIL score and are not a part of the formal credit system. The model also uses demographic, and engagement data of the sellers to drive efficient results.
FlexiLoans
FlexiLoans is an online lending platform started with an endeavour to solve the problem that SMEs face in accessing Quick, Flexible & Adequate funds for growing their Businesses. Over 80% of Loan proposals from SMEs currently are rejected by institutional channels on account of inadequate financial history or collaterals. With the fast & ubiquitous digital adoption in India & increased avenues to leverage data analytics, FlexiLoan is standing on the verge of Banking transformation in this country which will help them efficiently cater to the large untapped & unserved demand. They wish to make the ‘social & alternative scoring of SMEs & Individuals a big opportunity for the economy that will far out place the limited insights that financial bureau provides. FlexiLoans believe that their technology-powered online marketplace is the best model to meet the financial requirements of SME’s who do not have credit history & hence cannot avail loans from traditional banking channels. It is geolocated in Mumbai & provide collateral-free loans across India.
Indifi
Indifi Technologies is a Gurgaon-based lending platform, enabling debt financing for small businesses. It aims to substantially improve the experience for borrowers regarding credit access as well as the speed and convenience of the loan process. Driven by the idea of expanding access to MSME financing in India, Indifi has emerged as an enabler for start-ups and small businesses seeking seamless access to funding. Indifi expands the envelope of formal lending by designing the right-fit credit products for MSMEs, improving the standard of risk assessment, and leveraging the supply chain linkages of MSMEs. Indifi has recently partnered with Facebook to offer loans to small businesses. The company already provides zero collateral loans to small businesses in the country, but the partnership with Facebook gives it the chance to reach more borrowers in the country. Indifi uses digital processes to do know-your-customer (KYC) checks and verification of companies. The company has a non-banking financial entity (NBFC) of its own, it also partners with private banks to provide loans to SMBs.
Indifi has designed its products such that they suit the use cases dominant in each industry – hence, restaurants may need a short tenure term loan for minor renovations, whereas retailers may need working capital to account for seasonal peaks in business.
So far, Indifi has disbursed over 35,000+ loans, amounting to over Rs 1500 crore until March 2021, with 80 partners across 650 cities.
Capital Float
Capital Float is India’s leading Buy Now Pay Later and credit platform serving a mix of salaried & self-employed individuals. From offering innovative checkout credit solutions for consumers to financing the business and personal needs of individuals, we are leading the charge in addressing the country’s enormous credit problem. Powered by rigorous innovation and technological advancements, and with the acquisition of India’s leading Personal Finance Management App – Walnut in 2018, we’re proud to be recognized as a trailblazer in India’s Fintech revolution. We passionately serve our customers with cutting-edge financial products and strive to help them #BreakLimits. Due to decades of informal lending, a large majority of customers don’t have the necessary formal documentation to be eligible for credit. If they do have the prerequisite documentation, they are often battling the challenges posed by the structural bureaucracy of lending in India. – Meanwhile, owing to the gargantuan geographic landscape of the country, several formal lenders are unable to cater to the financial needs of customers in tier 2 and tier 3 towns.