Indian ecommerce unicorn Flipkart’s growth mantra is to sell everything under the sun. After grocery, large appliances and furniture, the etailer wants to focus on financial products.
What do we know about Fipkart FinTech product portfolio?
While no official announcement has been made yet, many sources have confirmed that the home-grown etailer is seriously looking into the fintech segment. A special team to look after this division has already been appointed
“While several ecommerce companies are looking at financial products, Flipkart is leading the pack and is keen to launch this as a revenue-generating business and also to help its customers,” a source confirmed.
According to reports:
- Flipkart is rumoured to be negotiating deals with several digital lending start-ups for financial products
- Mutual funds and insurance products, in addition to offering credit and loans would be launched
- It might not be a high-margin product category for Flipkart
- The marketplace is partnering with fintech start-ups to compensate for the lack of expertise
“We are talking to multiple ecommerce players who are looking to launch financial products. Since financial products is not their core area, they are looking to integrate with players like us who have multiple banking and NBFC partners and offer nearly 200 products,” disclosed Manavjeet Singh, CEO of Rubique, an online marketplace for financial products.
Paytm and Amazon are also looking to offer credit products
Like the source mentioned above, many Indian ecommerce players have developed an interest in financial products. Flipkart’s rivals Amazon and Paytm too are planning to launch credit products with the help of lending start-ups.
For instance, fintech start-up LoanTap has started disbursing loans to Paytm’s customers from the last two months.
“Paytm speaks to their customers based on the average wallet account balance, and if they consent for a loan, we do the loan disbursal,” stated Satyam Kumar, LoanTap’s CEO.
Bengaluru-based fintech start-up ZestMoney is also in the middle of developing credit products such as EMI option to buy tickets/pay bills for Paytm.
The US-based ecommerce giant Amazon would offer financial products via its digital payments venture Amazon Pay. The etailer would collaborate with financial start-ups to allow its buyers to pay for insurance, credit lines and many other payments.
Would financial products be the next battleground for the Indian ecommerce industry?
