Lark Finserv Launches India’s First API-Based Lending Against Securities Platform

Lark Finserv, one of India’s emerging fintech innovators, has launched the country’s first API-driven credit infrastructure for Lending Against Securities (LAS). This launch enables wealth-tech platforms, brokers, and investment apps to help their clients easily access liquidity against mutual funds directly within their app ecosystem, marking a first in India.

Rohit Pateria, Founder, Lark Finserv

Lark Finserv aims to transform the Credit-Liquidity Equation for investors. Previously, investors seeking liquidity from their holdings had to either redeem their mutual funds early or look outside their wealth-tech platform for loans from traditional lenders. This practice disrupted the customer journey and negatively impacted the long-term growth potential of the investment.

Lark is poised to change this through its full-stack technology. By integrating its API-first LAS Tech Stack with existing investment infrastructure, Lark allows wealth-tech platforms to provide instant credit against investments, including mutual funds. Investors can now borrow quickly and securely against their portfolio without needing to redeem or exit.

“Lending against securities represents a $100+ billion opportunity in India,” said Rohit Pateria, Founder & CEO of Lark Finserv. “Our launch is about more than just adding credit; it’s about changing how liquidity flows into the wealth-tech ecosystem. By creating an API-first LAS infrastructure, we’ve made it possible for wealth platforms to keep investors engaged, grow assets under management, and provide credit as a service that feels integrated.”

Lark’s LAS infrastructure is designed as a multi-lender platform, acting as a neutral, plug-and-play marketplace that seamlessly connects wealth-techs with multiple lending partners at once. Instead of being tied to the policies or balance sheet of a single lender, this model unlocks wider credit coverage to serve investors across diverse risk tiers, fosters competitive pricing by giving platforms and investors more options, and ensures resilience and scale by eliminating single-point dependencies while allowing lenders to compete to meet demand.

India’s mutual fund industry has surpassed ₹60 lakh crore in assets, with millions of investors entering the market each year. However, a significant problem persists; investors often redeem mutual funds when they need liquidity, disrupting their compounding journey and lowering long-term returns. Lark’s LAS will serve as a robust solution for the industry. By allowing loans against mutual funds, Lark offers wealth-techs an effective way to prevent this loss. Investors gain liquidity while keeping their investments intact; platforms maintain higher assets under management, and fund houses benefit from stronger long-term growth. “Preventing premature redemption is the biggest use case for LAS in India’s wealth-tech ecosystem,” adds Rohit. “We believe that lending against mutual funds alone can significantly drive industry growth and support long-term capital formation.”

Lark’s LAS does not only help in investment securities against mutual funds, it encompasses all types of investment securities available to retail and high-net-worth investors. From listed stocks to corporate bonds, and from REITs/ETFs to private-market AIF units, Lark’s infrastructure supports a variety of assets for financing. This extensive coverage allows wealth-tech platforms to cater to different investor profiles, whether they are first-time mutual fund investors, high-net-worth individuals holding corporate shares, or institutional clients invested in REITs or AIFs.

Lark is changing the lending landscape with a straightforward credit system that makes Loans Against Securities (LAS) a natural addition for wealth-tech platforms. With fast API integrations, these platforms can provide instant, paperless credit for investors directly in their apps, without needing to redirect users. For investors in India, this means they can access money without selling assets. They get immediate funds while keeping their portfolios fully invested.

Just as embedded finance changed payments and insurance, Lark is establishing a new space in Wealth + Credit. This drives the next wave of change in wealth-tech. By linking wealth platforms and lenders, Lark allows investors to borrow as needed without disturbing their investments. It boosts market strength by keeping assets under management invested, which supports both equity and debt markets. Through its API-first, multi-lender setup, Lark brings credit innovation at scale and encourages growth in the ecosystem where platforms keep customers, lenders broaden their reach, and investors remain in control.

Lark is not just providing credit; it is creating a new financial foundation for Wealth-Tech 2.0 in India.

Lark’s launch marks the beginning of a larger mission to build the credit operating system for India’s investment ecosystem. In the long run, it envisions extending its liquidity solutions into tokenized securities, real estate, and emerging asset classes, shaping a future where credit is seamlessly embedded across the financial internet.

About Lark Finserv

Founded in the year 2023, Lark Finserv is India’s premier credit infrastructure provider for wealth platforms. Built on a purpose-driven SaaS model, Lark enables seamless lending against mutual funds and a wide spectrum of securities through its world-class technology stack. By embedding lending-as-a-service (LAS) directly into wealth management journeys, the company empowers wealth management firms, fintechs, mutual fund distributors, independent advisors, and stockbrokers to unlock liquidity instantly—without requiring investors to sell their holdings or disrupt their long-term wealth creation goals.

DLAI, The Industry Body for Digital Lenders and Fintech Cos, Inks MoU with SIDBI and Releases New Code of Conduct

SIDBI CMD Released Digital Lenders Association of India’s (DLAI) Industry Code of Conduct

Framework for Driving Faster Digital Adoption for catalysing financial inclusion and Streamline Direct Lending Collaborations for DLAI members

The Digital Lenders Association of India (DLAI) and the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) recently announced that they have formally signed an MoU to propel the growth of the fintech sector in the country. Mr. Sivasubramanian Ramann, CMD SIDBI, also released DLAI’s latest version of the Industry Code of Conduct (CoC) document at the UnConclave 2023 organised by DLAI in Goa on September 23, 2023. The event was attended by the top 100 executives of the Indian fintech industry.

The new version of CoC is structured around the RBI’s Digital Lending Guidelines and takes into account important aspects such as Responsible Lending, Transparency, Fair Debt Collection Practices, Data Privacy and Security, Compliance with Regulatory Framework etc.

Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Ramann, said “High growth in Indian Fintech sector has been driven by best in class Public Digital Infrastructure (PDI) and matured policy support from regulator. It’s for the industry to leverage the Digital lending guidelines of RBI to develop responsible lending practices and the code of conduct prepared by DLAI is an important first step in this direction. We are happy to work with the Industry on other important aspects like standard protocols, customer protection, grievance redressal, etc. to facilitate faster adoption of digital lending. As a part of its business strategy SIDBI is using digital technology and partnerships to directly reach out micro enterprises. SIDBI will explore offering its credit products through the DLAI members.”

The MOU with SIDBI, is to establish a framework for collaboration between DLAI, the members of DLAI and SIDBI. Some of the key highlights of the MoU are as follows:

• Collaborations to Boost Digital Adoption: Collaborating with SIDBI to develop standard protocols to expedite the adoption of digital lending partnerships including alliances between Banks and Lending Service Providers (LSPs), Co-lending collaborations, developing model partnership agreements, etc.
• Enhancing Public Good Interventions: SIDBI to consider support to DLAI to recommend significant public good interventions in areas such as client protection, customer Grievance redressal mechanism, financial literacy, research and publications, etc.
• Direct Lending Collaborations: SIDBI will explore partnerships for its “Prayaas” Scheme for informal enterprises, co-lending, GST Sahay, Express loan, green financing, etc and other direct credit schemes SIDBI.
• Providing Liquidity for DLAI members: SIDBI shall provide resource support to eligible DLAI member NBFCs and also explore Assignment and Securitization transactions.

Speaking at the MoU announcement, Mr. Jatinder Handoo, CEO, DLAI, shared, “SIDBI is the apex Institution for development of MSME sector in the country. This partnership signifies an important step in India’s fintech journey for enhancing their role in financing to MSME sector. Both organizations are committed to leveraging our combined expertise and resources to pit the sector on high growth trajectory with responsible lending with innovation enbedded therein.”

About Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI):

SIDBI is India's principal financial institution in India for promotion, development and financing of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). SIDBI plays a critical role in supporting entrepreneurship, economic growth, and financial inclusion across the nation though various programs like credit guarantee, direct credit, venture capital, digital platforms, government program management, etc.

About Digital Lenders Association of India (DLAI):

DLAI is a prominent industry body representing digital lenders and fintech companies in India. DLAI is dedicated to promoting responsible lending practices, fostering innovation, and advocating for the interests of its member organizations in the digital lending ecosystem.

For media queries related to DLAI: Ms. Nisha Khetan at nisha@cubicpr.com

Flipkart Partners Axis Bank to Facilitate Digitally-enabled Personal Loans for Customers

Joins hands with Axis Bank, its first banking partner, to co-create a digitally-enabled personal loan offering for Flipkart’s customers

Customers can avail instant, end-to-end digital personal loans up to Rs 5 lakhs with loan approval within 30 seconds on Flipkart

The loan purchase option offers a high repayment cycle ranging from a period of 6 to 36 months

Flipkart, India’s homegrown e-commerce marketplace has entered into a strategic partnership with Axis Bank, one of the largest private sector banks, to facilitate personal loans for its valued customers, adding additional convenience and enhanced benefits to its 450 million customers. The newly introduced personal loan service offers highly competitive loan options, granting access to amounts as high as Rs 5 lakhs, allowing customers flexible repayment cycles ranging from 6 to 36 months. Flipkart’s introduction to personal loans demonstrates its commitment to addressing customers’ demands in today's financial environment and leveraging the potential of digital lending.

As Indian consumers continue to evolve, an increasing aspiration exists to enhance their lifestyles. Flipkart and Axis Bank have constantly innovated digital-first solutions to simplify customer journeys. The personal loan facility will empower customers with increased purchasing power and improve accessibility and affordability. Flipkart has made substantial commitments to create an extensive lineup of credit offerings and comprehensive financial solutions, including Pay Later, Product Financing, Seller Financing, Credit Cards, and an expansion into Personal Loans.

Dheeraj Aneja, Senior Vice President - Fintech and Payments Group at Flipkart, said, "Through strategic collaborations with leading banking institutions, we have successfully empowered our customers with a wide array of affordable payment options, including Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), Equated Monthly Installments (EMI), and Co-branded Credit Cards. We are delighted to now introduce a Personal Loan service in partnership with Axis Bank. Our focus is to enable credit and enhance purchasing power by granting access to liquidity precisely when needed. These financial solutions cater to the evolving demands of consumers, offering greater flexibility and convenience throughout their purchasing journeys. Our commitment lies in reshaping the online shopping landscape, ensuring accessibility and inclusivity for all."

Speaking on this launch, Sameer Shetty, President & Head – Digital Business & Transformation, Axis Bank, said, "Axis Bank is a full suite financial solutions provider and we continue to build on innovation led partnership models with a commitment to drive access to formal credit in India with offerings that will benefit the customer the most. In this endeavour, we are pleased to partner with Flipkart, to provide unparalleled lending solutions to a wider spectrum of customers offering customised solutions that cater to the specific needs of users. Together, we are set to bring forth a new era of convenience and accessibility for customers.”

Customers can expect the approval process for their loans to be completed in a mere 30 seconds. To initiate their loan application, they must provide basic details such as PAN (Permanent Account Number), date of birth, and work details. Once these details are provided, Axis Bank will approve their loan limit. Customers can then select their preferred loan amount and repayment method, considering their comfortable monthly repayment capability. Flipkart will present a comprehensive loan summary, repayment details, and terms and conditions for review before finalising the loan application.

The Flipkart Group is one of India's leading digital commerce entities and includes group companies Flipkart, Myntra, Flipkart Wholesale, Flipkart Health+ and Cleartrip.

Started in 2007, Flipkart has enabled millions of consumers, sellers, merchants, and small businesses to be a part of India's digital commerce revolution, with a registered customer base of more than 450 million, offering over 150 million products across 80+ categories. Our efforts to democratize commerce in India, drive access and affordability, delight customers, create lakhs of jobs in the ecosystem, and empower generations of entrepreneurs and MSMEs have inspired us to innovate on many industry firsts. Flipkart is known for pioneering services such as Cash on Delivery, No Cost EMI and easy returns – customer-centric innovations have made online shopping more accessible and affordable for millions of Indians. Together with its group companies, Flipkart is committed to transforming commerce in India through technology.

For more information, please write to media@flipkart.com

Axis Bank is one of the largest private sector banks in India. Axis Bank offers the entire spectrum of services to customer segments covering Large and Mid-Corporates, SME, Agriculture, and Retail Businesses. With its 4,903 domestic branches (including extension counters) and 15,953 ATMs across the country as on 31st March 2023, the network of Axis Bank spreads across 2,741 cities and towns, enabling the Bank to reach out to a large cross-section of customers with an array of products and services. The Axis Group includes Axis Mutual Fund, Axis Securities Ltd., Axis Finance, Axis Trustee, Axis Capital, A.TReDS Ltd., Freecharge, Axis Pension Fund and Axis Bank Foundation.

For further information on Axis Bank, please refer to the website: https://www.axisbank.com

Digital Lending Software Co. Cloudbankin Raises $400K in Funding from Upekkha, Kube VC and Others

Chennai-based CloudBankIN, an end-to-end end-to-end cloud-based loan software company, raised $400K in funding from Angel investors, Upekkha, SaaS accelerator and fund, and Kube VC - a global venture capital firm, reported media outlets.

The round also saw participation from Mr. Ramanathan RV, CEO at Hyperface, Mr. Mohan Karuppiah, CEO at IppoPay and Mr. Magendra Negi, Head of Alliances & Partnerships (Financial Services Solutions).

The company will use the freshly raised funds to enhance its AI based low-code platform to enable customisable workflow and pluggable integrations for different financial products.

CloudBankIN was formerly known as Habile Technologies. It is an innovative digital lending platform that aims to drive excellence in the Fintech ecosystem by helping financial institutions go paperless and achieve end-to-end solutions in no time

Led by CEO Mani Parthasarathy, an engineering graduate from Madras Institute of Technology, CloudBankIN provides financial institutions with a comprehensive digital lending software solution featuring low-code digital onboarding, a loan origination system, a loan management system and a business rule engine.

With its software, CloudBankIN claims to disburse loans in 10 minutes. The software provides seamless and scalable integration and automates the process and furnishes a configurable workflow management.

Leading Digital Lending Platform LoanTap Partners with BigBasket’s HoReCa to Launch Financing Solutions

Collaboration to provide hassle-free credit options for businesses in the HoReCa industry

LoanTap, a leading digital lending platform, has announced a strategic partnership with Big Basket to introduce financing solutions for buyers from the BigBasket’s HoReCa segment. This collaboration aims to offer a unique and hassle-free experience to businesses in the HoReCa industry, enabling them to access credit quickly and conveniently. 

HoReCa is an acronym for Hotels, Restaurants and Cafes. 

Under this partnership, LoanTap will provide financing options to the customers of Big Basket in the HoReCa segment, with the general credit limit ranging from Rs 25,000 to 10 Lakhs. Customers will have a credit period of 30 days. By using a credit line as a payment method, customers will access 0% interest. This will encourage more customers to use the credit line as a payment method, increasing the number of transactions and thus, increasing market penetration of Big Basket's HoReCa segment.

