Skip to main content

Etailers Seek RBI Approval to Offer Loans to SMEs

By
Only Indian cos such as Snapdeal provide credit to the sellers on their platforms
Some of the top etailers operating in India have sought the Reserve Bank of India's permission to lend to small and medium enterprises listed on their platforms.
A senior RBI official said some suggestions were made at a town hall organised by the central bank in Delhi for ecommerce companies and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).“There were some suggestions made in this regard, and we have forwarded them to the head office. They are being looked at,“ he said, requesting anonymity . At present, only Indian firms such as Snapdeal provide credit to the sellers on their platforms to meet working capital requirements.
The primary issue is that the holding pattern of some of the ecommerce companies is not clear, the official said. “They come under foreign direct investment (FDI) category and are not permitted to extend credit,“ he added. At present, Amazon Inc offers its business loan programme to small sellers in the US and Japan.
According to reports, Amazon Lending, founded in 2012, plans to offer short-term working capital loans in eight other countries, including India. The facility is on invite-only' basis.
Snapdeal, which runs India's largest ecommerce website, plans to disburse loans of around Rs.1,000 crore by March 2016 to SMEs under its seller financing platform, Capital Assist. The firm has further tiedup with a clutch of banks and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) for its seller financing programmes.
Earlier, Kunal Bahl, co-founder and chief executive of Snapdeal, had said that the firm has zero non-performing assets, which shows SMEs want to perform and grow in the ecommerce setup. “Ideally , capital assist should not exist. If the ecosystem of finances was friction-free enough, ecommerce companies need not get into the system of facilitating finances,“ he had said. The firm has over 2 lakh sellers operating on its platform. According to a report, Impact of Ecommerce on SMEs in India', jointly conducted by research firm KPMG and Snapdeal, around 41% of SMEs in India do not have access to bank loans or other products offered by financial institutions, with a financing gap of more than Rs.2.93 lakh crore.
The Economic Times, New Delhi, 16th Oct. 2015

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Data storage norm splits digital payments industry

By
Data storage norm splits digital payments industry  India’s nascent digital payment industry could be thrown into disarray due to the demand by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that all user data be stored within the country, fears an industry grouping, which has termed the decision as “heavy-handed”, even as others, including the country’s largest digital payment provider Paytm, have hailed the move.  In a bid to narrow the growing schism, the industry is planning to send a formal representation to the regulator highlighting its concerns, a top official told ET.  “We are trying to build a consensus on the issue," said the person adding that the representation to the central bank will be ready this week.  RBI on April 6, mandated all payment companies—global and local—to set up data storage facilities within India by October. The stringent six-month deadline has attracted the ire of several sections of the industry that fear it will lead to a disruption of wel...
18 comments
Read more

Offer’s for all of you

By
Great Bumper Dhamaka Offer’s for all of you... It's Time to see your Business Online, WebeCreator Offer Website Designing with domain & Email @ nominal charges. For a year For More information visit us http://goo.gl/KlpppF call on 9890151261/9773197533  drop a mail to sales@webecreator.com
Post a Comment
Read more

Sebi to finalise options in commodities today

By
The Commodity Derivatives Advisory Committee of the Securities and Exchange Board of India ( Sebi) will meet on Friday with senior officials of the latter, to give a final shape to the rules on options trading in commodity futures, beside revising the warehousing norms to ensure good delivery on settlement. The decision taken, after discussing with the advisory committee, will be placed before the regulator’s board, to finalise the regulations. According to knowledgeable sources, three commodities in each segment, agricultural and non- agricultural, have been proposed for introducing options. It appears commodities from the soya and guar segments are preferred in the former. From the non- agri segment, it is likely that gold, silver and crude oil will be finalised. All these These have better liquidity and both the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange and the Multi Commodity Exchange, respectively, will be able to introduce the options. In the equity segments, options ar...
17 comments
Read more