Flipkart’s ‘Growth Capital’ initiative makes accessing loans easy for sellers

Ties up with Bajaj Finserv, Axis bank, NeoGrowth, Lendingkart and Capital First

Ankit Nagori, Chief Business Officer, Flipkart said,

“With this initiative, sellers across India will be able to gain quick access to loans with basic documentation and within minimum turn-around-time. Our focus is to simplify the whole capital fund gathering process so that they can make timely investment and focus on developing their businesses.”

Flipkart, India’s largest e-commerce marketplace, announced the launch of ‘Growth Capital Initiative’ to offer financial assistance to sellers across the country. Connecting sellers with trusted lenders in the industry, this initiative aims at creating a robust platform for sellers to compare and access capital seamlessly.

To kick-start this program, Flipkart has tied up with leading banks and financial institutions like Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank, NeoGrowth, Lendingkart and Capital First, with a vision to enable every entrepreneur to fulfill their business aspirations. This new initiative will develop an open platform and ecosystem of financial services for sellers which will be governed by the market forces with Flipkart playing the role of a curator.

Ankit said, “Lack of funding has often emerged as one of the key hurdles for small businesses. In fact, most of the lending organizations consider them as ‘un-bankable’ which results in a lot of SMEs/units closing down or borrowing from other sources at higher rates. We see a huge unmet demand in this sector. Our ‘Growth Capital’ initiative will provide simple, hassle free and competitive options to sellers to avail financial services.”

Commenting on his experience, Suresh Mansharamani – Fantastik Retails, a seller on Flipkart said,

“When we heard about initiative by Flipkart against, we availed a loan of Rs.50 lakhs from Bajaj Finserve at an interest rate of 12% p a. Our loan amount was sanctioned, disbursed and transferred within 3 days. The whole process was extremely easy and fast. This has helped us increase our selection and grow our sales on Flipkart. We are extremely grateful to Flipkart for offering such a platform to sellers like us.”

Jairam Sridharan, President Retail Lending and Payments, Axis Bank said “We are living through a revolution in traditional trade through the emergence of e-commerce. Thousands of small entrepreneurs consider Flipkart and other e-commerce platforms as their path to scale. At Axis Bank, we are keen to partner with these entrepreneurs to fulfill their dreams. The partnership between Axis Bank and Flipkart will use the latest technology and cutting edge analytics to deliver hassle free lending solutions to the large community of Flipkart sellers.”

Devang Mody, President Consumer Finance, Bajaj Finance Ltd said, “We at Bajaj Finance understand that working capital loans also need to evolve with the emergence of technology. With e-commerce we can now have ready access to data like sales volumes, market trends as well as a seller’s return percentage and his customer satisfaction rating. These data points enable us to not only create smart line allocation but also create a seamless operating platform for sellers to avail finance easily. It’s a 100% digital process and sellers will definitely benefit out of the swift processes and disbursement as well we lower interest rates. We are proud to partner with Flipkart to bring this proposition to sellers which will create win-win for all stakeholders.”

Harshvardhan Lunia, CEO & Co-Founder, Lendingkart said, “We are very happy to associate with Flipkart to build a whole new eco-system for SMEs in India. They are facilitating all aspects of this, of which arranging working capital finance is one of the critical one. As a partner we are really glad to be a part of this effort which empowers online vendors and customers throughout the country.”

Piyush Khaitan, Managing Director – NeoGrowth Credit Pvt. Ltd. said, “NeoGrowth is pleased to be associated with Flipkart. We believe that there is a huge unmet demand amongst online sellers for finance. By providing easy access to funds, Flipkart and NeoGrowth will drive socio-economic impact by enabling thousands of online sellers, especially young entrepreneurs, to grow and expand their businesses online.”

Vaidyanathan-Chairman & Managing Director, Capital First Limited said, “We are delighted to partner with Flipkart to extend our services to sellers on the e-commerce marketplace.”