The partnership between LoanTap and Big Basket's HoReCa segment will offer several benefits to both companies and their customers. LoanTap will be able to cater to small businesses through this arrangement and acquire new customers in the HoReCa market. This will provide LoanTap with an opportunity to create more personalized products to cater to the specific needs of businesses. On the other hand, Big Basket will be able to increase and retain its customer base by offering convenient financing options to its customers.

Commenting on the partnership, Mr Satyam Kumar, CEO & Co-Founder of LoanTap, said, "We are excited to partner with Big Basket's HoReCa segment to launch financing solutions for their customers. This partnership will enable us to reach out to more businesses and create more personalized products to cater to their needs. We are confident that our partnership with Big Basket's will bring benefits to both companies and their customers."

Mr Ashwath Ram, heading BigBasket’s HoReCa Division says, “The HoReCa (Hotel, Restaurant, and Catering) market in India is growing rapidly and has a lot of potential for organized suppliers. Additionally, the pandemic has resulted in an increase in home delivery services, which has further boosted the demand for food suppliers."

Bigbasket’s HoReCa market is expected to witness significant growth in the coming years with the increasing demand for quality food products and services. The food service market is expected to witness significant growth due to factors such as changing consumer behaviour, increasing disposable income, and the growth of tourism.

By partnering with LoanTap, Bigbasket’s HoReCa business customers benefit from having access to credit-based payment with 0% interest. This boosts our potential to tap into a small ticket market and expand the customer base. Additionally, this will help foray into the Cloud kitchen, QSRs, Restaurants and Bakery segments.”

The partnership will open up opportunities for both companies to explore new markets and expand their customer base. The companies will continue to work together to develop innovative solutions that meet the needs of businesses in the HoReCa industry. This partnership marks a significant milestone for both LoanTap and Big Basket's HoReCa segment, as they continue to strengthen their positions in the industry. 

About LoanTap –

LoanTap is one of the fastest-growing & trusted FinTech companies in the category with its in-house RBI-registered NBFC led by experienced leadership and a highly skilled team. LoanTap focuses on customer delight by helping them choose the best loan products from a portfolio of multiple products like personal loans, business loans, home loans, gold loans, loans against mutual funds plus many use case loans.

LoanTap has had a successful year expanding its distribution and Afterpay network in various sectors. Looking towards the future, LoanTap’s goal is to make credit more accessible to over 4 lakh merchants through their Afterpay network this year. LoanTap plan to achieve this goal by utilizing LTFLoW, their innovative Lendtech platform. LTFLoW allows to establish a roadmap towards profitable growth while creating a resilient digital lending ecosystem. With its anchor-led distribution stack, marketplace for capital coverage, and in-house NBFC, users of LTFLoW can continue to create innovative products and expand their reach.

Indian Fintech Money View Close to Become Unicorn with Latest Funding

Bengaluru based Money View, an online credit lending platform, has raised $75 million in its ongoing Series E round of funding led by Apis Partners, a UK-based asset management firm that invests in growth-stage firms.

Other investors that participated in the round include Tiger Global, Winter Capital and Evolvence.

Post this fresh funding, the fintech startup is now valued at $900 million, up from its earlier valuation of $625 million in March 2022, when it raised money in a Series D funding round.

The startup will use the latest funds as growth capital to scale its core credit business, expand the team, and broaden its product portfolio with services such as digital bank accounts, insurance and wealth management solutions.

According to the report by DealStreet Asia, Money View was initially hoping to raise up to $150m in the Series E round.

As per the startup website, Money View currently has over 40 million app downloads with an annualised disbursal run rate of $1.2 billion. It also claims to currently manage an AUM of over $800 million.

Founded in 2014, by Puneet Agarwal and Sanjay Aggarwal, Money View is a leading online credit platform that offers a full suite of personalized credit products like instant personal loans, cards, BNPL, and personal financial management solutions.

Money View has proprietary data models that provide a 360-degree risk assessment, enabling credit for the underserved segments that offers loans and financial management tools.

According to the company's media statement, Money View has achieved unit economic positive since inception and has been profitable for the past two years.

Authorized by the RBI, the Money View has a mobile app that offers instant personal loans starting from 10,000 up to 25,00,000 in just a few minutes. Its Annual Interest rates (APR) vary from 16% to 39% & users can choose from a wide range of flexible EMI repayment plans starting from 3 months & going up to 5 years. 

Rural Fintech SarvaGram Raises $35 Mn from Elevar Equity, Elevation Capital, Temasek and TVS Capital Funds

Mumbai based SarvaGram Solutions, which focuses on lending to rural households raised $35 million in a Series C round led by Elevar Equity, reported Business Insider.

Other investors participated in this round include Elevation Capital, Temasek and TVS Capital Funds.

SarvaGram is India’s first household centric, data-science led distribution platform that provides a bouquet of financial and productivity-enhancing offerings to meet the growing aspirations of rural India.

The latest fundraise values Sarvagram at $100 million. EY was one of the advisors to Sarvagram for the fundraising.

With this freshly raised funds, SarvaGram plans to expand its distribution network by adding 75 more outlets by the end of FY'24.

The Rural Fintech startup also plans to expand its on-ground franchisees known as ‘SarvaMitra’ to three times the current strength across different states.

Founded in 2018, by Sameer Mishra and Utpal Isser, SarvaGram had earlier raised Series B round at $10 million in February 2021.

SarvaGram provides a range of customised financial and capacity-enhancing products to an increasingly aspirational rural and semi urban India. As per its own estimates, the target market is over 80 million households.

The startup currently operates out of eight hubs, over 50 outlets across four states and has over 250 franchise partners covering over 8,000 villages.

How Digital Lending Platforms Are Helping Small Businesses Manage Their Cash Flow Challenge?

This content is authored by Mr. Praveen Paulose, MD & CEO of Celusion Technologies 

Micro-entrepreneurs often face challenges to their cash flow when starting and operating their businesses. A multitude of factors might lead to cash flow problems, including poor expenditure management to promote expansion without adequate funding. However, in response to these obstacles, digital lending platforms have created digital tools and technology that can aid in identifying, regulating, and forecasting cash flows, making it simpler to overcome the hurdles.

In financial services, many of these solutions are developed using disruptive technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and Deep Learning that enable firms to collect rich data sets about their customers, identify consumption patterns, and even remove human involvement where possible. Hence, the MSME lending landscape is transforming as the small business owners embark on a new phase of growth that encompasses effectiveness, transparency, and accessibility, due to the integration of finance and technology, resulting in greater expectations and higher customer satisfaction.

Here are the five ways digital lending platforms are redefining the ways small business owners manage cash flow challenges:

1. Business lending made simpler

Small businesses are often overlooked by traditional lenders because their loan amounts are considered insufficient and their earnings are regarded as unstable, thus posing a risk. Digital lending platforms are making it easier for SMEs to sidestep conventional loan-obtaining techniques and expand their businesses faster due to easier and simpler business lending.‍ For example, in Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending, borrowers are directly connected with prospective lenders. Cutting-edge technology has made the application process quicker, faster, and more efficient, encouraging more business owners to use finance to expand or infuse working capital into their operations.

2. Tools for effective account management

With the advent of digital lending platforms, MSMEs/SMEs now have access to a wide range of affordable management tools for everything from client profiles to accounts that used to be expensive in the past. They can track their cash flow in real-time while also ensuring the smooth functioning of their business with the help of online accounting solutions. These accounting solutions, for example, come with business credit integrations that automatically pay off the loan, line of credit, or credit card with cash from customer receipts without requiring human intervention. The digital lending platforms offer expenditure and invoicing tools, allowing business owners to concentrate on development and growth rather than minor concerns, thus helping the business function more smoothly.

