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National Small Industries Corporation Ltd (NSIC) has inked an agreement with online financial assistance marketplace Rubique to render integrated support to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
The recently signed MoU will link Rubique to 33 public and private sector banks and financial institutions (FIs) that have tie-ups with NSIC.
While Rubique has already partnered with more than 60 FIs, the online interface (to be launched shortly) born out of this agreement will help match more lenders to borrowers.
This is expected to reduce the unpredictability that has so far challenged MSME financial aid applicants.
Manavjeet Singh, founder and CEO, Rubique, said: “Everything is linked to the risk appetite of a financial institution and not all of them deal in the same products. We believe that for every borrower, there’s a lender somewhere.”
Loans on offer to MSMEs may be unsecured or secured, and be of sizes ranging from ₹1 lakh to a ₹1 crore. Singh, who started Rubique in October 2014, explained that while retail products are ‘templated’, there’s some subjectivity involved in assessing SME borrowers.
“The rejection ratio is very high. MSMEs are also often unaware of which financial institution to approach or even how much assistance they are likely to get. We’re creating a neutral marketplace where the borrower and lender can discover each other,” he said.
The co-branded website to be launched shortly with Rubique will help NSIC, a Miniratna enterprise under the Ministry of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises, further align its efforts under the Digital India initiative.
Said Ravindra Nath, Chairman and Managing Director, NSIC: “We strongly believe that our partnership with Rubique will be to the advantage of MSMEs. It will be a service, and we won’t be charging MSMEs anything…it will help us improve the competitiveness of MSMEs in the country.”
Value to lendersFinancial institutions too are likely to benefit from all the deal, the players said. Rubique’s platform minimises turnaround time by listing all deals and criteria for loans and credit, the company said. Lead sourcing has also been traditionally cost-heavy for banks — Rubique’s end-to-end fulfilment model even helps complete documentation faster.
Its algorithms reportedly carry out a first level qualification check of borrower applications.
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