Mastercard announced the list of new startups joining the MastercardStartPathProgram, the company’s global effort to support later-stage fintech and tech companies shaping the future of commerce. Of the six startups, three hail from the Asia Pacific region including ftcash[India], ToneTag[India] and CardUp[Singapore].
As India moves ahead in its journey to a less-cash society, both ftcash and ToneTag will offer platforms that enable consumers & merchants to adopt digital payment solutions. With the significant growth in smartphone penetration, the innovation from the two startups fits into the larger ecosystem. ToneTag, will allow convenient and secure payment solutions using soundwaves [Tone] or NFC [Tag] technology to enable contactless payments through mobile devices.
On the other hand, ftcash has focused on building the acceptance infrastructure with its solutions for micro-merchants and entrepreneurs that enable them to accept different modes of digital payments.
Porush Singh, Country Corporate Officer, South Asia, Mastercard said
The MastercardStartPathProgram helps innovative later-stage startups develop the next generation of commerce solutions. We are happy to announce that two Indianstartups ftcash and ToneTag are joining this year’s edition of the program. Mastercard will offer them the technology with reliable and secure financial networks to create an even more rewarding and seamless payments experience for the consumers.
Spanning five countries across the globe, the newest class is focused on bridging the gap between physical and digital retail through a variety of solutions. Several of the selected startups are harnessing insights from in-store traffic patterns and spending habits to create personalized experiences for customers. Others are helping merchants accept payments through SMS messaging systems and bill-paying platforms for large expenses that historically could not be paid using a card.
The latest wave of Start Path participants include:
CardUpmanages monthly credit card payments for big ticket items such as rent or insurance, while also accessing credit and earning additional rewards.
ftcashenables micro-merchants and entrepreneurs to take collateral-free business loans and accept mobile app and messaging-based payments from their customers.
ToneTag enables contactless payments on any device using soundwaves or NFC.
The ModoPaymentsplatform enables new ways to pay, including the use of loyalty points to buy everyday goods in-store.
Movvoprovides insights on in-store browsing and shopping patterns.
RecommenderXdevelops cutting-edge data analytics to offer personalized recommendations.
The Start Path team will work with the selected startups against a tailored plan that will deliver tangible value and help these companies to scale. The startups will receive access to Mastercard experts, partners and customers representing leading banks and retailers in all regions of the globe to enable their business development.
Applications for the next six-month virtual program will be accepted through 11:59 p.m. ET on Tuesday, August 1, 2017. The program is open to startups who are rethinking banking, payments and commerce and have raised a significant seed or Series A round of investment. Interested startups can visit StartPath for additional information and to submit an application.
About Mastercard Start Path
Mastercard Start Path is a global effort to support innovative startups developing the next generation of commerce solutions today. Start Pathwas launched in 2014 with an objective to help startups to grow their businesses faster than they could by themselves. Startups that join the program can benefit from the knowledge of a global network of Mastercard experts, access to Mastercard customers and partners, and the ability to innovate on top of Mastercard solutions. Mastercard customers that join the program as partners get connected to the best and brightest startups and gain access to innovations from across the globe. For more information visit www.startpath.com or follow MastercardStart Path on Twitter at @MAstartpath.
As a testament to its continued popularity among its users, MoneyTap is on target to issue credit lines worth INR 300 crores by the end of the current fiscal year. With this fresh funding, MoneyTap plans to solidify its leadership position by improving credit accessibility for other segments of customers, partnering with 6 other Banks and NBFCs and expanding to 50 cities in India by the end of 2017.
Since its launch in September 2016, India’s first app-based consumer credit line has attracted over three hundred thousand [300k] users. The majority of users have a monthly income of INR 30,000~40,000 and are aged between 28~32 years.
The Indian consumer finance market is estimated to grow at a compounded growth rate of 18 percent to become a USD 1.2 trillion opportunity by 2020. Reports also suggest that it is also one of the most underpenetrated markets for lending, with close to 70% of the population being underserved by institutional lenders. Penetration of unsecured personal loans has been extremely poor in India with the organized credit presence at around 1% in the country.
