Bank of Baroda Empowers Small Businesses with bob Digi Udyam—Fast, Collateral-Free Loans up to ₹50 Lakh

Bank of Baroda (Bank), one of India’s leading public sector banks, announced the launch of bob Digi Udyam – a digital, collateral-free lending platform offering Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) quick access to working capital loans above ₹10 lakh to ₹50 lakh. The initiative, aligned with the Union Budget 2024–25 announcement that public sector banks would develop in-house capabilities for MSME credit assessment, leverages the digital footprint of MSEs to enable faster credit assessment and reduce reliance on external assessment. This marks a major step in strengthening credit accessibility for India’s small businesses. The scheme is open to both existing and new customers of the Bank.

The bob Digi Udyam platform leverages a wide range of digital data points to comprehensively assess credit applications. It generates an automated, risk-based scorecard that enables seamless credit assessment, significantly reducing the turnaround time for loan processing. A provisional sanction is provided within minutes, after which the application is automatically routed to branches through TEJAS, the Bank’s Loan Origination & Processing System for the MSME segment, for final sanction and post-sanction formalities.

Eligible entities can apply for loans under bob Digi Udyam through both Do-it-Yourself (DIY) and Assisted mode at branches. The platform conducts digital eligibility checks, risk assessment, and credit limit calculations, ensuring a seamless and transparent lending process.

Speaking on the launch, Shri Lal Singh, Executive Director, Bank of Baroda, said, “MSEs are key drivers of India’s economy, yet timely credit remains a challenge. With bob Digi Udyam, we bring a digital, cash flow-based lending model that delivers quick, collateral-free working capital finance. bob Digi Udyam is a step towards making MSE credit truly accessible, with plans to expand the offering to cover a wider range of credit needs and higher ticket sizes.”

bob Digi Udyam – At a Glance

• Purpose: Digital, cash flow-based working capital finance for MSEs
• Facilities: Cash Credit & Overdraft facilities
• Loan Size: Above ₹10 lakh to ₹50 lakh
• Tenure: 12 months
• Collateral: Nil – covered under CGTMSE

bob Digi Udyam aligns with the Government of India and Reserve Bank of India’s vision for digital transformation in MSE lending, broadening access to bank credit and empowering India’s MSE businesses to grow sustainably. Bank of Baroda is aligned with the Government’s vision of Viksit Bharat@2047.

Applicants can apply for bob Digi Udyam, by clicking on https://mllps.bankofbaroda.co.in/BOBSTPCustomerPortal/

About Bank of Baroda

Founded on 20th July, 1908 by Sir Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III, Bank of Baroda is one of the leading commercial banks in India. At 63.97% stake, it is majorly owned by the Government of India. The Bank serves its global customer base of over ~180 million through around 65,000 touch points spread across 17 countries in five continents and through its various digital banking platforms, which provide all banking products and services in a seamless and hassle-free manner. The Bank’s vision matches the aspirations of its diverse clientele base and seeks to instil a sense of trust and security in all their dealings with the Bank.

Visit us at www.bankofbaroda.in

Adobe Unveils New Adobe Express for Ads for Small Businesses to Stand Out

Today, Adobe unveiled Adobe Express for ads, a new solution that makes it faster and easier for smaller businesses to create high-performing ads for top social channels in Adobe Express. The solution supports creative workflows for some of the world's largest ad platforms, including Google, LinkedIn, Meta, and TikTok, with Amazon soon to follow. With new “social safe zones” in Adobe Express, designing stunning, creative content that matches ad platform guidelines can be stress-free. And new Metricool and Bitly add-ons for Adobe Express help you track how your content is performing.

Great ads made easy — with Adobe Express.

The process of landing a great ad can be long and arduous. You’ve got to get a lot right — from amazing creative that makes your message stand out to navigating the different rules, sizes, and criteria of each platform and deciphering the signals that tell you why ads are effective — or not.

Adobe Express for ads connects the dots in one convenient app, making it simple to get the right messages to your audiences quickly and effectively.

