Paytm partners with Shriram Finance to strengthen loan distribution among small businesses

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Paytm on Friday said it was partnering with retail NBFC, Shriram Finance to offer financial services to its users including loan products. Through this partnership, the company said Shriram Finance’s products will be made available on Paytm’s platform digitally to further expand access to credit, especially among the small businesses in the country.

With Paytm’s experience as a loan service provider (LSP), the company said this partnership will integrate Shriram Finance's wide geographical presence across the country, especially rural areas. This is not the first time that Paytm has partnered with marquee financial institutions to digitally distribute loans.

The platform has seven partners and now, it said merchants on the Paytm network will get a chance to avail loans from Shriram Finance and then it will be extended to consumers loans, the companies said. “India is witnessing high growth in retail credit demand, it is only likely to increase with greater participation from rural and semi-urban India," Umesh Revankar, Executive Vice Chairman, Shriram Finance said.

«A lot of this demand will come from the digitally literate, young generation brought up in the mobile telephone proliferation era and those having comfort in having all their transactions through handheld devices.» In order to take advantage of this opportunity while continuing to serve the unserved and underserved, Revankar said Shriram Finance has decided to collaborate with Paytm across the country. “Our commitment to expand credit distribution gets further boost with our new strategic partner Shriram Finance.