The process of applying for a loan and receiving one has become extremely simple over the past few years, thanks to the exponential growth of fintech lenders using technology. These new-age lenders operate using a tech-first, light-touch approach, thus enabling them to reach a wider range of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) across India.
This comes especially handy for those running smaller businesses, removing the need to wait in long queues, waiting for weeks for approval and disbursement of loans. These platforms offer short-term loans that can be used to purchase inventory, service new orders or optimize cash cycles.
Here is a list of lenders catering to the SMEs:
NeoGrowth
NeoGrowth offers unsecured loans to merchants who accept credit/debit cards or other digital payments from customers using its proprietary technology platform. NeoGrowth loans are short-term with the facility of daily repayment. NeoGrowth aims to provide financial inclusion small and medium business merchants across India, more than 50 per cent of whom are creditworthy but until now have been excluded from accessing loans based on traditional underwriting methods.
ePayLater
ePayLater is a digital payment solution offered by Arthashastra Fintech Pvt. Ltd. that enables a ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ solution for frequent online purchasers with an interest-free credit term of 14 days.
It also provides working capital finance to SMEs in India with flexible, short-term loans.
RupeeCircle
Rupee Circle is a P2P platform, which also deals in SME lending. They aim to bridge the current gap in the market with innovative and flexible credit products for SMEs, delivered in an efficient and customer-friendly manner. RupeeCircle claims that borrowers can apply online in minutes, select desired repayment terms and receive funds in their bank accounts.
Indifi
Indifi Technologies is a debt-financing platform which facilitates SME lending with a focus on customer-product fit. The key innovation in the approach that Indifi takes is that it designs and offers credit products basis the kind of business the MSME is in.
Zip Loan
ZipLoan is a platform that looks to make finance accessible to small businesses and ensure easy availability of unsecured working capital to small business owners in India. ZipLoan offers personal business loan of up to Rs 5 lakhs to small business owners that can be repaid over a time period of 12-24 months.
They have so far helped many companies from different sectors, such as clothing, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, electronics, etc.