New “social safe zone” technology.

New social safe zones in Adobe Express provide built-in guides tailored to top platforms, so key visuals and messages are placed for maximum engagement and performance. Starting June 12, safe zones for Stories and Reel ads (Meta) and LinkedIn video ads will be available in Adobe Express — with more formats to come.

Easily design high-quality creative.

According to Nielsen, 50% of advertising ROI is driven by the quality of the creative. Adobe Express brings the best of Adobe’s industry-leading creative tools, like Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, and a massive library of assets and templates curated by real design pros, into an app that makes it easy for everyone to produce eye-catching creative. Here’s what you can do:

• Create great ads that stand out. Start with thousands of free, professionally designed templates built to perform across top ad platforms so your ads are polished and on-brand.
• Design with ease. Focused workflows and drag-and-drop tools make it simple to customize text, images, and layouts. AI-powered features can help you quickly generate content ideas, remove backgrounds, generate images or video, and more — even if you’re not a pro.
• Make once, repurpose everywhere. Instantly resize and reformat ads to fit the platforms where your customers connect, browse, and shop.
• Create with confidence, launch with peace of mind. Adobe Firefly-powered tools are commercially safe for your business. Fonts, images, and assets in Adobe Express are also cleared for business use. With Custom Brand Kits, you can easily lock brand elements for a consistent look and feel every time.
• Leverage recently announced AI-powered video capabilities. With Adobe Express, every small business can create high-impact video ads. Clip Maker uses AI to instantly cut video footage into short clips, and Firefly-powered Generate Video uses text and image prompts to generate custom, commercially safe b-roll and background footage.

Seamlessly publish to top ad platforms.

Adobe Express for ads features a new user experience that lets you easily connect to leading advertising platforms and access custom workflows, best practices, and templates specific to each environment. You get better ad performance — for free and from one efficient app.

New integrations include:

• Optimized Google Performance Max templates. Take the guesswork out of building compelling creative assets for campaigns. Simply grab a template, insert your videos, images, or offering and export to your Google Ads account in minutes.
• Video and image ads on LinkedIn. Publish quickly and with ease to help drive engagement with B2B audiences on the world’s largest professional network. Video templates are optimized for high-impact storytelling and advertising assets can be exported to your LinkedIn ads account for campaign creation and tracking.
• TikTok Symphony Assistant add-on. Easily create trending business content and add pre-cleared music tracks from the Commercial Music Library. Starting June 16, you can also export videos directly to your TikTok Ads Manager account.
• Amazon ads: Adobe Express is also working with Amazon to provide you with professionally designed templates and pre-compliance checks, helping ensure you can successfully publish to Amazon ads every time.

Effortlessly measure content performance.

New add-ons from Metricool and Bitly, make it easier for you to understand how social content is performing and adjust to maximize its impact, all within Adobe Express.

• The Metricool add-on for Adobe Express provides intel on top-performing posts, top-performing hashtags, and engagement rates across platforms, including Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, X/Twitter, Google Business, and more, to help inform creative and social strategies. View side-by-side analysis of competitor profiles to spot content trends and performance gaps so you can fine-tune your strategies with data.
• With the new Bitly add-on for Adobe Express, it’s simple to add QR Codes and short links to assets so you can monitor performance and view real-time analytics that provide intel to inform updates and strategy.

These features and more are waiting to be explored in Adobe Express for Ads, or download the ad platform add-ons here.

To add new social measurement capabilities to your toolkit, visit the Adobe Express add-on marketplace.

The Top Benefits of Using Proposal Management Software for Small Businesses

Small businesses are increasingly recognizing the advantages of leveraging technology to enhance their operational efficiency. Among the range of tools available, proposal management software stands out as a game-changer, particularly for sales and marketing departments. This innovative solution streamlines the complex process of proposal creation, fosters team collaboration, and improves the effectiveness of sales strategies. In this article, we delve into the multifaceted benefits of integrating proposal management software into business practices.

