ICICI Bank ties up with Alibaba to provide easy finance to SMEs

In order to tap into the booming e-commerce market in India, ICICI Bank, the country’s largest private sector lender, has tied up with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba to provide easier trade finance to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country.

With this collaboration, Indian entrepreneurs who are members of Alibaba.com will get quick access to business services from ICICI Bank, including business loans, cash management solutions, foreign exchange transactions, bank guarantees and cross-border remittances, in addition to privileges and discounts.

“We will offer to the members of Alibaba.com special propositions across our entire spectrum of business services ranging from accounts, letter of credit, bank guarantees, remittances, forex, loans and cash management solutions. We believe this access to quick and integrated banking will enable Indian entrepreneurs to propel their business on the global platform,” said Rajiv Sabharwal, executive director, ICICI Bank.

On the other hand, Alibaba.com’s members in India will enjoy better rates and discounts on the bank’s products and services.

Last month, State Bank of India (SBI) had tied up with Snapdeal to roll out a capital assistance programme for sellers using the online retailer’s platform and also with PayPal to help in international trade. Apart from this, SBI had also signed a memorandum of understanding with Amazon to develop a payment solution for customers and sellers.

As per a report, PwC has said that the e-commerce market in India will touch $22 billion by the end of 2015. With this in view, banks are clearly seeing lending to SMEs in the online space as a growing opportunity.