According to RBI data of August 2016, in a country of 1.2 billion Indians, only 26.4 million have credit cards. Comparatively, there are about 600 million active mobile phones in India and mobile banking transactions rose from Rs 4,185 billion in 2012 to Rs 5,243 billion in October 2016. All this data points out to the fact that consumer-lending startups such as MoneyTap, supported by financial institutions, can serve a huge creditworthy but financially excluded customer base previously overlooked by the lending businesses.
MoneyTap is available on Android Playstore and is targeted at salaried individuals and self-employed professionals earning more than INR 20,000 per month. MoneyTap evaluates the user’s eligibility in less than 4 minutes after which it provides an instant, real-time decision on the application along with the amount they are eligible for. Using the credit line, consumers can choose to borrow as little as INR 3000 or as much as INR 5 lakhs or up to their maximum eligibility limit. Customers can decide their own EMI plans with flexible payback periods ranging from 2 months to 3 years. Interest is paid only on the amount borrowed and rates can be as low as 1.25% per month. If the user does not borrow any amount, then no interest needs to be paid. The credit limit also gets topped up once EMIs are paid back.
MoneyTap along with RBL Bank is able to provide its customers, instant decisions and instant access to money, 24/7. All financial transactions such as billing and repayment are directly dealt with the bank but through the MoneyTap App using secure APIs, thus ensuring 100% secure transactions.
These are exciting times at MoneyTap. We deeply believe that the rapidly growing middle-income group in India is largely underserved by financial institutions. They are app-savvy and very demanding. We have been fortunate to partner with Sequoia, NEA & Prime – all of whom are top tier investors with deep fintech and operational expertise to take us to the next level.
Abheek Anand, Principal, Sequoia Capital India Advisors said
Consumer credit in India is highly under-penetrated and is a complex problem to solve. MoneyTap combines an experienced team with a thoughtfully designed product – and their strong early traction is a testament to the efficacy of their approach to address this massive market opportunity.
MoneyTap is using the power of technology to provide a seamless lending experience to what currently is a largely broken discovery process with long execution timelines for consumers. Also, MoneyTap works with banks & NBFCs instead of competing with them therefore getting access to large amount of lending capital while managing the consumer journey throughout the lending lifecycle.
MoneyTap’s strong growth since its inception is testament to both the innovative nature as well as rapid consumer adoption of their solution which addresses a monster opportunity – providing effortless credit to worthy consumers entirely through an app. We are privileged to be associated with this stellar team from the start of their journey and be part of their vision to reinvent the unsecured consumer lending landscape.
About MoneyTap
MoneyTap is a Bengaluru-based fintech startup, founded by serial entrepreneurs Bala Parthasarathy, Anuj Kacker & Kunal Varma, who are IIT/ISB alumni. Bala has co-founded multiple startups in Silicon Valley including Snapfish (sold to Hewlett Packard), which he helped grow to 100M users and $300M in revenue. After moving to India in 2007, he volunteered for UIDAI under Mr. Nandan Nilekani before starting AngelPrime in 2011 (now Prime Venture Partners) where he helped create companies like ZipDial (sold to Twitter), EZETap, Happay, etc. Kunal (ex Texas Instruments) & Anuj (ex Airtel & JWT) co-founded Tapstart that grew to 300K users and turned profitable in 2 years. MoneyTap works in very close partnerships with various banks and other financial institutions to make the process painless and on-app. For more details, please visit MoneyTap
Millennipreneurs are basically the generation of young entrepreneurs that are born in the year 1980~1995. According to the statistics, most of them came from a family with a background in business where they probably get their capital finance. At least 78% of the Millennipreneurs have ‘baby boomer’ parents who run a successful venture. This means that they basically grew up in the kind of environment that is designed for this industry. The success that most Millennipreneurs enjoy at their young age is undeniable. Based on the gross profit, the millennial entrepreneurs’ target is around 32.6% compared to the baby boomers that is just 27.5%. This means that the millennials are now outperforming their parents.