Streamlining the Proposal Creation Process With Management Software

The traditional approach to crafting proposals can be cumbersome, often involving disjointed communication and repetitive tasks. Proposal management software simplifies this by offering customizable templates and centralized resources, allowing businesses to generate professional proposals with speed and consistency. This level of automation not only saves time but also enhances the quality of the final document.

The drag-and-drop functionality common in such software minimizes the learning curve for users, making it accessible to teams with varying levels of technical skill. Furthermore, the ability to track changes and manage versions within the software eliminates the potential for errors that can occur when juggling multiple document iterations.

Additionally, proposal management tools often include integration capabilities with other business systems, such as customer relationship management (CRM) platforms. This seamless integration ensures that data flows freely between systems, allowing for quick access to client information that can be used to personalize proposals.

Enhancing Collaboration and Reducing Silos

Siloed departments and a lack of collaboration can be major hurdles in small businesses, particularly when it comes to producing cohesive proposals. With the aid of proposal management software, multiple team members can work simultaneously on the same proposal. This concurrent editing feature ensures that ideas and feedback are integrated in real time, promoting a culture of teamwork and shared responsibility.

Through the software's communication tools, such as commenting and chat functions, team members can discuss and resolve issues swiftly without the need for cumbersome email threads or meetings. This facilitates not only faster proposal turnaround times but also better-informed contributions from various sectors of the business.

Permission settings within the software also allow for management oversight, with leaders able to control who can view or edit aspects of the proposal. This granularity ensures that sensitive information remains secure while still affording flexibility to the team during the proposal development process.

Tailoring Proposals Efficiently to Each Client With Software Tools

Business professional using desktop computer for proposal management software

Clients appreciate a personalized experience, and this extends to the proposals they receive. One of the standout features of proposal management software is its capacity to tailor documents to the unique needs and preferences of each client. Advanced software may even include artificial intelligence that suggests customizations based on previous successful proposals.

Having all client interactions and history in one place allows businesses to meticulously craft a proposal that speaks directly to the potential client's pain points and goals. Whether it is adjusting the service offering or changing the language to match the client's industry terminology, these adjustments can be made swiftly within the proposal management platform.

Furthermore, the data-driven insights provided by such software can guide small businesses in optimizing their proposals over time. By tracking which customizations resonate most with clients, businesses can refine their approach to maximize conversion rates.

Monitoring Proposal Performance and Improving Sales Strategies

Four employees reviewing information and data on proposal management software

A critical yet often overlooked benefit of proposal management solutions is its capacity for analytics and reporting. The ability to monitor proposal performance in real time enables small businesses to make informed decisions based on actionable data. Sales teams can quickly ascertain which parts of the proposal are engaging clients and which aspects may require adjustments for better performance.

This granular level of insight extends to understanding client behavior, such as how much time they spend on each section of the proposal. Such analytics can indicate which services are of most interest or which pricing models might be the most compelling.

With detailed reporting functionalities, businesses can also track win-loss ratios and identify patterns in successful proposals. These metrics are invaluable for refining sales strategies and for training new team members in best practices.

Overall, the adoption of proposal management software can yield transformative results for small businesses. By enhancing efficiency, collaboration, personalization, analytics, and security, these tools offer a competitive edge that can accelerate growth and foster sustainable success.

Kore.ai Opens its Enterprise XO Platform to SMBs, Developer Community to Drive Conversational AI Innovation and Adoption

Global CAI leader’s no-code platform now accessible to SMBs and developers with seamless integration in a pay-as-you-go model

Kore.ai, the leader in enterprise conversational AI (CAI) software technology, today announced plans to widen the availability of its solution to companies of all sizes. The goal of the expansion is to empower small and medium businesses (SMBs), startups, entrepreneurs and the broader developer community by offering the platform’s do-it-yourself (DIY) functionalities for driving AI adoption.

