Flipkart, ecommerce giant, is in converse with the several digital lending startups and offers them financial products.
Flipkart is in talk with banks
This Bengaluru based company has come up with a dedicated team for financial services and products. It was earlier mentioned that Flipkart was talking with banks last year to offer loan products during its Big Billion Day sale.
One of the informers said that, “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”.
NO cost EMI products of Flipkart
As per Avasarala, “launched the ‘No Cost EMI’ product (creating a marketplace of lenders, brands, and consumers) on Flipkart to drive affordability and increase sales of high-ticket-size items” and that she is also “working to extend credit and convenience features to a larger customer base with innovations such as ‘Flipkart Pay Later’, and is leveraging machine learning algorithms to build the next generation of credit products”.
Flipkart already offers loans to sellers
Flipkart in this arena already offers loans to sellers through association with banks as well as non banking finance companies (NBFCs). Previous year, it had associated with Axis Bank and launched a credit card along with benefits of discounts. Other than credit and loans, company is also seeking towards mutual funds and insurance. Some of the experts said that the margins after such amalgamation would be low though it can cover it through large volumes.
Margins would be low
Cofounder of Funds India, an online investment platform, Srikanth Meenakshi said that, “The margins for Flipkart on products like mutual funds through partnerships could be as low as 1%. But the fact is that Flipkart does not have the expertise in this area, which is why they will need to partner with these platforms. The advantage for them will be that products like mutual funds are sticky products, and the platform can become a one-stop place for its customers”. Many E-commerce companies are planning to shift towards the money lending side, industry executive announced.
Company is in talk with several ecommerce players
Manavjeet Singh who is the CEO of Rubique , a lending platform, said that, “We are talking to multiple ecommerce players who are looking to launch financial products. Since financial products are 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”. Singh didn’t reveal the companies’ name.
Company seeks to tie-up with lenders and insurance companies
As indicated by CEO of the company, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm recently compelled Payment bank and about to associate with several insurance and lender companies so that it can offer financial services to its clients.
Snapdeal’s education loan offers
In 2015, Snapdeal had the education loan leg of HDFC and it provided education loan to the students. Additionally, it had also invested in Rupeepower, financial services portal.