Lending startup ftcash gets NBFC licence

Lending startup ftcash on Tuesday said it has received licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to set up a non-banking financial company.

ftcash aims to disburse loans worth Rs 100 crore in the current fiscal, according to a release.

The Mumbai-based firm uses proprietary algorithm to analyse creditworthiness of the borrowers. It caters to underserved SMEs (Small and Micro Enterprises), including retailers, pharmacies, garment stores, automobile shops and mom-and-pop stores.

Founded by Sanjeev Chandak, Deepak Kothari and Vaibhav Lodha in 2015, the company has partnerships with Northern Arc, Ugro and Ambit to offer credit to customers.

"We have over 60,000 merchants in our network currently and have disbursed over Rs 600 crore worth of loans till now. We expect the disbursals to grow by three times by 2023," Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Chandak said.

He said nearly 80 per cent of the total MSMEs in India lack access to lending.

"The NBFC licence will allow us to bridge this credit gap while offering loans with minimal documentation along with daily repayment options via PoS (Point of Sale) with equated daily instalments," Chandak said.

Till now, the company said it has raised USD 10.2 million (over Rs 83 crore).