3. Transparency in funds transfer

In recent years, the widespread reach of the internet and mobile devices has resulted in digital lending platforms creating digital banking solutions that reduce the costs of fund transfers and the need for currency notes for any transaction. As a result, the financial system has become more transparent and less prone to tax avoidance or other unethical practices, resulting in a competitive and robust business ecosystem.

4. Security

Data breaches pose a major challenge in any business and are not entirely avoidable. Small businesses often lack the resources and know-how to secure their data - and that of their customers, suppliers, and contacts. However, the availability of digital financing platforms has made cyber security an affordable alternative that assists businesses in enhancing their security measures, due to the availability of many software packages, for example, multi-factor authentication, e-signatures, etc. In addition to ensuring privacy and cyber security requirements are met, digital lending platforms also provide accessibility and timely assistance.

5. Digital invoicing

Since payments are an integral part of any business, digital lending platforms assist small businesses in reducing cash flow challenges by automating payments. The convenience of digital invoicing for small businesses allows them to add their signature effortlessly, send instantly, and receive payments almost instantaneously. By eliminating human interactions, leveraging technology reduces the need for money, and by reducing cash outlays, cash flow improves.

Each of these elements has aided in the growth of digital lending and enabled it to provide financial goods to sectors that were previously unable to access conventional banking products. In turn, digital lending platforms enabled small and medium businesses and startups to create, innovate, evolve, and expand, changing the business landscape worldwide. A plethora of promising regulatory steps has also been implemented, with regulatory agencies legitimizing the video-based customer identification procedure for verifying new clients and permitting onboarding via video KYC verification. A shift to digital lending through the use of innovative technology has the potential to revolutionize the lending industry, making cash flow smooth and efficient, thus positively impacting millions of lives.

PAISALO and UCO Bank to Enable AGRI and Allied AGRI with Small Ticket Size Income Generation Loans

In recent years, AGRI and Allied AGRI have come out and blossomed to become great leaders and have set new heights of growth and progress for society in general. There still is a lot of room for growth and success for this very talented population. With the right amount of support, we can aim to have many AGRI, Allied AGRI, and women leaders in the near future. To contribute to this vision of empowering the AGRI and Allied AGRI, Paisalo Digital Limited signed a co-lending loan agreement with the UCO Bank today. This agreement is in conformity with the latest RBI circular on co-lending of loans as released on 05 November 2020.

UCO Bank-Paisalo's co-lending platform will leverage UCO Bank’s low cost of funds on the liability side and Paisalo’s origination, rule engine, and underwriting capabilities on the asset side, with the help of Paisalo’s digital platform for sourcing, servicing and recovery of these income generation priority sector loans.

 

Santanu Agarwal, Deputy Managing Director, Paisalo Digital Limited says, “Paisalo sees a huge opportunity and is well-positioned to capitalize on the huge Rs. 8 lakh crore market of small-ticket loans for our 365 million underbanked and under-serviced population. UCO Bank and Paisalo co-lending product is a big step towards Paisalo’s goal of creating the most competitive and seamless banking solution for India's Bottom of Pyramid Population.”

Speaking on the occasion Mr. Soma Sankara Prasad, MD & CEO of UCO Bank says, “co-lending arrangement is one of the new avenues of lending. The tie-up will give a boost to the agriculture advance of the Bank and it is a win-win situation for the bank as well as NBFC with benefit reaching to those at the bottom of the society.”

Executive Director Ishraq Ali Khan expressed that this is a great beginning for UCO Bank under the agriculture segment through a co-lending arrangement.

About Paisalo Digital Limited:

PAISALO DIGITAL LIMITED (BSE: PAISALO | NSE: PAISALO | BLOOMBERG: PAISALO: IN | ISIN:INE420C01042) is a leading Systemically Important Non-Deposit taking NBFC registered with the Reserve Bank of India.

PAISALO is at the forefront of digital lending, a well-governed, listed Fintech player with a strong distribution network in rural and semi-urban parts of India. The company is a leader in seamless credit distribution, services, and management of small-ticket loans in a Co-Lending tie-up with SBI, BOB, and PNB; with the objective of promoting rural development, self-employment, and women empowerment. PAISALO offers income-generating unsecured loans from INR 10,000 to 3,00,000 through the Individual and Joint lending model provided to entrepreneurs under Priority Sector Lending. The company has served over 1,500,000 borrowers.

About UCO Bank:

Founded on 6th January 1943 by Mr. G.D. Birla, UCO Bank is a commercial bank and Government of India Undertaking. The Bank serves its huge global customer base of over 3074 branches. UCO Bank, with years of dedicated service to the Nation through active financial participation in all segments of the economy- Agriculture, Industry, Trade & Commerce, Service Sector, etc. UCO Bank has marched into the 21st century matched with dynamism and growth.

Digital-Lending NBFC Clix Capital Disburses INR 15,000 Cr in 5 Yrs; Plans to Lend More Than INR 4,000 Crore in Fy2022-23

Clix Capital Services Pvt Ltd (‘Clix Capital’), one of India’s leading digital-lending NBFCs, today announced that it will disburse more than INR 4,000 crore in FY 2022-23. It also announced that the company has crossed the INR 15,000 crore disbursement milestone since its rechristening from GE Capital 5 years ago.

Clix Capital has been servicing individual borrowers and MSMEs and has given out more than 50 lac loans till date. A majority of the company’s disbursements have gone to MSMEs who have received about 48% of these funds. With a month-on-month targeted disbursal rate of more than INR 350 crore, the leading NBFC is well on its course to disburse over INR 4,000 crore in the next fiscal.

On setting up this ambitious target for the coming year, Rakesh Kaul, CEO – Clix Capital, said: “We have set a target of disbursing over INR 4,000 crore for FY 2022-23 and we are very much on course for that. Ever since our inception, we have been redefining the lending space in India by creating products and services that meet the financial needs of our customers. Today, Clix Capital has created history by disbursing INR 15,000 crore to individuals and businesses since we started 5 years ago. Over the years we have expanded our ecosystem and we have serviced individual borrowers and funded across sectors, and will continue to do so. Our vision lies in simplifying lending and enabling financial inclusion for all people. We have succeeded in this mission having touched over 50 lacs customer lives in our journey till date."

Customer convenience and satisfaction is at the core of Clix Capital’s operations. It follows a proprietary AI and data analytics-enabled underwriting model for segmentation and due diligence to determine customer eligibility within minutes. Clix has invested significantly in crafting a complete end-to-end digital journey for its consumers, where a customer can receive the loan in his/her bank account within minutes. This smooth customer journey is poised to be a great future enabler for Clix Capital towards serving customers who are finding it difficult to procure loans from traditional lenders.

About Clix Capital

Clix Capital is a new age NBFC revolutionizing the lending space by offering differentiated digital lending products that are driven by technology and deep analytics. It offers a range of lending products to a varied spectrum of customers across the MSME and consumer segment, including personal loans, MSME loans, healthcare loans, and mortgage finance.

Clix is co-founded by industry veterans Mr. Pramod Bhasin and Mr. Anil Chawla and is backed by a private equity fund AION Capital Partners Limited (an affiliate of Apollo Global Management, LLC – one of the largest alternate investment managers globally with AUM of $433 billion). Mr. Bhasin is the founder of Genpact and the former CEO of GE Capital India and Asia; and Mr. Chawla has been the former CEO of GE Capital India and Asia’s Commercial Finance Business.

Together Mr. Bhasin, Mr. Chawla and AION jointly acquired the commercial lending and leasing business of GE Capital India in September 2016 and rechristened it Clix Capital.