As global enterprises continue their digital transformation journeys, enriching the customer, employee, and agent experience has become critical. With this initiative, developers and businesses around the world can now access Kore.ai’s enterprise-grade platform and self-service options without a big initial investment to build next-gen, AI-powered solutions for perpetual use (with predefined number of bot sessions). As the sessions quantitatively increase, the program is progressively priced. This will benefit millions of citizen developers and bot enthusiasts who can now configure virtual assistants, process assistants, and conversational digital and voice assistants on the platform with no coding.

“Kore.ai’s world-class platform technology, which is typically used by our large enterprise clients, is now accessible to everyone who wishes to explore the power of conversational AI. We are spurring innovation by empowering entrepreneurs who have bright ideas and want to test their proof-of-concepts,” said Raj Koneru, CEO and Founder of Kore.ai. “As we look to democratize access to Kore.ai’s sophisticated conversational AI-enabled solutions, it will allow even more companies to innovate and scale at their own pace.”

Kore.ai’s secure and scalable no-code platform, known as the Kore.ai Experience Optimization (XO) Platform, enables businesses to design, build, test and deploy sophisticated conversational virtual assistants and process apps with minimal technical know-how or support. This innovative approach reduces an organization’s reliance on skilled technical experts, accelerates implementation and improves efficiency.

"I am always keen to follow new tech innovations and learn about new technologies. I found the Kore.ai XO platform easy to follow and build intelligent solutions quickly,” said B2B tech influencer, Evan Kirstel. “The platform offers sophisticated AI capabilities such as NLP, diagration handling, and sentiment management. I liked their focus on conversation designer tools and auto dialog generation capability as it is helpful to business or non-technical users to build intelligent chatbots and maintain them easily. I see a great potential with the XO platform to automate a wide range of CX and EX use cases."

With built-in cutting-edge features, explainable AI, and a development forum, the platform fosters developer evangelism and democratizes CAI technology by offering the same enterprise-grade features that Fortune 2000 customers enjoy, to every individual or business in a pay-as-you-go model. Kore.ai has also formalized the learning process by offering certification through Kore.ai Academy, and a library of rich templates for new developers to learn things faster and accelerate their IVA development journey.

“Considering the pace at which virtual assistants and voice bots are being deployed, most applications that a consumer or an employee uses will, very soon, become conversational,” Koneru added. “We want to accelerate conversational AI’s adoption as the foundation for experience delivery across the board in all applications, even more so in the era of Metaverse and Omniverse where physical and virtual worlds will converge.”

Globally, more than 200 Fortune 2000 companies currently leverage the XO platform for delivering optimized experiences for over 100 million enterprise consumers and employees. Recently, Kore.ai was named the category leader in the first-ever Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Conversational AI Platforms (CAIP), and is looking to consolidate its market penetration by recruiting more channel partners across North America, EMEA, Latin America and Asia Pacific.

“We’re seeing strong demand for conversational AI across industries,” said Prasanna Kumar Arikala, CTO at Kore.ai. “Skills that involve AI technologies combined with the ability to solve real world problems using automatic code generating/low-code frameworks will be much appreciated in the coming days. Individuals looking to ride this wave of innovation and advance their career prospects should consider the Kore.ai XO platform for training, certifications, and build innovative solutions.”

About Kore.ai

Kore.ai is a global leader in enterprise conversational AI platforms and solutions helping enterprises automate voice and digital interactions to deliver extraordinary experiences for their customers, contact center agents and employees worldwide. More than 200 Fortune 2000 companies trust Kore.ai’s experience optimization (XO) platform and industry solutions to automate conversations and deliver extraordinary outcomes for over 100 million users worldwide. Kore.ai is recognized as an enterprise conversational AI platform market leader by top analysts. 

The company is headquartered in Orlando, Florida with offices in India, the UK, Japan, South Korea, Europe, and the Middle East. Visit kore.ai to learn more.

SIDBI and ONDC Ink MoU to Accelerate E-Commerce for Small Industries

SIDBI and ONDC ink MoU to accelerate E-Commerce for Small Industries

Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) in partnership with the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) is aiming to democratise and accelerate the participation of MSMEs.

