Indian fintech company PayNearby has joined forces with Centrum Microcredit, the micro finance division of Centrum Group, for enabling unsecured business loans to its retail partners.

As part of the partnership, Centrum Microcredit will disburse loans after sourcing loan requirements via the network of PayNearby’s retailers in India.

PayNearby expects to facilitate competitive lending solutions to its retailer network members through the partnership who otherwise may not qualify for formal lending options.

Anand Kumar Bajaj – Founder, MD and CEO of PayNearby said: “PayNearby as an entity has been championing the cause of financial inclusion in the country. However, the objective of financial inclusion is incomplete until our retailers get access to credit.

“We have given our retailers access to livelihood, access to insurance and access to savings with various products in the financial services spectrum. The only missing piece was access to credit.

“In our endeavour to making credit available to our retailers at affordable interest rates, we have partnered with Centrum Microcredit Limited.”

For Centrum Microcredit, the partnership will allow it to leverage the rich data of the Indian fintech company, which is said to have been acquired by processing billions of daily transactions, thereby adding scale and efficiency to its lending business.

The partnership will offer small-ticket, unsecured loans between INR 25,000 and INR 1 lakh with tenure from six to 24 months, while the turn-around time is 48 hours.

Prashant Thakker – Executive Director and CEO of Centrum Microcredit said: “Financial inclusion is a key focus area for us. Our partnership with PayNearby adds to our vision of making a positive, social and economic impact in the lives of retailers by providing unsecured working capital credit to ensure their business functions uninterruptedly. With this initiative, we will be able to bring many small retailers into the mainstream credit fold.

“This will also help us to diversify our operations geographically and expand our offering in terms of tenure and repayment model of loans. We are excited to call on PayNearby’s rich data and massive retailer network to fulfill the dream of a financially inclusive India.”

  Anand Kumar Bajaj, Centrum Group, Centrum Microcredit, India, PayNearby, Prashant Thakker