Biz2X Launhches ‘Maadhyam', A Made-in-India Cross-Channel Ecosystem Middleware for Lenders and Aggregators

The launch of middleware platform will support government’s mission of Aatmanirbhar Bharat and cater to the credit needs of SME and MSMEs and will streamline processes for banks and NBFCs

Fuelling the government’s mission of Aatmanirbhar Bharat, Biz2X, a leading Digital Lending SaaS platform that enables financial institutions to provide a customized online loan origination &servicing experience has launched ‘Maadhyam’, an integrated cross-channel ecosystem middleware that brings more than just automation and analytics to the lender-borrower equation. Maadhyam enables Banks & NBFC’s to lend more easily, efficiently, and effectively. At the same time, it gives Industry Aggregators the ability to facilitate seamless and real-time credit among their partner networks. Maadhyam benefits the SMEs by opening up avenues of credit to conduct and scale their business.

Maadhyam is powered by next-generation technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. As a SaaS offering, the cloud infrastructure supporting Maadhyam enables the platform to be device agnostic and omnipresent. The robust security protecting the Maadhyam platform infuses seamless trust between different entities and communities.

The foremost benefit of Maadhyam is that it will facilitate not only quick credit for the MSME but will also provide the MSME multiple lenders as the options, thereby enriching the entire ecosystem. With the help of Maadhyam, the lenders will receive the data through APIs while experiencing a reduction in cost of financing loans for MSMEs. Maadhyam will be focused on the unexplored parameters of financial lending in India and cater to Anchor and MSMEs making both parties’ lending experience resourceful, tech-oriented and cost-effective.

Mr. Rohit Arora, CEO & Co-Founder, Biz2Credit 

Commenting on the new product launch, Mr. Rohit Arora, CEO & Co-Founder, Biz2Credit and Biz2X said, “Last year, we have made an announcement to support “Aatmanirbhar“mission of government by investing in Made-in-India Fintech products. With the launch of Maadhyam, we are now one step closer to our mission.” He further added, “SME’s hold the potential to script the next wave of overall economic growth in India. With Maadhyam, we will power the India’s SMEs by assisting them with better and faster credit decisions. Thus, we are aiming to invest $25 million over the next 3 years to grow Maadhyam and make India the fintech capital of the world.”

Mr. Vineet Tyagi, Global CTO, Biz2X

Mr. Vineet Tyagi, Global CTO, Biz2X commented, "With the launch of Maadhyam, we are aiming to make India’s SME’s Aatmanirbhar by boosting the digital connect between Lenders and Aggregators. With Maadhyam the businesses would be able to get loans in almost real-time as Maadhyam will provide out-of-box AI-powered credit assessment to lenders for understanding these customers. We extend an open offer of collaboration to all Banks – NBFC’s as well Industry Aggregators & Fintech’s to integrate and partner with Maadhyam."

With Maadhyam, MSMEs can now easily overcome difficulties to achieve economies of scale and prosper to capture market opportunities that require large production facilities. Maadhyam smooth, swift and secure platform helps aggregators open competitive credit lines for any such small, medium and aspiring businesses.

FincFriends Pvt Ltd Raises $1 Mn in Debt Funding to Increase Its Book via Lending Platform RupeeRedee

The new-age digital lending platform aims to allocate the funds in building books and business scalability.

FincFriends Pvt.Ltd Is NBFC has raised $1 Mn in debt funding from a leading lending NBFC firm - Eclear Leasing & Finance Pvt. Ltd. The company aims to use the debt sanctioned by lenders in tranches for business expansion, growth and effective cashflows.FincFriends has its own App and lending Platform RupeeRedee which is used for lending to customers.

Arjun Passi’s, VP – Strategy and Business Development, Spearheading the Fundraise initiative for the NBFC said “As a strategic decision we have decided to raise more funds through debt to build our books. A “Good Debt” is the need now as equity is the most expensive form of funding. We want to build more credibility in the market by servicing such debt successfully. Good credit history will not only help us get lower ROI debts in the future but also help us create a positive reputation enabling better valuations and market perception”

FincFriends aims to use the debt to build in the loan book further and replace the need for equity infusion at the present stage of business.

On behalf of Eclear Leasing & Finance Pvt. Ltd, Mr. Manoj Bansal, Managing Director said: We are happy to support FincFriendsPvt. ltd in its endeavour in growing its current business. Post doing in-depth due diligence, we were convinced that the organization has a clear vision with a well-rounded team. It has created a strong foundation across key areas such as Risk, customer satisfaction, product, and collections.

With the digitization of the lending process, fintech companies are emphasizing building robust digital infrastructure to identify and manage risks. FincFriendsPvt.Ltd’sRupeeRedee leverages state-of-the-art technologies backed by data sciences to make lending safe, quick and hassle-free for underserved customers. In a short span of time, the company was able to break even in the first year of operations and run a profitable business operation with considerable NetWorth.

Considering the consistency in business growth, the company raised funds from Tier One capital and allocated the funds to build books. It has raised $6 mn from the parent company – DigitalFinance International (DFI) part of the Finstar Financial group.As part of the business plans, the company is aggressively looking to close a funding deal of $5 mn in 2022.

Digital Lending Platform Market Value Projected To Reach US$ 20.5 Billion By 2028 Covering Covid-19 Impact: Acumen Research and Consulting

Acumen Research and Consulting, a global provider of market research studies, in a recently published report titled “Digital Lending Platform Market– Global Industry Analysis, Market Size, Opportunities and Forecast, 2021-2028”

LOS ANGELES, July 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Global Digital Lending Platform Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 16.8% from 2021 to 2028 and reach the market value of over US$ 20.5 Bn by 2028.

Asia Pacific to witness fastest growing CAGR for the digital lending platform market in the coming years

India is expected to ride the digital lending platform with the highest peak in the Asia Pacific region during the forecast period. This is primarily due to the fact that new age fintechs in India are at the forefront of disrupting the digital lending platform market. According to sources, there are currently approximately 1,000 fintechs operating in India, and their digital models have assumed a broader scope and coverage. Second, the increasing prevalence of digitalization and consumer behavioral patterns have seen a drastic shift, which is responsible for the growth of digital lending platforms in this region, ultimately contributing to the growth of the global digital lending platform market.

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Europe, on the other hand, is expected to have the second largest market share in the digital lending platform market. Through regulatory support, digital lending has taken a turn in many countries. As a result of this, Europe has seen the most rapid growth in the global digital lending platform market. For example, European Union’s Second Payments Services Directive went into effect in January 2018, providing lucrative opportunities for European markets by allowing consumers to pay directly from their accounts rather than through third-party channels using credit or debit cards.

The digital lending platform market is dominated by North America. The high influx of startups, such as fintechs, and the hub for established players have gained significant market importance. For example, Kabbage, a company based in the United States, has been using proprietary technology to offer loans directly to small businesses and consumers via automated credit processes. Another company, OnDeck, offers business loans of up to US$250,000 in a single day. Currently, OnDeck has made over US$7 Bn in loans to small businesses in the United States, Canada, and Australia.

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COVID-19 impact on global digital lending platform market

According to an OECD report, the corona virus pandemic has resulted in widespread loss around the world. The OECD's Economic Outlook for June 2020 projected a 6% drop in global GDP, and a 7.6% drop in the case of a second wave by the end of 2020. COVID-19, on the other hand, had a significant impact on the global digital lending platform market. Several banks are focusing on improving their digital lending service offerings to a large consumer base through the introduction of digitalization in order to achieve a higher profit matrix.