ONDC, a first-of-its-kind initiative to democratize the country's e-commerce ecosystem has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with SIDBI, the principal financial institution set up under an Act of Parliament for promotion, financing and development of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector and for coordination of functions of institutions engaged in similar activities. The partnership is aimed to change the landscape of MSMEs by bringing them into the ONDC network and accelerating their participation in e-commerce.

SIDBI and ONDC ink MoU to accelerate E-Commerce for Small Industries

The association between ONDC and SIDBI will establish a programmatic approach for MSMEs where sessions will be held first to educate them about ONDC, then masterclass sessions on ONDC protocol and MVP definition, followed by incentivised accelerator programs and finishing with participants and their ecosystems going live and being able to transact

The MoU, signed by Shri Sivasubramanian Ramann, CMD, SIDBI and Shri T Koshy, MD&CEO, ONDC, provides for several collaborative efforts by SIDBI and ONDC in helping MSMEs access open network e-commerce platform proposed by ONDC

T. Koshy, MD & CEO, ONDC, said, “We are building a network of networks and through this MoU, we will connect the SIDBI network with ONDC, which will revolutionize the ecosystem of small industries. This initiative will be a driving force to initiate the participation of the small industries across the country onto e-commerce on a larger scale and enable their growth.

S.Ramann, CMD, SIDBI, said “ SIDBI is very keen to ensure success of this important national initiative and it will leverage its strong relationships with all major MSME industrial clusters in the country starting with Morbi, Coimbatore and Ludhiana for engagement with ONDC. SIDBI will also facilitate engagement of ONDC with its network of partner grassroots agencies, inter-alia, working for market access to informal enterprises. Three partners being introduced to ONDC are Annapurna Finance Pvt. Ltd, Access Livelihoods Group and the women co-operative ‘Looms of Ladakh’. SIDBI will also use its strong presence in fintech ecosystem to explore e commerce embedded financing solutions.

About ONDC

Incorporated on 31st December 2021, Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), a Section 8 company is an initiative of the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce, Government of India build envisioned to create a facilitative model to revolutionize digital commerce, giving greater thrust to penetration of retail e-commerce in India. ONDC is not an application, platform, intermediary, or software, but a set of specifications designed to foster open, unbundled, and interoperable open networks thereby eliminating the dependency on a single platform.

Major ONDC objectives are as follows:

1. Democratisation and decentralization of eCommerce
2. Inclusivity and access for sellers, especially small and medium enterprises as well as local businesses
3. Increased choices and independency for consumers

How Digital Lending Platforms Are Helping Small Businesses Manage Their Cash Flow Challenge?

This content is authored by Mr. Praveen Paulose, MD & CEO of Celusion Technologies 

Micro-entrepreneurs often face challenges to their cash flow when starting and operating their businesses. A multitude of factors might lead to cash flow problems, including poor expenditure management to promote expansion without adequate funding. However, in response to these obstacles, digital lending platforms have created digital tools and technology that can aid in identifying, regulating, and forecasting cash flows, making it simpler to overcome the hurdles.

In financial services, many of these solutions are developed using disruptive technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and Deep Learning that enable firms to collect rich data sets about their customers, identify consumption patterns, and even remove human involvement where possible. Hence, the MSME lending landscape is transforming as the small business owners embark on a new phase of growth that encompasses effectiveness, transparency, and accessibility, due to the integration of finance and technology, resulting in greater expectations and higher customer satisfaction.

Here are the five ways digital lending platforms are redefining the ways small business owners manage cash flow challenges:

1. Business lending made simpler

Small businesses are often overlooked by traditional lenders because their loan amounts are considered insufficient and their earnings are regarded as unstable, thus posing a risk. Digital lending platforms are making it easier for SMEs to sidestep conventional loan-obtaining techniques and expand their businesses faster due to easier and simpler business lending.‍ For example, in Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending, borrowers are directly connected with prospective lenders. Cutting-edge technology has made the application process quicker, faster, and more efficient, encouraging more business owners to use finance to expand or infuse working capital into their operations.