How Business Loans Can Support the Millennipreneurs on the Business Venture
It may be true that more than 70% of the millennial entrepreneurs have background in the business. But it does not instantly mean that they have a starting capital for start-up. In addition, in order to support the growing demand and expansion of their business, they will also require additional funding. Most of them start in the SME industry that generates the average amount of profit. In India, at least 12.5% of them are in the retail industry, 8.5% are offering their professional expertise and only 7.3% in the IT industry. To help them propel their business into new heights, MSME Loans can definitely help them.
When choosing a platform that can support the Millennipreneurs in expanding their reach, there are different companies in the industry that are offering business loans. However, not all of them will provide you with a fair agreement, competitive bid, great loan structure, and fast approval. These factors are all essential for the millennial entrepreneurs. They love opening new businesses, and they want a platform that can support them quickly. At least 60% of them decided to open new business since there are not enough jobs available. Millennipreneurs who are looking for those desirable attributes may find Loan Frame as a worthy candidate.
Quick Approval
Most of the Millennipreneurs started at their young age. They do not necessarily have the right amount of resources to support their start-up. Though most of them grew up in the business environment, the only thing that they can expect would be business advice from their parents and other corporate professionals. This generation is eager to start their venture, and they want a financing option that can provide them support in an instant. With Loan Frame, they can check your eligibility in applying for business loans for as little as 60 seconds. It also does not involve a lot of paper works.
A Loan Option That Focus on the Core of Your Business
Instead of managing their wealth, most of the Millennipreneurs in India are also focusing on the core of their business, and they also want a partner who looks at their business the same way they do. According to the recent survey, at least 20% of their resources are being invested on the original core of their business. Loan Frame will offer you business loans that will match the nature of your business and will provide you with a huge selection of loans that will match your business needs.
Millennipreneurs managed to crack the purchasing habit of the millennials. They hold a significant influence in this business. To help them advance their business and conquer new heights, business loans offered by Loan Frame is designed to address their needs.
Further, given the general under-penetration of banking services in India, it is no surprise that Alternative Lending channels are making inroads. This has been further given push through various initiatives of the government increase financial inclusion and financial penetration.
The Indian landscape is ripe for Alternative Lending to thrive in all its forms including online NBFCs, Loan Marketplaces, P2P platforms, and others. Consider the numbers placed before Rajya Sabha, RBI had informed that gross outstanding credit for top ten corporate groups is Rs 5,73,682 crore as on March 2016. This compares with the total credit to the MSME segment of Rs 11,10,000 crores spread across 2.06 crore loan accounts as on March 2016.
This is all that formal banking channels have on offer for 5.1 crore enterprises providing employment to 11.71 crore persons and contributing 37.5% of India’s GDP! Moreover, the 4th All India survey of MSMEs states that close to 90% of MSMEs are dependent on informal sources, which are mostly in the form of unsecured loans and are at higher cost.
Following are a few benefits you reap by approaching an Alternative Lending source
The Loan Buffett vs. The Fixed Menu
Everyone is familiar with the plain vanilla loans available from banks viz business loans, loan against property, secured project loans. Banks also have a defined policy for calculating eligibility a well as setting the interest rates for the loans. With the advent of technology, , alternative lending options are also available for small business owners. This includes e-commerce Merchant Cash Advances, Unsecured Business Loans, Seasonal Working Capital Financing, Various Forms of Short-Term Funding, Equipment Loans and Business Line of Credit. Loan Frame, for example, has more than 50 products in its marketplace suite. This wide range also goes well beyond being just an eye-pleasing variety. A small business can choose the specific loan based on the desired utilization objective, thus increasing chances of approval and also giving an optimum rate of interest suiting the requirements.
Tailored Approach vs. Off-the-shelf Loans
Traditional banks follow strict & inflexible credit policies that are replicated across products and borrowers. More often than not, these are relevant for larger, more established borrowers and end up complicating the applications by smaller businesses. The SME owner comes across redundant documentation requirements, unreal covenant expectations and needless scrutiny that invariably leads to either rejection or a higher interest rate, both of which are indeed not desirable.
Alternative Lending is more customer-centric and focused on creating value for the borrowers.. Documentation and compliance requirements are adjusted based on the type of loan product.
Beyond Just Lending
Borrowers are used to approaching banks and picking from the 2-3 off-the-shelf products that come closest to meeting their requirements. Many Alternative Lending channels such as Loan Frame provide value added advice to the borrower as to which loan product will be more appropriate, leading to more efficient and effective borrowing. There is also significant assistance provided in drafting the loan application and ensuring complete documentation.
Debt Consolidation
Alternative Lending channels make it possible for a borrower with a variety of facilities across lenders to consolidate debt under one lender. This is facilitated by multiple factors such as a common platform, deep lender relationships, a variety of loan products and a better understanding of the borrower’s requirement.
Read how debt consolidation can help improve credit standing and lower borrowing costs.
The Sheer Convenience of It All
Alternative Lending channels save you a lot of time and effort. You get to be evaluated against various options online and can spend your energy with the best one rather than waste energy in approaching various banks. This helps you to focus more on what you are good at and interested in – running the business – rather than on just arranging finances for it.
Leveraging Technology
The traditional lending process involves lots of paperwork and physical visits, which lead to delays in the approval and funding process. On the other hand, Alternative Lending channels leverage technology to save on both time and effort. Firstly, proprietary algorithms check for your loan eligibility within few seconds even as they incorporate many aspects beyond just the credit score. These include financials, business profile, promoter’s credit history and other business-specific data. In short, you have a more detailed assessment done in a shorter time leading to faster credit approvals and swift credit disbursal. It’s no wonder that the rise of the tech-based Alternative Lending channel has coincided with the widespread adoption of initiatives such as eKYC, Aadhaar, and UPI.
In this way, Alternative Lending helps solve not just the funding availability problem but also addresses the vexing problem of unduly high-interest rates for small businesses. As Narayana Murthy says,
If you cultivate inexpensive habits, you will not become a victim of money in later years. And, you will not fall into the trap of greed which leads you to do things that you will later regret.
This applies in equal measure to personal habits and business expenses, including what you pay on your borrowings. A better credit appraisal leads to a more appropriate interest rate for your business loan.
Some of the NPA-laden and capital-starved banks are either unable or unwilling to step in and plug the big funding gap that exists for MSME borrowers. Alternative Lending is a viable alternative for such borrowers. Furthermore, loan marketplaces like Loan Frame have several banks on their platform, therefore effectively serving as a bridge between the traditional and the alternative lending options.
About the author
This article is contributed by Neha Nayyar who works with Loan Frame. Loan Frame is one of the leading players in SME finance space and is backed by marquee investors.
Considering that certain queries from customers are generic in nature with regards to BHIM, NPCI has developed a common website for dissemination of information through videos and infographics.
The website will meet the needs of the customers for general information on BHIM and incentive programmes launched by the government in the form of BHIM referral programmes. Through simple tools like product videos, customer can have self-learning instead of calling banks and NPCI.
Customers can be benefited by knowing how to transact online using BHIM App through their mobile phones along with information pertaining to the number of banks and merchants live on BHIM. Currently there about 50 banks availing UPI services and customers of these banks can make use of any UPI application. BHIM is a generic UPI application developed and supported by NPCI. Once the customer downloads the application, the customer can customise it for his/her bank.
NPCI has also increased its social media presence by consistently updating information through our verified social media handles. Customers can also make use of the dedicated phone number for BHIM 022 – 45414740and verified social media Twitter page @NPCI_BHIM for their queries.
About NPCI
National Payments Corporation of India [NPCI] was set up in 2009 as the central infrastructure for various retail payment systems in India and was envisaged by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as the payment utility in the country. For more information, please visit NPCI
How many times have you been in a situation where you run out of cash and need some loan on an urgent basis. Personal loans, Education loans, Housing loans or any such loans [where the amount is huge] are mostly planned but there are cases where you might need an ‘unplanned’ loan. The loan amount in such scenarios might be such that banking institutions might not be able to offer that much loan. This is where ‘Alternate Lending’ can be of huge help where you can either take a loan from P2P platform in which case there is no intermediary financial institution [Both Borrowers & Lenders are individuals].