Segmental Outlook

The global digital lending platform market is segmented as solution, service, deployment, and end-use. Based on solution, the market is segmented as business process management, lending analytics, loan management, loan origination, risk & compliance management, and others. Further, service segment is segmented as design & implementation, training & education, risk assessment, consulting, and support & maintenance. By deployment, the market is bifurcated into on-premise and cloud. By end-use, the market is segmented as banks, insurance companies, credit unions, savings &loan associations, peer-to-peer lending, and others.

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Competitive Landscape

The prominent players of digital lending platform involve KreditBee, Kissht, PolicyBazaar, Loanboox GmbH, Credible, Tyro Payments Limited, Fundbox, On Deck Capital, Funding Circle, and among others 

Some of the key observations regarding digital lending platform include:

• In February 2021, KreditBee, announced raising of US$ 75 Mn. KreditBee a leading startup with a large portfolio of loan products, this investment will definitely assist to take positive steps towards achievement of of large capital markets. The main focus of raising the investment by KreditBee is to help underserved population to offer maximum lending platform options.
  
  
• In April 2019, Fundbox, announced partnership with Synchrony Business Center. With implementation of successful partnership, Synchrony Business Center small business merchants who are involved for application of credit for business can conveniently access the Fundbox service through Synchrony Business Center.
  

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Digital Lenders’ Association of India announces the appointment of ex-RBI veteran - Prem Kumar Arora as Director, Policy and Strategy

The announcement was made at the inauguration of the fourth edition of annual DLAI Conclave “Global Digital Transformation-Fintech 2.0”. The three-day virtual Conclave will have 70+ international and national speakers and around 2400 attendees from across the globe.

Mumbai/Bangalore, January 20,2021 : On the opening day of the fourth edition of annual conclave, Digital Lenders’ Association of India (DLAI) today announced the appointment of ex-RBI veteran - Prem Kumar Arora as Director - Policy & Strategy. 

Prem Kumar Arora is an ex- central banker with over 34 years of experience in Regulation and Supervision of Banks with Reserve Bank of India where he retired as Chief General Manager in 2016. Some of his notable projects where he has worked include - The Banking Ombudsman Scheme (2017), Formulation of banking policy for Co-operative banks (2015), Supervision and Licensing of NBFCs (2007) with onsite and off- site supervision of NBFCs.

Post retirement Mr. Arora has been actively engaged in establishment of an Umbrella Organization (UO) for Urban Co-operative Banks in India.

“DLAI members collectively serve more than 4 million borrowers in this country today and have issued loans amounting to nearly $6-7B in the financial year prior to COVID-19 pandemic. Given the sheer size of the industry, Mr. Prem Arora’s appointment will help us navigate through the challenges faced by the industry and will facilitate coordination & communication with the regulators/government bodies to help shape the broad contours of the digital lending landscape.”, said Anurag Jain, president, DLAI & Founder, KredX - India’s largest Bill Discounting Platform.

Keeping in view the larger macroeconomic changes, DLAI has lined up interactive panels, keynotes, round table and interviews in the ongoing virtual conclave to cover changes across the ecosystem that are likely to have an impact on the digital lending industry.

About Mr.Prem Kumar Arora:

Prem Kumar Arora is an ex- central banker with over 34 years of experience in Regulation and Supervision of Banks with Reserve Bank of India.

Some of the notable projects that Mr.Kumar has worked on includes -The Banking Ombudsman scheme (2017), Formulation of banking policy for Co-operative banks (2015), Supervision and Licensing of NBFCs (2007) with onsite and off- site supervision of NBFCs.

Through his working years he has rich experience of coordination and collaboration with the Ministry of finance, Govt Of India for banking policy initiatives. During his tenure some of the other responsibilities that Mr.Kumar has shouldered and are of particular interest for DLAI members are- handling of bank crisis resolution; examination of credit, operational, liquidity and IT risks of banks including business continuity management, financial inclusion and financial literacy.

Bank of Baroda Launches Digital Lending Platform Aimed at Paperless Process for Retail Customers

Bank of Baroda, country’s third largest public sector bank, has launched the Digital Lending Platform, which enables prospective retail loan seekers to get loans digitally through a paperless process at the convenience of their place and time of choice.

 
Pre-approved Micro Personal Loan is offered to existing selected customers to shop anything through offline / online partner channels and pay later in easy EMIs. Customers can also avail the amount into their Savings bank account and convert it to EMIs from 3 to 18 months through m-Connect+ (Bank’s mobile banking app) in 60 seconds.

Shri. Vikramaditya Singh Khichi, Executive Director, said, “The primary objective is to provide exceptional customer experience, personalized customer journeys and scale the lending business through digitization. Bank has attempted to digitize itself internally by building a high-performing, innovative environment, which has allowed bank to reduce time-to-market for their products. Bank envisages to outpace the banking industry growth by 1.50 times at CAGR of 16% over next 5 years by adopting digital first lending approach across retail, MSME and agriculture segments.”

Further, the Digital Lending Platform provides ‘In Principle approval’ for Home Loan, Car loan and Personal Loan in 30 minutes without human intervention. The digital loan process is done from the various sources of the loan applicant’s financial profile and the applicant will get ‘In Principle approval’ in 4 simple steps. The prospective applicants can avail the facility through multiple channels - website, mobile banking, internet banking and social media as well.
 
The Bank will offer ‘Online Loan against Fixed Deposits’ through Digital Lending Platform, which enables the Fixed Deposit customers to avail loan against their Online FD instantly through mobile banking and net banking facility.
 
With launch of Digital lending Platform, Bank believes that personal loan disbursements will be completely digitized first followed by MSME and Agriculture disbursements. As such Bank envisages that the digital share of disbursement in retail lending will grow to 74% over 5 years.
 
Dr. Ramjass Yadav, Chief General Manager, Bank of Baroda said, “We endeavour to accelerate our digital journey and continue to invest and innovate to transform Bank into a completely digitised organisation. Digital lending platform will help the Bank to double the non-corporate book by 2025.”
 
Shri. Akhil Handa, Head- Fintech, Mobility and Digital Lending Dept. Bank of Baroda said, “Our aim is to reposition existing operating models with a ‘Digital First’ model and to achieve this, we will rapidly launch new products to serve our increasingly digital customer base.”

Decimal Technologies Launches 1st-of-its-kind AI-based Digital Lending Marketplace SAARATHI

Digital Transformation of Lending Ecosystem to address Lack of Transparency and Trust, Access to Credit, Legacy Inefficient Processes and fraud risks

Delhi, November 24, 2020: Decimal Technologies, one of India's leading fintech firms, has announced the launch of Saarathi, a pioneering, one-of-a-kind lending marketplace, specializing in digital transformation of loan files. The AI-based product enables hassle-free, paperless digitalization of multiple financial products such as loans, credit cards and insurance on one platform. Saarathi offers a transparent, low-cost process to the lender ecosystem ensuring loan files are trustworthy and fraud-proof, while at the same time making the approval process 5X faster for customers. 

"The banking system in India has been hit by several cases of loan defaulters and frauds on one side and there is a credit gap of more than 300Bn USD on the other side. This is caused due to inefficient sourcing and processing, lack of reach and trust deficit between sourcing and underwriting. At Decimal, we aim to leverage latest technologies to address customer pain-points such as this to make the lending ecosystem efficient and trust oriented. Saarathi aims to bridge the credit gap in India by making the offline channel efficient and transparent, thus, alleviating fears related to fraud or default. Being AI based, Saarathi digitizes the end-to-end loan journey in an intelligent manner. The AI/ ML components seamlessly match the customer with the lender without any manual intervention, solving one of the most crucial problems of the lending industry. "With Saarathi, we hope to digitize the offline channels and make them efficient, these channels contribute significantly to all disbursements happening today." said Lalit Mehta, Co-founder & CEO, Decimal Technologies.

