Flipkart revamps MSME seller financing programme, promises disbursals in 48 hours
Changes made last month will allow the platform’s 1 lakh-plus sellers to avail credit at competitive interest rates from 10 NBFCs and banks
In a drive to empower MSMEs across the country, Indian e-commerce marketplace Flipkart has revamped its seller financing program, ‘Growth Capital’, the company said in a statement.
The program is designed specifically to enable financial inclusion and independence for MSMEs who operate online, the company said.
Changes made last month will allow the platform’s 1 lakh-plus sellers to avail credit at competitive interest rates from 10 NBFCs and banks, now with an approval time of one day and with disbursal into the sellers’ bank accounts occurring within 48 hours.
Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart, said, “Our knowledge and understanding of the Indian ecosystem allow us to construct frameworks such as ‘Growth Capital’, through which sellers can scale their businesses, prosper, create more employment opportunities, and continue to transform the country’s economy. This is part of Flipkart’s core mission of developing shared value in the ecosystem and helping digitise India through the latest tech and innovations.”
The ‘Growth Capital’ initiative aims to fill the gap between financial institutions and the underserved, through tech and the digital economy. This program is the latest in a slew of seller-empowering initiatives that Flipkart has implemented to support sellers aspiring to scale and leverage e-commerce to reach their full potential.
‘Growth Capital’ requires minimal documentation and promises a seamless application process. Financial partners for the program include State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Axis Bank, Aditya Birla Finance, Tata Capital, Flexiloans, Small Industries Development Bank of India, LendingKart, Indifi and Happy Loans.
Flipkart said that the sellers most benefited by the program are small scale and a majority of the loans are used to meet working capital requirements and demand spikes. The average loan size is Rs 7 lakh, but sellers can avail loans up to Rs 3 crores, at interest rates as low as 9.5 percent. Further, the tenure on term loan and credit line options is up to 12 months.
In an attempt to ensure a speedy and hassle-free service, Flipkart says it has built an end-to-end API integration, from application to disbursal, with its lending partners to provide a complete digital loan application experience for the sellers. They can access and monitor their loans directly through the company’s seller portal, Flipkart added.
