SMEcorner expands its presence in Pune, aims to provide credit to the 100,000 unorganized retailers in the city
August 23, 2018: Digikredit Finance Pvt. Ltd., an NBFC which owns and operates under the name SMEcorner, today announced the opening of its second branch in Pune. SMEcorner focuses on providing quick access to secured and unsecured loans to Indian MSMEs and provides both online and offline process option to a borrower. SMEcorner had opened its first branch in February 2018, the additional branch will help SMEcorner to reach out to customers in a new geographical area.
In the next couple of years, it aims to be the preferred credit partner for the estimated 100,000 unorganized retailers in Pune.
Said Samir Bhatia, Founder and CEO, SMEcorner “Pune is considered one of the most enterprising cities in India and is known for its quick uptake on new technology and innovations. We believe through our simple process and flexible approach towards credit products, we will be able to support the enterprising nature of the city retailers and be growth partners for the MSME and unorganised retail sector.”
SMEcorner has a dual approach to the loan process. An interested party can apply for a loan online through the mobile app or desktop. After filling a few details, they are informed about the eligibility and next steps in a few minutes. However, as the next step, SMEcorner insists on a one-on-one meeting with the loan applicant before the loan is approved.
SMEcorner believes, their insistence on one-on-one meetings before disbursement of loans is what gives them an edge in the competitive fintech sector. The meeting works at multiple levels, it gives SMEcorner representative an opportunity to understand the need of the customer and guide him towards the right loan amount and duration. The representative is also able to guide the customer through the documentation process.
On the other hand, meeting the customer at their location gives SMEcorner an insight into the customer’s establishment. While the front-end process is relationship drives, SMEcorner has a robust tech-backend to ensure the loans are disbursed within three working days, the back-end technology combines machine learning, data science and artificial intelligence to take a credit call.
SMEcorner was recently recognized by the Maharashtra Govt for their OCR technology and they aim to patent it soon.
Added Samir Bhatia, “SMEcorner’s business is based on the belief that the MSME and the unorganized retailers in India are the most resilient sector. They have evolved and changed with time- be it the onslaught from unprecedent investment and competition from Shopping Malls; competition from E-commerce or GST. However, the sector never received the right attention from the traditional financial establishments, we at SMEcorner, have taken great pains to develop systems that resonates with the sector and hope to be their preferred credit partners.”
SMEcorner received its NBFC license in February 2018 and since then, it has disbursed loans to over 1200 customers, amounting to INR 80 crores. SMEcorner provides Unsecured loans up to INR 30 lakhs and Loan against property up to INR 1 crore. Over 50% of loans disbursed by it is in the range of INR 50,000 to INR 5 lakh.
In the next three years, SMEcorner intends to have branches across 35 locations in 8 states and build a book size of INR 5000 crores.
About Samir Bhatia:
Samir Bhatia is the Founder and CEO of SMEcorner, a modern age lending company aimed at providing easy and quick access to MSME.
Samir has over 30 years of experience in the Banking and Finance sector. Before starting SMEcorner, Samir was the Managing Director and CEO of Equifax Credit Information Services and was instrumental in setting up the business from scratch. Samir has worked with Barclays Bank as Managing Director, Retail Banking (India and Indian Ocean). He has also worked with HDFC Bank for over 12 years and had played a crucial role in setting up the Bank. He is considered one of the founding members of HDFC Bank.
Samir is a Chartered Accountant (CA) and on the personal front, he is a committed Marathon Runner and has participated in many international runs.