The other case is where you opt for a loan via a NBFC which acts as an ‘Enabler’ and bridges tha gap between the Borrower & the Bank. 2017 has so far been a very eventful year for Fintech Startups and Alternate Lending is being touted as one of the hottest sectors in 2017. There are couple of fintech startups addressing this problem where their major target customers are ‘Salaried Professionals’.
One such startup is Creditexchange that provides salaried personal loans of between 50,000 and 5,00,000 INR through Qbera Loans. Qbera provides borrowers a seamless, convenient experience with an unparalleled turn-around time of 12-30 hours [to loan disbursal]. Creditexchange is being developed in partnership with LendFoundry, a market-leader in the development of technology stacks for alternative lending companies in the US.
Today we have a chat with Aditya Kumar, Founder & CEO of Qbera, an alternate lending startup. We discuss about Qbera, the P2P lending market, opportunities in Fintech, impact of Digital India & much more. So let’s get started with the Q&A….
How has the online lending industry changed, or you foresee any changes after UPI was introduced ?
It’s been a year since Unified Payments Interface [UPI] was launched and has had a positive impact on the payments & collections space, in general. As a result of UPI, small ticket loans can be made, and repayments collected seamlessly, around the clock.
There is a general question with lenders, what happens if borrower is not able to return the money. How is the lingering question of Credit Risk taken care of ?
There can be multiple repercussions of a borrower not being able to repay their loans. The defaulter will be reported to CIBIL [and the other credit bureaus] which will have a negative effect on a person’s credit score and significantly impact their ability to borrow in the future. In scenarios of repeated/willful defaulter, banks could also initiate legal action against the borrower.
Credit risk is mitigated by lenders in a multitude of ways. First, a person’s credit history is always checked to see if they have any history of default, or whether they have availed of credit responsibly in the past. Second, most financial institutions and online lenders alike ask for bank statements of prospective borrower to analyse income and expense patterns. Online and other alternative lenders also look at social data, mobile data, georisk, and other more ‘non-traditional’ sources of data to make a more comprehensive credit decision.
According to your data, which is the biggest category [buying house, repairs, wedding etc.] & customer segmentation [i.e. Age, City etc.] where borrowers require money ?
Salaried individuals typically borrow money primarily for : Personal exingencies, Refinancing credit card [or other] debt, or home improvement. Borrowers in the salaried segment typically reside in Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities in India, and many are aged between 25 & 40.
There are growing number of Fintech startups into online lending, P2P lending, credit lines, etc. [eg. Capital Float, Lendingkart, Rubique, Faircent, MoneyTap, etc.]. What are some of the USP’s of Qbera via-a-vis other Fintech startups or what are some of the differentiating factors of Qbera ?
Qbera focuses on offering personal loans to salaried individuals working at over 700,000 employers. In addition to this, Qbera offers loans to individuals with incomes starting at 20,000 per month [net] and those who have never availed of any loan produt before.
Qbera also strives to approve loan applications which are filled through its portal, Qbera.com, in 15 minutes~4 working hours, and disburse loans within 24 hours thereof.
What is the TAM of the consumer debt market that Qbera is trying to address ?
Qbera is addressing a market of salaried individuals in the top 13 markets in India – with incomes of between 20,000 and 75,000 per month. The size of this market is likely more than 10 million individuals, with the current personal loan balances in these markets at 200,000 crores.
Apart from CIBIL score, Social score; are there other data points that Qbera has to evaluate members [borrowers] on Qbera ?
Other credit parameters, bank statements, demographic information, information about a borrower’s employer – 33 of these parameters go into making a credit decision on an application.
Few years back, there was a huge wave about MFI’s [like SKS Microfinance], in 2017 the wave is around Fintech sector [NBFC’s], what are your thoughts about the Fintech space in the coming years ?
The fintech space in India is still at a very nascent stage, compared to what it is elsewhere in the world [e.g. the US, UK and China]. Billions of dollars of disbursements have happened across unsecured and secured products in these markets through fintech companies, and, as such, Indian players have a long way to go.
