mjunction to boost Tata's steel sales to MSMEs

The mjunction services limited, a B2B e-commerce company, has launched in association with the Tata Steel a working capital finance programme for the MSME sector for buying steel.

The programme christened 'URJA' will provide unsecured finance to buyers purchasing material from Tata Steels distributors, mjunction CEO Vinaya Varma told PTI.

"We'll be serving a category of MSMEs buying primary steel which accounts for Rs 1200 crore market. The platform will allow an MSME to buy steel from a distributor without cash which was not possible in the traditional method," Varma said.

"The financing will not be done by the Tata Steel. The platform has financers which will finance for the Tata Steel product bought," he said.

The Tata Capital, the Hero FinCorp and Axis Bank are already on the platform and talks are on to bring the Aditya Birla Finance, mjunction officials said.

"This digitally enabled platform solution will connect emerging corporate accounts to potential lenders. I believe the initiative has the potential to set a new norm for steel consuming segments. We expect to touch over 600 customers through this initiative within a years time," Tata Steel chief of marketing & sales Sanjay Sahni said.

The mjunction officials said financing would be done to pre-approved consumers and distributors. The need surfaced after it was found MSMEs were seeking products in credit while the steel distributors were unable to meet their demand.

"mjunctions e-finance platform that provides onboarding, transacting, monitoring and reporting services will be well leveraged to make this programme a success," Varma said.