Lalit also added, "For us, our customers are at the core of our business. Our solutions are at the heart of some of the largest Indian banking conglomerates as well as new-age NBFCs. We want to empower the last mile channel with new-age technologies and access to formal lending. We are expecting to generate revenue to the tune of $100Mn+ annually in the next 5 financial years with Saarathi. Since the launch of the pilot with our channel partners, we have already witnessed double digit week-on-week growth. The feedback has been exceptionally positive and we are excited about the potential Saarathi has to transform the lending ecosystem in India."

With Saarathi, customers can lower their operational cost and enhance the speed of file processing digitally. This gives them the opportunity to expand their network by connecting with multiple lending partners and scale their business by selling more products. On the other hand, for Lenders, Saarathi removes inefficiencies, reduces costs, improves customer experience and promotes trust across the network. Additionally, with the detailed, user-friendly credit assessment memo, lenders can practice controlled yet faster risk assessment.

Saarathi has been built on Decimal Technologies' proprietary and trusted No-Code Low-Code platform, which facilitates scale with security. This technology has been tried and tested over a decade.

About Decimal Technologies

Established in 2009, Decimal Technologies, is a leading FinTech. Our Mantra is #DigitisingBFSI. We conceptualize, design, develop Financial Products Distribution Platform that help Banks & NBFCs reduce customer acquisition costs by moving the digital touch point closer to the customer, making life easier and convenient for the customer and workforce. Decimal engages closely with a diverse array of enterprises globally to understand the business and offer solutions that not only alleviate the pain points of the business but also make life as simple and seamless for all stakeholders. Our solutions are at the heart of award-winning digital products such as Kotak 811, AU Abhi, Bandhan neo+ and UGRO Sanjeevani. For more details, please visit: www.decimaltech.com

Paisabazaar.com Launches 'Paisabazaar Stack' - To Offer Completely Digital Lending Solutions

The Fintech has built a stack of capabilities that facilitates end-to-end digital solutions for loans & credit cards

The Digitization Stack includes KYC verification, income & employer validation, repayment and agreement set-up - all done completely digitally

Paisabazaar.com has integrated its Stack already with IndusInd Bank to offer a completely digital process for credit cards

Paisabazaar.com, India's largest digital marketplace for lending products, announced today the launch 'Paisabazaar Stack' - a Stack of capabilities that would make loan disbursals and credit card issuance completely digital. The Stack, through integrations with bank and NBFC partners, would enable consumers on the Paisabazaar platform to access credit products through presence-less and contactless processes.

Under the Digitization Stack, Paisabazaar.com has built completely digital solutions for KYC verification, income and employment validation, repayment set-up and consent on loan agreement.

Paisabazaar.com is currently partnering with IndusInd Bank to offer customers on its platform a completely digital process for credit cards, using Paisabazaar Stack.

Mr. Soumitra Sen, Country Head, Consumer Banking, IndusInd Bank, said, "At IndusInd Bank, our focus has always been on offering fast and seamless financial solutions to our customers. In keeping with this vision, we are happy to partner with Paisabazaar to bring forth a comprehensive digital infrastructure platform which enables customers to undertake a host of activities such as KYC verification, income and employment validation, consent on loan agreement among others, in a fully digital manner, without having to visit a bank branch. The journey is jointly managed by the Bank along with Paisabazaar and is powered by 'Paisabazaar Stack'; making it frictionless and seamless."

Mr. Naveen Kukreja, CEO & Co-founder, Paisabazaar.com, said, "As the market leader with partnerships with most large banks and new-age lenders, we believe Paisabazaar.com is uniquely placed to accelerate this critical shift towards the much-needed digitization of the entire ecosystem. I believe our Digitization Stack is a big step in that direction."

According to Paisabazaar.com, with its Stack, a large section of customers would be able to access credit much quicker, from the comfort of their homes, with zero physical interaction as each erstwhile physical step in the lending process has now been built digitally. From an earlier 3 to 7-day disbursal time, Paisabazaar today, through its Digital Stack integrations with partners, can help provide unsecured loans within 3-5 hours.

[caption id="attachment_149855" align="aligncenter" width="580"] Paisabazaar.com - Paisabazaar Stack[/caption]

KYC Verification

Paisabazaar.com has built a Digital KYC Module in its Digital Stack which includes Offline KYC verification or O-KYC (automated XML Parsing) and the subsequent Video KYC enablement, which comprises video chat, liveliness check and face match with a bank official and location tagging.

Customers would also be able to seamlessly upload their digital copies of their KYC documents like Aadhaar, PAN, Voter's id etc. with security and authenticity checks put in place through real-time OCR verification, selfie photo match and documentation check with the source, like NSDL for PAN.

Income & Employment Validation

Accelerating the lending process significantly, Paisabazaar.com can now validate income and employment details of consumers applying for a loan on its platform seamlessly. Through the Stack, the fintech can evaluate and do a thorough analysis of an applicant's bank statements to determine his financial health and provide the results to its lending partners, which helps in quicker decisioning.

Also, instead of sending self-attested bank statements and salary slips physically, customers would now be able to provide their proof of income to Paisabazaar digitally. Paisabazaar would then check and verify the employment details provided by the customer in a digitized manner, through official email verification, Mobile and UAN validation, EPFO data validation and Employer plus Domain Check.

Repayment Set-up & Agreements

With the deployment of the Digitization Stack, it would require minimum effort from the lenders and fast-track the NACH process, as Paisabazaar.com would be able to verify the bank account details and set up repayment instructions through digital mandate on behalf of its partner lenders. A pre-filled digital agreement would be used to take customer consent through Clickwrap or OTP and live location data capture.

As lending, traditionally, has been predominantly dependent on offline and paper-heavy processes which needed physical interaction between the borrower and the lender, the industry was severely affected by the pandemic and lockdown, especially for the first two months, after the heath crisis broke out.

Mr. Gaurav Aggarwal, Director & Head of Unsecured Loans, Paisabazaar.com, said, "Till now, processes were not only cumbersome and time-consuming, but also susceptible to restrictions on physical movement or interactions. We have focussed now to build infrastructure to make the journey completely digital and convenient for current times."

Paisabazaar.com - Advantage of using Paisabazaar Stack

Paisabazaar.com works with over 130 partners to offer all types of lending products on its platform to cater to the credit enquiries from over 1200 cities and towns every month. The fintech is currently working with several Banks and NBFCs to integrate its Stack and offer a wider choice of completely digital credit products on the Paisabazaar platform.

Mr. Mukesh Sharma, CTO, Paisabazaar.com, said, "As a marketplace, the basic premise of making the Digitization Stack was to make it easily configurable for our partners and have the ability to take it live and scale it very quickly with them. Not only is completely safe and secure but is also built for seamless integration with our partners."

Paisabazaar.com is India's only independent digital player to reach an annualized loan disbursal of Rs. 12,000 crore or USD 1.5 billion. The fintech in pre-COVID times was ~2% of the unsecured lending market and believes digitization would accelerate its progress in reaching its goal of 10% of the unsecured loans market.

Datacultr enabling NBFCs to Lend to 'New-to-Credit' Customers

With its proprietary technology, Datacultr, a Platform-as-a-Service(PaaS) provider, is enabling leading Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) in India to meet new credit demands and ensuring the sector moves forward with the same vigor post- lockdown. 

