Protean, PayNearby partner for providing credit services on ONDC network

Protean eGov Technologies and fintech platform PayNearby have collaborated for providing credit services on the ONDC network for last-mile borrowers and MSMEs.

Once launched, the marketplace will also allow for easy discovery of various lending products at affordable pricing, according to a statement.

"In this partnership, Protean will serve as an ONDC technology service provider that facilitates availability of credit for last-mile borrowers across the country through PayNearby's well entrenched Distribution as a Service (DaaS) network," it said.

Speaking to PTI, Protean eGov Managing Director and CEO Suresh Sethi said there are several people who are not digitally enabled to even get into the account aggregator framework and get credit against their data, or consent for it to be used.

"We are looking at this as a sort of intervention which can leverage the physical network provided by PayNearby and the last mile agent can then provide an assisted service and onboarding people to be part of the account aggregator framework, and get credit against their data information," Sethi said.

Protean will be an ONDC technology service provider in the partnership through PayNearby's Distribution as a Service (DaaS) network through over 12 lakh active PayNearby outlets.

PayNearby Managing Director and CEO Anand Kumar Bajaj said that up until now, banks have abstained from lending to small enterprises for small amounts.

"With the account aggregator framework, small shopkeepers will be able to link their bank account or financial information on the platform. This small bank will, in turn, be able to submit the data to the lender. And the lender will be able to apply rule engines to give loans as low as Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000," Bajaj said.

Sethi said discovery is one of the biggest challenges in this journey.

"There are various services out there in the ecosystem, and at times you are just not able to discover them whether it is a buyer or seller equation. The second aspect is digitally verified information against which the lender can take a decision and extend a loan," he said.

Protean will also aggregate Loan Service Providers (LSPs) onto a single platform, Sethi added.

In the past, PayNearby and Protean partnered for paperless PAN Card services at nearby stores across India.