Digital credit for MSMEs: Aditya Birla Capital’s lending arm Aditya Birla Finance on Monday announced its participation in the Open Credit Enablement Network (OCEN) by launching instant Purchase Order (PO) financing for MSMEs registered on the public procurement portal Government e-Marketplace’s (GeM) Sahay platform. Through the Sahay app, MSME sellers can apply for short-term credit from banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs).
Aditya Birla Finance will also now enable digital working capital credit for sellers against their purchase orders for easy disbursements.
OCEN is a decentralized open credit network developed by the non-profit think tank iSPIRT foundation as a digital public infrastructure. It allows the flow of credit between borrowers and lenders under a common set of standards.
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Rakesh Singh, Managing Director, and Chief Executive Officer, Aditya Birla Finance said, “Today, digital public infrastructure is reshaping the way MSMEs get faster access to capital to scale up their businesses. ABFL already has a significant presence in the MSME sector, and through this new credit facility, we will be able to provide superior experience to our existing and new customers.”
With an account on GeM Sahay, MSMEs need to share purchase orders for financing and select the offer shown by Aditya Birla Finance. Next, they need to verify the loan disbursement bank account followed by setting up a virtual account and auto repayment, and digitally sign the loan agreement. Once approved, the loan will be credited to the MSME’s account.
Aditya Birla Capital had recently launched its B2B digital platform Udyog Plus for MSMEs with solutions including financing, protection, investments, advisory and value-added services for managing and growing their business.
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OCEN is essentially an open and interoperable credit empowerment network to streamline and democratize credit accessibility for MSMEs. It helps MSMEs construct their credit profiles by utilizing their digital transactions and business track record. Through this information, the network supports lenders to make more precise assessments of creditworthiness and provide customized financial solutions to borrowers.
Other lenders on OCEN are ICICI Bank, Tata Capital, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IIFL Finance, Union Bank of India, SIDBI, Axis Bank and more.