2. Tools for effective account management

With the advent of digital lending platforms, MSMEs/SMEs now have access to a wide range of affordable management tools for everything from client profiles to accounts that used to be expensive in the past. They can track their cash flow in real-time while also ensuring the smooth functioning of their business with the help of online accounting solutions. These accounting solutions, for example, come with business credit integrations that automatically pay off the loan, line of credit, or credit card with cash from customer receipts without requiring human intervention. The digital lending platforms offer expenditure and invoicing tools, allowing business owners to concentrate on development and growth rather than minor concerns, thus helping the business function more smoothly.

3. Transparency in funds transfer

In recent years, the widespread reach of the internet and mobile devices has resulted in digital lending platforms creating digital banking solutions that reduce the costs of fund transfers and the need for currency notes for any transaction. As a result, the financial system has become more transparent and less prone to tax avoidance or other unethical practices, resulting in a competitive and robust business ecosystem.

4. Security

Data breaches pose a major challenge in any business and are not entirely avoidable. Small businesses often lack the resources and know-how to secure their data - and that of their customers, suppliers, and contacts. However, the availability of digital financing platforms has made cyber security an affordable alternative that assists businesses in enhancing their security measures, due to the availability of many software packages, for example, multi-factor authentication, e-signatures, etc. In addition to ensuring privacy and cyber security requirements are met, digital lending platforms also provide accessibility and timely assistance.

5. Digital invoicing

Since payments are an integral part of any business, digital lending platforms assist small businesses in reducing cash flow challenges by automating payments. The convenience of digital invoicing for small businesses allows them to add their signature effortlessly, send instantly, and receive payments almost instantaneously. By eliminating human interactions, leveraging technology reduces the need for money, and by reducing cash outlays, cash flow improves.

Each of these elements has aided in the growth of digital lending and enabled it to provide financial goods to sectors that were previously unable to access conventional banking products. In turn, digital lending platforms enabled small and medium businesses and startups to create, innovate, evolve, and expand, changing the business landscape worldwide. A plethora of promising regulatory steps has also been implemented, with regulatory agencies legitimizing the video-based customer identification procedure for verifying new clients and permitting onboarding via video KYC verification. A shift to digital lending through the use of innovative technology has the potential to revolutionize the lending industry, making cash flow smooth and efficient, thus positively impacting millions of lives.

Ecom Express Launches Self Sign-up Portal 'E-Zippie' for Small Businesses

Provides simple, easy-to-navigate, mobile responsive user experience to micro entrepreneurs, small business owners, sole-proprietors and home-preneurs for setting up shipping services in less than 30 minutes.

Gurugram, August 02, 2021: Ecom Express, a leading technology enabled end-to-end logistics solutions provider for the e-commerce industry, today announced the launch of its self sign-up portal called ‘E-zippie’. The portal is for micro-entrepreneurs, small business owners, sole-proprietors and home-preneurs, to quickly, conveniently, and securely sign-up for a one-stop-shop for logistics services in less than 30 minutes, a new benchmark for the industry. This move is aimed to simplify the customer onboarding process with the company by enhancing user experience and provide more flexibility in terms of service plan and price selection.

By leveraging the latest banking and identity verification APIs to reduce manual back-end processes and paperwork, the self sign-up portal makes it possible for online businesses to register and start shipping orders instantly. The portal is highly secured by strong authentication protocols and sophisticated access controls.