What’s unique about the Indian ecosystem is how open Banks & NBFCs are to working with Fintech companies, which should help them evolve at a great pace. In the next few years, Fintech players in India will see tremendous growth, some degree of consolidation, as they play a larger role – especially in providing the underbanked and new-to-credit populations with access to credit.
Does Qbera only offer loans to salaried professionals [as mentioned it is minimum 20K/month] or is it open to entrepreneurs, freelancers [If not, any reason for the same and any tentative timeline when it might be open to non-salaried professionals]
Qbera has laid out its plan of action in a way that it is currently focused on the salaried segment and would use the learnings from the same to expand to self-employed professions, leading to self-employed non-professionals and businesses in future. Idea is to ensure operational efficiency in one segment and use this in the other.
Does Qbera have any e-commerce partners where customer on that platform can get short term loan from Qbera [for buying big ticket items, instead of opting for EMI or other payment mechanism] ?
No, we don’t.
Can you share some tips for building an effective team for startups [especially the initial core team] ?
Strike a balance between domain expertise, experience, passion and intellect and street smartness.
Take your time in putting the founding team together – they will become the bedrock of your organisation.
Work with people you get along with – you will be spending significant amounts of time with them.
Bootstrapping vis-a-vis Institutional Funding, your views on the same ?
Both comes with their own set of benefits and perils. An entrepreneurial thought is often followed by a decision/desire to ‘bootstrap’ it before giving nod to institutional funding. It is natural to be possessive of one’s product/project and want to nurture their business idea on their own without taking investment from venture capitalists. Bootstrapping can put you in a straitjacket as far as fund for marketing and PR is concerned. External investments give you flexibility – but come with their own set of expectations.
Apart from Fintech, what are the next wave of startups that would excite entrepreneurs’ interest, VC interest ?
I think it would be Artificial Intelligence [AI]. In fact, it has already evolved into a group of inevitable technologies that entail machine learning and natural language processing.
There has been growing discussion about linking Aadhar to PAN number, in which case just providing Aadhar details help Fintech startups to verify customer’s financial credibility, can you share your thoughts on this move and whether it would be a boon for finance related startups [be it services, Fintech, etc.]
I think this is a much-needed positive move by the government as it helps them to monitor all taxable transactions and also prevents people or companies from owning multiple PAN cards. Citizens would be more educated about the benefits of paying taxes. It also saves tax payers the hassle of submitting their IT papers to the concerned departments. As far as alternative lenders are concerned, the most challenging aspect of the business is to assess credit worthiness of applicants accurately and make a fair decision. This will certainly make things easier for us.
Many startups/growth stage companies are now looking at unit-economics, how important is it to look at that factor early on in the startup’s journey ?
Unit economics have a huge role to play in the eventual success of any business, and one which investors are becoming increasingly paranoid about [and rightly so!]. If your business doesn’t have a clear roadmap to positive unit-level economics, you will never make money.
Some books that you highly recommend for entrepreneurs
If you’re involved in the fintech space – I strongly believe you are in the right place, at the right time. Be patient and enjoy the ride!
We thank Aditya Kumar for his time and sharing valuable insights with our readers! If you have any questions for Aditya about Qbera, Alternate lending, Fintech, scaling up, etc., please email them to himanshu.sheth@gmail.com or leave your question in the comments section.
Bijlipay, an end to end digital payment solutions company, is the first Indian Point-of-Sale (PoS) devices providing company to enable Bharat QR code on the screens of its POS machines. According to RBI, the Bharat QR Code is the world’s first inter-operable payment acceptance solution.
Jubilant on being the first in the industry, Pradeep Oommen, CEO, Bijlipay, said
We have been providing secure and robust mPoS machines which are certified on stringent European standards to aid the honorable Prime Ministers digitization drive. The intent is to make these POS machines smarter which as yet were used only for physical card acceptance. . We realized that in this transition from cash to cashless, there are various modes of payments for different people across geographies & demographics. A machine that enables various modes seems like the best solution to meet all needs. And hence as a first step, we introduced the much awaited Bharat QR code on our existing card swiping machines.
