CAIT and CreditEnable partner to secure $320 billion in affordable credit for 70 million SMEs
The move comes a few days after a UK report pegged the programme as the largest mobilisation initiative ever attempted to help secure affordable credit for SMEs.
Seeking to secure affordable finance for 70 million Indian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and CreditEnable, a UK SME fintech solutions provider, have launched a ‘Changemakers’ programme, say media reports.
The move comes a few days after a UK report pegged the programme as the largest mobilisation initiative ever attempted to help secure affordable credit for SMEs.
Nadia Sood, Founder and CEO of CreditEnable, had said earlier, "India is bubbling over with opportunity, promise and above all, entrepreneurial talent. But, while there is ample supply and demand for finance, there is far too little connectivity between the two.“
Thus, the focus of the Changemakers programme will be to make available funds accessible to SMEs, and help plug in more than $ 320 billion in affordable credit.
Sood had said, “A dysfunctional credit market means SMEs are borrowing informally at 30 percent interest. This represents an unparalleled opportunity for financial institutions to lend to them far more competitively.”
As the first step towards this, the Changemakers programme will begin by appointing 1,000 influential leaders from the CAIT organisation and embedding dedicated staff within 24,450 CAIT trade associations across 14 Indian states.
CreditEnable’s technology-enabled marketplace will then be used to help SMEs secure credit with the assistance of CAIT members.
These CAIT members will be trained on bank documentation, creditworthiness, and more.
Sood said the programme would help SMEs live out their full potential, describing it as a bridge between lenders and borrowers which would allow them to understand each other.
KNN India also quoted Secretary General of CAIT, Praveen Khandelwal, saying, “Our partnership with CreditEnable is going to be instrumental to making this access possible. We are delighted to be launching this important initiative with them at such a large scale and on a pan-India basis”.
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