FlexiLoans.com has partnered with Google Pay For Business, through which it will be able offer credit to Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
About FlexiLoans
It is a digital lending platform that provides quick, cheap, and formal credit to small businesses.
It disbursed Rs 1,000 crore worth of unsecured business loans in the last four years and is tied up with 5 million MSMEs in India through its 100+ ecosystem partners.
FlexiLoans is looking to disburse loans to 50,000 MSMEs in the next 12 months through the partnership.
It has also set a target of annualized disbursal run-rate of over Rs 1,000 crore in a single year.
It has become the first lender to go live on the Google Pay For Business platform.
Its competitors include Lendingkart, Indifi, Zip loan, BharatPe, Razorpay, etc.
Significance Of Partnership
With this partnership, small merchants and entrepreneurs can procure instant formal credit for business funding.
Merchants’ access to affordable and fast credit is made convenient since it is now just a few taps away.
Sharath Bulusu, Director, Google Pay, has said that access to credit is the need of the hour as businesses are trying to recover from losses caused by the ongoing pandemic.
India’s Credit Gap
There is also a credit gap that adds to entrepreneurial struggles, and this partnership could be the solution.
As per RBI, credit lent to micro and small enterprises in April has seen a negative YoY (Year-on-Year) growth of -2.2% for the first time since the pandemic broke out last year.
In April 2021, Rs 10.60 lakh crore of credit was deployed, a dip from the Rs 10.84 lakh crore in April 2020.
Google Invests In Small Businesses
Google said that partnering with FlexiLoans is the first step as they will bring on board more partners in the near future.
Google Pay For Business will also see new features using which one can “create online stores, manage ledger for customer balances, as well as avail credit in a few taps.”
Google had earlier committed to invest $15 million to support SMEs in India.
It also launched Grow with Google Small Business Hub in 2020, which emphasizes the importance of digital tools to navigate financial crises.
To that effect, it has compiled tips, training, and resources which small businesses can use to “maintain continuity and minimise disruption”.