Datacultr, an IoT and Smartphone technology platform, is facilitating financial inclusion in India through Odyssey, its solution for consumer lending companies. People’s desire to own a smartphone and its clear utility in the emerging world is Odyssey’s cornerstone. To enable the unbanked and underserved to access formal credit, the platform reduces default rates for Banks, NBFCs, MFIs & Fintechs, on their smartphone financing products.
According to a report by World Bank, 1.7 billion individuals in the world still remain unbanked. The financial inclusion of these people is critical. Lending small amounts to buy a smartphone is one of the innovative ways that consumer lending & fintech companies have identified, to bring such people into the fold of organised credit.
With the proprietary technology provided by Datacultr, lenders that finance smartphones can keep a track of these assets by setting up triggers that can alert them against potential frauds and asset re-sale. The platform allows lenders to remotely manage smartphones given out on instalments / loan, by setting up a unique device experience module on the smartphone using templates that help them chart out the lifecycle of the borrower throughout the tenure of the loan.
In cases where delay in payments happens, Odyssey allows the lender to block some features of the device user-interface. After repeated efforts, if the customer still fails to pay the due amount, Odyssey can lock the device remotely upon the decision of the bank, rendering the device unusable. It blocks everything except certain critical features like emergency calls, SMS inbox, etc, till the EMI is repaid. Once the missed instalments are paid, the phone is unlocked and can be used as normal.
On the other hand, Datacultr's technology acts as an added incentive for users to repay their loans. When payment history is reported back to the banks, the customer’s credit score builds enabling access to big-ticket size in the future. Besides, this encourages lenders to increase the number of loans to unbanked users with no credit history or other collateral.
Neel Juriasingani, CEO & Co-founder, Datacultr, said, “According to a report by NASSCOM, the Indian fintech software market is likely to touch $2.4 billion by 2020. This is a pool of opportunities for fintech players like us to connect with lives of rural and unbanked customers to bring them under the umbrella of financial inclusion and credit scores. We want to create a flourishing ecosystem for the financial inclusion of the next billion underserved users. Furthermore, lending companies will be able to save cost on the collection process of the EMI."