Commenting on the announcement, T. A. Krishnan, Co-founder and CEO, Ecom Express, said “India has approximately 6.3 crore* small and medium businesses and with the pandemic, the numbers of businesses are increasing every day. Logistics plays a significant role in the growth of these businesses, and we wanted to offer both our digital and logistics capabilities to support them. With ‘E-zippie’, we can fast-track registration to less than 30 minutes against a 10 to 12 days process taken by most players in the market. The self sign-up portal is a major milestone in our effort to provide an automated and seamless experience for online businesses right from onboarding to fulfilling all their shipping requirements. We will continue to enhance customer experience by making logistics simpler and convenient for small and micro businesses, by providing direct control on their shipments and flexibility in managing end-to-end shipment life cycle. Our aim is to help them expand their market access to 27000+ PIN codes, diversify their customer base, and solidify their supply chain through Ecom Express."

Ecom Express has leveraged various technologies while building the back end to make the portal seamless and convenient for use. The portal is mobile responsive through which sellers can submit requests at their convenience and which is then funneled directly to the right department that handles the request without any manual intervention or re-keying of information. Once the seller is onboarded, they will get direct control over their shipments to manage distribution through a dedicated state-of-the-art dashboard and customer support to get real-time status and closure on their shipments.

The self-service functionality available through self-sign-up will make a positive impact and the company estimate that the portal will enhance around 100% more sign-ups from online sellers and businesses.

*Source: https://www.ibef.org/industry/msme.aspx

Ecom Express Private Limited is a leading end-to-end technology enabled logistics solutions provider to the Indian e-commerce industry. Headquartered in Gurugram, Ecom Express was incorporated in 2012 by T.A. Krishnan, Manju Dhawan, K. Satyanarayana and Late. Sanjeev Saxena with their 100+ years of cumulative experience in the Indian logistics and distribution industry. Ecom Express has its presence in all 29 states of the country and operates in over 2650 towns across 27,000+ PIN-codes in India. The company is the first private logistics company in India to envision a full-state coverage strategy, offered in 25 states, including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. Through this deep reach strategy, the company has a capability to deliver to over 1.2 billion people.

China's MYbank Providing RMB 400 Bn of Collateral-Free Credit to Small and Micro Businesses

MYbank, a leading online private commercial bank in China with a focus on serving small and micro businesses, today announced a program to provide RMB 400 billion of collateral-free credit to businesses in need as they gear up for this year’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival.

Leveraging Ant Group's technologies, MYbank has pioneered the “310 model” that enables SMEs to apply for collateral-free business loans that take less than three minutes to apply for on a mobile phone, less than one second to approve, and requires zero human intervention. (Photo: Business Wire)

As part of the dedicated program, MYbank is offering a total of RMB 200 billion in short-term loans to help small and micro business owners overcome the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This enables business owners, particularly smaller vendors with more immediate capital needs, to receive payments in full once buyers place their pre-orders, in turn shortening the payment cycle and turnover by up to about 20 days.

“For many SMEs across China, the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival this year has added significance and presents an important opportunity to strengthen business continuity and growth,” said Mr. Jin Xiaolong, President of MYbank. “We are dedicated to supporting them at this critical time and to alleviate turnover pressure by extending our collateral-free financing offer to businesses that have received pre-sale orders.”

The financing service, in line with MYbank’s commitment to supporting the sustainable growth of SMEs, is made available to merchants ahead of the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival. Many consider the event to be their single biggest growth driver of the year.

Established in 2015, MYbank is one of the leading private online commercial banks in China focused on serving SMEs and farmers. It was the first bank in China to establish its core banking system entirely on the cloud without any physical branches. Leveraging Ant Group’s AI, computing and risk management technologies, MYbank also pioneered the “310 model” for SME financing, which offers collateral-free business loans that take less than three minutes to apply for on a mobile phone, less than one second to approve, and requires zero human intervention.

SMEs in China supported by the “310 model” have shown resilience during the Covid-19 pandemic, with 98% of them repaying their loans on time as of June 2020.

According to data from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), SMEs account for over 90% of business entities in China and contribute to 80% of urban employment and 60% of Chinese GDP. As of June 2020, MYbank and its partners have served 29 million SMEs in China, including street vendors. Their average loan size is RMB 36,000 (approximately USD$5,000).