Bijlipay firmly believes that it’s not just providing digital payments devices that will cultivate the habit of cashlessness in Indians. It will take a lot more of hand-holding, education & awareness to see the actual conversions to digital payments in tier II-III cities. Hence, Bijlipay ensures that they provide for an end-to-end solutions involving demos, documentation, installation, training, risk profiling, reconciliation, settlement and analytics.]. It’s not the number of machines in the market that gives the true picture on digital payments, it’s the volume that each machine processes which sets the right parameter for a successful digitization of payments.
Bijlipay is poised for tremendous growth in digital payment space, and is planning to launch several digital payment solutions in the Indian market. Apart from acquiring solutions like m-POS & GPRS POS and Swipe4Cash mini ATM products, Bijlipay also provides a best in class issuance platform for prepaid cards/ Forex cards/ Gift cards etc.
About Bijlipay
Skilworth Technologies Pvt. Ltd. was incepted in the year 2012. The company is headquartered in Chennai, with a vision to serve small, medium and large businesses through innovative payment solutions in emerging markets. Its go-to-market brand Bijlipay, started offering m-POS solutions in India, since July 2014.
Bijlipay’s payment solutions are enabled by the technology of Wirecard AG, Europe’s leading payments company and in partnership with India’s leading public sector banks. Bijlipay, unlike other players in the market, offers an end to end payment solution, right from an in house switch for best in class transaction success rates; to end to end operations in terms of on-boarding, risk profiling, payout processing; and in-house customer service with a network of FOS engineers and 24/7 call center. For more information, please visit Bijlipay
State Bank of India-Collaborative Innovation Centre launched SBI National Hackathon – Code For Bank, an API Hackathon Platform for developers, start-ups and students to put their thinking caps on and come up with ideas and solutions that can change the way banking is done in India. From a technology standpoint, Bank views APIs as a set of micro-services that are individual or a combination of use cases, around which a mash-up of applications can be developed on-the-fly.
In the age of digital Banking, SBI is organizing this Hackathon with an objective to invite start-ups, developers and partners to collaborate, ideate and co-develop disruptive and innovative solutions spearheading Indian Banking Technology Landscape. The bank’s effort is to promote an Outcome based Technology Culture amongst Start-ups and Developers with the focus on Developing Cutting Edge Solution for Bank in an agile manner. This will put in focus the Business Value driven by Technologies like Predictive Analytics, Fin-Tech/Blockchain, Digital Payments, IOT, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, BOTS and Robotic Process Automation.
In the phase-1, participants can register their idea during 20th – 29th May 2017 followed by Hackathon which will start from 6th June 2017 and ends on 20th June 2017. The initiative will allow participants comprising a team of maximum five people to develop applications or solutions using only SBI APIs, only external APIs and a combination of SBI APIs and External APIs.
SBI keeps innovation on priority and CODE FOR BANK 2017 [C4B 2017] is bank’s biggest step in launching this platform for start-ups and developers in India. The initiative will a part of APIfication Strategy and Transformation which is developed by SBI Collaborative Innovation Centre to create a Boundary less and collaborative development ecosystem which is Technology Agnostic, Agile and completely Digital.
Today all Emerging technology is becoming API based, Fintech is Disruptive, RegTech for Banks is gaining and everything is on Mobile. Banks have to respond to VUCA world [Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous] and local themes like Demonetization, Financial Inclusion, Digital Payments, etc.
C4B 2017 will help drive both External and Internal Innovation. Developers can quickly get an Application Ecosystem View, learn the Bank Technology DNA and start developing solutions using the APIs available on the platform.
MoneyTap[earlier coverage MoneyTap Review and Interview with Bala Parthasarthy, CEO – MoneyTap], India’s first app-based consumer credit line along with its partner RBL Bank, announced that the credit line is now available for Self-Employed professionals. The opening of the new segment is in line with the company’s plans to expand into 30 cities in India over the next six months. After lowering the minimum salary eligibility to INR 20,000 per month, this is MoneyTap’s next move to enable easy access to credit.
