Paytm partners with Shriram Finance to strengthen its loan distribution biz

One97 Communications Ltd, the parent company of Paytm, on Friday, entered into a strategic partnership with retail non-banking finance major Shriram Finance to offer financial services to its users, including loan products.

Now, Shriram Finance products will be available on Paytm's platform, through which the digital platform will be expanding its credit services and also drive financial inclusion. With this partnership, the two brands are coming together to augment digital financial services including the distribution of credit.

“India is witnessing high growth in retail credit demand, it is only likely to increase with greater participation from rural and semi-urban India. A lot of this demand will come from the digitally literate, young generation brought up in the mobile telephone proliferation era and those having comfort in having all their transactions through handheld devices. To take advantage of this opportunity while staying true to our ethos of serving the unserved and underserved, and vision of becoming the most preferred financial services destination, Shriram Finance has collaborated with the pioneer of mobile payments, Paytm, across the country,” said Umesh Revankar, Executive Vice Chairman, Shriram Finance.

This strategic partnership combines Paytm’s wide reach and technology infrastructure with Shriram Finance’s lending expertise as the largest retail NBFC in India. Powered by Paytm’s fintech leadership as a loan service provider (LSP) focussed on compliance and quality of loans, this partnership will integrate Shriram Finance wide geographical presence across the country, especially rural areas, the company said.

 “Our commitment to expand credit distribution gets further boost with our new strategic partner Shriram Finance. We are happy that together we will be able to create credit offerings to serve small merchant partners and entrepreneurs of India,” said Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and CEO, Paytm.

With Assets under management of Rs 1,85,683 Crore, 2,922 branches and employee strength of 64,052, Shriram Finance is the largest retail NBFC in India. Shriram Finance caters to 7 million customers across India, driven by the self-employed ecosystem in India.

Paytm is a leading platform for loan disbursals and collection that leverages the payment ecosystem to facilitate its lending partners to distribute loans and collect the same. With a merchant network of more than 34 million and average monthly transacting users (MTU) of 92 million, the company offers Shriram Finance access to a wider user base to distribute its comprehensive range of products.

“Through digital distribution of credit, we are deepening access to financial services with our wide range of loan products distributed in partnership with marquee lenders. We are happy to onboard Shriram Finance as our latest marquee partner, as we continue to drive growth momentum in the credit distribution business while remaining focussed on digital lending compliance and quality of loans. With Shriram Finance’s strong presence, especially in Southern India, we aim to boost access to credit by empowering users across the country with simplified loans distribution,” said Bhavesh Gupta, President and COO, Paytm.