In India, millions of migrant workers with no other sources of income and low or no savings have been displaced and are battling to survive. Hence, the need of the hour is to provide financial support to these people. In this situation, NBFCs are actively working out for solutions to disburse small ticket size loans. Moreover, using Datacultr’s machine learning technology, they are able to reduce their risk on lending to this segment. Datacultr equips them with its Predictive Fraud Management and Collection Digitization solutions. 

Commenting on the same, Neel Juriasingani, CEO and Co-founder, Datacultr said, “The way COVID-19 disaster impacted the businesses and the economy, it has created a liquidity crunch in the ecosystem. At this time, a healthy and growing NBFC sector is an important pillar to facilitate the increased credit demand in the economy. Using technology, they can further strengthen their business model, and ensure continuous flow of credit for micro, small and medium enterprises as well as individuals and contribute significantly to financial inclusion in the country”. 

Datacultr empowers financial institutions with effective collections solutions and supports them to expand their books to ‘New to Credit’ across nooks and corners of the country. It’s proprietary product has enabled NBFCs to connect with its customers, using their mobiles devices throughout the tenure of the loan. Allowing them to make data-driven behavioural interventions throughout the life-cycle, to communicate, remind, educate & in gradual impairment of the device experience, if a user defaults.

About Datacultr

Datacultr is a PaaS that allows consumer lending companies to significantly reduce their risk on 'New to Credit' customers. Datacultr allows the lender to give out unsecured loans, at a lower risk, by allowing borrowers to present their newly purchased or existing Smartphone as collateral.

For the Unbanked & Underserved user, such loans that ride on Datacultr’s technology begin their journey of building a robust credit score, enabling access to bigger loans in the future.

Datacultr is part of Microsoft for Startups & Google Cloud for Startups. It is the winner of Emerge 50, 2018 award, given by NASSCOM to India’s Most Innovative Top 50 Emerging Software Product Companies. Moreover, it was recognised by the Haryana Government for product excellence in 2019 and also won the prestigious Red Herring 2019 Top 100 Asia award. The team consists of well-experienced members from the telecom and mobile OEM space, with a deep understanding of consumers in emerging markets and have vast expertise in building scalable technology platforms.

Digital Lenders Association Issues Stricter Code Of Conduct to Safeguard end customers Privacy of Customers and Unethical Collection Practices take Centre Stage

In recent weeks, Digital Lenders’ Association of India (DLAI) has issued a fresh code of conduct for all its members emphasizing the need to propagate responsible lending practices and to ensure ethical collection practices are in place especially given the challenging macro-economic environment in the country.

This new Code of Conduct is a set of principles, processes and guidelines that are binding on every member of the DLAI in order to ensure ethical and responsible behaviour by all and everyone needs to abide by the same. The purpose of this Code of Conduct is to ensure that the digital lending industry creates common safeguards of customer interests. For examples, the new guidelines make it clear that a lender cannot build unethical features into their products such as excessively high (and non-transparent) late payment fees.

DLAI members collectively serve more than 50 million borrowers in this country. These borrowers are many and varied and comprise those taking education loans, working capital loans and medical loans. DLAI members focus on lending the micro-SME and SME community. Over the last 5 years, the digital lending community has been instrumental in ensuring last-mile credit supply and driving progressive initiatives such as India Stack, to make India a digital-first economy. At this current time, digital lending is even more vital to the economy and offers a safe way to continue credit supply to customers, during this period of social distancing.

A complete lockdown situation has also forced consumers to move to online channels which has resulted in increased adoption of digital lending products, a trend that is expected to accelerate over the coming months as customers will prefer self-serve products they can access at home, over going into a bank or meeting an agent. In addition, many banks (and other traditional lenders) are now looking to partner with digital lenders to increase their digital footprint in future.

India is truly a digital-first economy, and technology can speed up the development of industries and markets with phenomenal success. It can also allow for the rapid growth of unscrupulous practices that can fall between regulatory grey areas. With recent strong growth in the digital lending industry in India, there is a need for industry participants to maintain a strong code of conduct in order to prevent the rise of unscrupulous practices that could cause harm to the industry by reducing the confidence of customers, regulators and other market participants.

The new Code of Conduct includes a number of new provisions, such as those that ensure transparency in pricing and a focus on late payment fees (which some unscrupulous lenders have been known to take to excess). It also provides clear guidance on fair and responsive collections practices such as not calling or threatening to call any family member of the borrower. Implementation of the new Code will be implemented with a strict process for compliance including active focus on training of the employees in the organisations.

With the fresh code of conduct being implemented for all its members, DLAI aims to set a precedent for the entire digital lending industry so that no company can engage in unethical practices.

About Digital Lending Association of India (DLAI)

DLAI is an association of 81 fintech entities, some of which are Systemically Important Non-Deposit taking NBFCs (SI-NBFCs). Our members have collectively disbursed more than Rs 200,000 crores in last five years to more than 50 million urban small borrowers across 1500+ cities / towns in India. Borrower profile of our member institutions vary from micro manufacturing units (textiles, food processing, industrials, engineering, chemicals, healthcare etc) to very small mom and pop stores (kirana stores, restaurants, hardware shops, scrap dealers etc). On the retail side, our members lend to employees of non-rated corporates as well as self-employed professionals for medical emergencies, education, marriage and travel. More than 50% of the borrowers serviced are new-to-credit and have been denied formal credit by traditional financial institutions.

upGrad Doubles Classes, Courses and Capacity to Deal with the Surge in Demand for Online Learning

The edtech major recorded 72% growth in learners onboarded in April – aims to double its revenue by June 2020 

Edtech major upGrad, India’s largest higher education provider just moved their start dates for all their 40 courses to start every month instead of quarterly, to take on the surge in demand from working professionals. This has more than doubled their course capacity, and each class now has a peak of 1000 learners at a given time. 

“The larger the class in online, the more active the peer-to-peer learning and so it’s the inverse of offline learning,” says Ronnie Screwvala, Co-founder and Executive Chairman, upGrad. 

"Last month we reached 5, 00,000 learners for our online programs, which is no mean feat in itself. Now take into consideration that our average ARPU is INR 2.5 lakhs. Yet, we are only at the very start of addressing a market of over 100 million working professionals and graduates." continues Screwvala. 

This quarter, upGrad’s revenues will cross an annual run rate of INR 500 Cr with the launch of their Live Learning platform free of cost to multiple colleges and universities, to replicate their classrooms online and address their students during the Covid-19 period seamlessly. The company also separately recorded 10,000 enrollments for their 350 hours of free courses initiated during this period.

Founded in early 2015, upGrad offers online programs for working professionals. In a short span of around 5 years, upGrad on-boarded over 53K paid learners and impacted more than 500K individuals globally, making it India’s largest online higher-education company, basis gross revenue generated from the Indian market in FY18-19. 

upGrad provides programs in the areas of Data Science, Technology, Management and MBA to college students, working-class and enterprises. These programs are designed and delivered in collaboration with top-notch universities like IIT Madras, IIIT-B, BITS Pilani, MICA, NMIMS Global Access, Duke CE, Deakin University, Liverpool John Moores University and others. To further enhance the learning experience, a comprehensive ecosystem has been built which includes one-on-one mentoring, peer-to- peer learning, industry networking and most importantly expert career guidance providing learners' holistic support to elevate their careers to the next level. 

The company has been awarded the title of ‘Best Tech for Education’ by IAMAI in 2019. The company received the ‘Best Education Brands’ award by Economic Times, Most Innovative Companies in India' by Fast Company in 2017 and has made it to LinkedIn’s ‘Top 25 Startups’ two years in a row in 2018 and 2019.