In a country of 1.2 billion Indians, 26.4 million have credit cards as of August 2016, according to RBI data. The penetration of unsecured personal loans has been extremely poor in India with the organized credit presence at around 1% in the country. On the other hand, according to a survey done by the TransUnion Cibil, a credit information firm, Indian credit card customers have improved their payment behavior with about 78% of them paying off monthly bills completely and about 92% of credit card holders often pay a greater amount than the minimum due. Thus, there is enough scope for a product like MoneyTap to thrive and scale.
MoneyTap’s app-based credit line provides a customer with a credit limit, anywhere from INR 25,000 to INR 5 lakhs, without any collateral. The value of the credit limit depends on the individual’s profile and the credit policy being used. With a patent-pending chat interface, the free app rapidly evaluates the user’s credit eligibility in just a few minutes and instantly informs them of the decision, along with the amount they are eligible for. Using the MoneyTap app, consumers can choose to borrow as little as INR 3000 or as much as INR 5 lakhs, or up to their upper credit limit. They also get to decide their own EMI plans with payback periods ranging from 2 months to 3 years. Interest is paid only on the amount borrowed and rates can be as low as 1.25% per month. If the user does not borrow any amount, then no interest needs to be paid. The credit limit also gets topped up once EMIs are paid back.
MoneyTap along with RBL Bank is able to provide its customers, instant decisions and instant access to money, 24/7, irrespective of holidays. Moreover, as per RBI guidelines, all financial transactions such as billing, repayment or withdrawals are directly dealt with the bank but through the MoneyTap App using secure APIs, thus ensuring 100% secure transactions. Consumers do not have to hold a bank account or any other account with the partner bank to avail MoneyTap. As an added convenience for shopping needs, a MoneyTap RBL Credit Cardis also provided to the user. This is a regular MasterCard Credit Card that is accepted at all locations and for all card purchases – offline and online.
It gives us immense pleasure to be able to spread our services across cities, various earning groups and people of different professions. We are glad that the credit line app has been appreciated and adopted vastly. We aim to expand further by opening MoneyTap for newer segments that are currently underserved and in need of credit. We have a vision of making credit accessible to 1 Million Indians in the next few years. Hence, this expansion is part of that vision. We believe we have a product that works well for the mass market – flexible, affordable credit available in a convenient way.
Harjeet Toor, Business Head – Microbanking, Credit Cards, Retail & MSME Lending, RBL Bank said
India is a largely informal and an unorganised economy with about 90 per cent of people employed in the informal sector. A majority of these are self-employed. The government’s recent initiatives, such as Startup India and Skill India, are aimed at promoting financing, encouraging entrepreneurship and generating employment among the micro, small and medium enterprises. The MoneyTap app will give the self-employed quick and easy access to a credit line they can use both for their personal as well as professional needs.
The MoneyTap app is available on Android Playstore to all salaried employees and now self- employed. Qualified customers, after completing the KYC [right from the app with no paperwork involved], will pay a one-time Line setup fee of INR 499 + tax in their first month e-settlement. There are no hidden fees or charges and every time the customer chooses to take an EMI, they will be shown the interest & any other applicable charges and the customer will be required to provide explicit consent before borrowing.
About MoneyTap
MoneyTap is a Bengaluru-based fintech startup, founded by serial entrepreneurs Bala Parthasarathy, Anuj Kacker & Kunal Varma, who are IIT/ISB alumni. Bala has co-founded multiple startups in Silicon Valley including Snapfish [sold to Hewlett Packard], which he helped grow to 100M users and $300M in revenue. After moving to India in 2007, he volunteered for UIDAI under Mr. Nandan Nilekani before starting AngelPrime in 2011 [now Prime Venture Partners] where he helped create companies like ZipDial [sold to Twitter], EZETap, Happay, etc. Kunal [ex Texas Instruments] & Anuj [ex Airtel & JWT] co-founded Tapstart that grew to 300K users and turned profitable in 2 years. MoneyTap works in very close partnerships with various banks and other financial institutions to make the process painless and on-app. For more details, please visit MoneyTap
