SBI says Aye once again, extends over Rs 30 Cr in debt to MSME lender

Leading fintech lender to the MSMEs, Aye Finance, has raised over Rs. 30 crore from the State Bank of India (SBI), the largest Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) bank in India.

This debt facility will be used by Aye to offer affordable line of credit to the micro enterprises and enable their inclusion into the mainstream of the economy.

This is the second time that the SBI has extended a debt facility to Aye, reaffirming its faith in the lender's ability to transform micro and small scale enterprise financing in India.

"We at Aye are passionate about solving the pain point of micro enterprises by providing them flexible yet affordable loans to fund their businesses. We are grateful to SBI for instilling the faith in us second time around and offering us a debt facility which will allow us to empower a larger number of such enterprises," said Sanjay Sharma, Managing Director, Aye Finance.

"Having successfully integrated fin-tech with fin-touch we are reaching out to the five crore unorganised micro enterprises, and these additional funds will help us further in increasing our reach and bringing the "missing middle" into the folds of organised lending," he added.

Aye is equity funded by three marque investors - Accion, SAIF Partners and LGT, and is in advanced talks with investors to raise additional USD 20 - 25million by the end of the current quarter.

Along with SBI as its debt partner, Aye has over a dozen prominent names in the global as well as Indian financial circles which have extended the lender debt facility for onward lending.

Aye has over 1000 employees and has established a network of 72 branches in 10 Indian states to hand hold the borrowers through the pre and post loan process.

It is setting new standards in building a quality loans portfolio in an inclusive manner and is well on its way of achieving its vision of being the most admired and a leader in the micro and small business lending space.