Indian private sector bank Axis Bank has joined partnership with embedded lending fintech company Rupifi to launch an exclusive business credit card for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Axis Bank said that the co-branded credit card, which is powered by Visa, will help the small and medium sized enterprises to carry out transactions on the aggregator platforms partnering with Rupifi for their business purchases. The new Axis Bank business credit card will also provide customized credit solutions to micro-enterprises that have existing trade relationships with the aggregator platforms.

Rupifi is engaged in partnering with B2B marketplace and aggregator platforms across sectors like food, grocery, pharma, e-commerce, agri-commodities, logistics, transport, fashion, and industrial goods.

Anubhav Jain – Rupifi Co-Founder and CEO said: “We are delighted to have partnered with Axis Bank and Visa for this Co-Branded Card. Rupifi has been at the forefront of launching innovative Financial Products for Indian SMEs.

“With the launch of this Commercial Card, we want to help the SMEs get short term credit to make business purchases and manage their cash flows better with features designed to suit their day-to-day business requirements.”

According to Axis Bank, the new business credit card comes with a high approval rate based on the relationship of MSMEs with the aggregator platforms. The average credit limit provided will be in the range of INR 1 and 2 lakh per month and will be decided on the basis of business data of MSME’s transactions with the aggregator platforms, gross monthly volume of last six months and also overall revenue along with other factors.

MSMEs will have to pay a joining fee of INR 1,000 for the new business credit card for which there is no annual fees. It is a revolving card with 51 days interest free credit period.

Axis Bank said that the revolve feature provides customer options to pay off the balance completely at the end of each billing cycle or to carry over the balance from one month to the next through the payment of a minimum amount.

The Indian private bank is also offering a cashback of 5% on all spends in the first month, a maximum of INR 2500 and 1% cashback on all spends in the following months, with minimum five transactions, capped at INR 500.

Sanjeev Moghe – Axis Bank Cards & Payments EVP & Head said: “We have been continuously working on innovation-led partnership models to offer banking solutions to customers. Rupifi is building India’s first Lending-As-A-Service platform to provide SMEs with the complete suite of credit solutions.

“This partnership will give Axis Bank an opportunity to tap into the unexplored and lucrative MSME segment, which is an addressable market of over USD 100 Bn. This will also help us penetrate further into retail & commerce, food, tech, travel, transport, mobility and logistics businesses.”

  Anubhav Jain, Axis Bank, Banking industry news, India, Rupifi, Sanjeev Moghe, Visa