Axis Bank & Suvidhaa rolls out ‘Nano Credit’ for the urban low income segment

by Shrutee K/DNS

Mumbai, 11^th August 2016: Axis Bank, the third largest private sector bank in India and Suvidhaa Infoserve,a major player in domestic remittance and digital payments sector, announced the roll out of ‘Nano Credit’ – pre-approved, instant and unsecured loans for the urban low income segment.

The product offers credit of up to INR 15,000 which can be availed by all existing customers of Suvidhaa by simply walking into any of the 22,000 Suvidhaa outlets across India and following aninstant check of their loan eligibility by the respective outlet agent.

A first of its kind product in the country,‘Nano Credit’ is designed to benefit the unbanked and digitally excluded urban low income segment.

With flexible repayment options and instant transaction processing capability, the producthelps overcome one of key challenges of this customer segment -the need for cash on a daily basis and related irregularities in cash flow.

       First of its kind loan product in the country for the urban low income segment.

       ‘Nano Credit’to offer unsecured loans of up to INR15,000 per individual, by way of a term loan or overdraft.

      ‘Nano Credit’can be availed by 35 million existing customers of Suvidhaa from any of the 22,000 SuvidhaaAxis Bank BC outlets.

       Quick disbursal within 1-2 hours, easy access to loan amount through pre-paid card, withdrawal through any ATM / merchant payment through POS machines.

Speaking on the occasion, Rajiv Anand, Executive Director, Axis Bank said “This new initiative with Suvidhaa will strengthen our presence in theUrban Microfinance space. The pre-approved Overdraft facility is amongstthe first in the Indian market for low income households. Axis Bank iscommitted to catering to the financial needs of this traditionally excludedcategory by extending innovative products based on state of the arttechnology. This programme is being launched in Mumbai and shall thereafter be offeredin Surat, Pune and Delhi in this financial year.”

Elaborating on the product, Paresh Rajde, Founder of Suvidhaa Infoserve said, “This is a truly disruptive and revolutionary product which reaches to the under-served segment of customers who is most needy of such loan facility. Suvidhaa has a rich repository of transaction history for 35 million customers who have been engaged in various service transactions including remittances, payments of insurance premium, bill,ticketing etc. and mapped using Aadhar’s e-KYC. This enables us to exactly gauge the client’s loan repayment capacity, thus reducing risks for the bank. Suvidhaa’s robust analytics and technology helps Axis Bank reduce the time for disbursement making ‘Nano Credit’ an instant loan facility offered on a prepaid account – something that has never been done in this country.” With the national rollout, Axis Bank &Suvidhaawill focus on Delhi-NCR, Surat and Pune in the coming months.  The loans under “Nano Credit” are Aadhaare-KYC verified, pre-approved, collateral free, individual loans with a simple documentation process.

About Axis Bank: Axis Bank is the third largest private sector bank in India. Axis Bank offers the entire spectrum of services to customer segments covering Large and Mid-Corporates, SME, Agriculture and Retail Businesses. With its 3,006 domestic branches (including extension counters) and 12,871 ATMs across the country, as on 30^th June 2016, the network of Axis Bank spreads across 1,855 centres, enabling the Bank to reach out to a large cross-section of customers with an array of products and services. The Bank also has nine overseas offices with branches at Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai (at the DIFC), Shanghai and Colombo; representative offices at Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Dhaka and an overseas subsidiary at London, UK. The Bank’s website www.axisbank.com offers comprehensive details about its products and services.

About Suvidhaa (www.suvidhaa.com): Suvidhaa is a leading payments company that offers financial services such as remittances, interoperable open loop prepaid cards besides a large suite of value added services such as ticketing (Rail/Air/Bus), Utility bill payments, Mobile/DTH/Data recharges, Insurance premium payments, Corporatecash collection and mobile-based merchant acquiring services.  These services are offered through Suvidhaa’s 90,000 retail touch points in over 9500 PIN Code locations across India.  Over 300 service providers ride on Suvidhaa’s robust S-Commerce platform to reach their last mile.  Suvidhaa has now forayed into micro credit with its unique & first-of-its-kind Nano Credit Program targeted towards its 35mn unique customers. Mr Paresh Rajde promoted Suvidhaa in 2007 and was angel funded by Mr Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry.