Axis Bank to offer small ticket unsecured loans jointly with Suvidhaa

Axis Bank and payments company Suvidhaa Infoserv, today launched 'Nano Credit' to offer pre-approved, instant and unsecured loans for the urban low income segment. The maximum loan amount is Rs 15,000 and is available to existing customers of Suvidhaa at 22,000 locations across the country.

A customer who utilises Suvidhaa's remittance or bill payment facilities can avail himself of loans up to Rs 15,000 with no paperwork within a few hours. This is possible because the customer's details such as address proof, etc are already captured in Suvidhaa's database and e-KYC is done using Aadhaar number.

"This initiative brings together mobile, Aadhaar and Big Data,'' says Rajiv Anand, Executive Director, Axis Bank.

The loan is disbursed in the form of a pre-paid card, which can be used at ATMs or point-of-sales. The interest rate is 14 per cent onwards and repayment term is 18 months. Axis Bank is also offering overdraft facility where the repayment is one year.

Customers who have been transacting with Suvidhaa for one year are considered for the loan. The data available with Suvidhaa gives an indication of the customer's cash flow, said Paresh Rajde, Founder of Suvidhaa Infoserve.

In addition, Axis Bank makes an enquiry with a credit information company for all the loans. But in most cases these customers have no previous credit record. So, the bank uses its internal score card mechanism, for approving the loan, said Jagdeep Mallareddy, Head, Retail Lending, Axis Bank.

Nano Credit will be launched in Surat, Pune and Delhi during this financial year.