Invest for India

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic uncertainity has caused a paradigm shift in many belief and ethos. The once trending “Economic Globalization” has now been replaced by “Atmanirbhar”

The past few decades had seen an increasing integration of economics and societies from all over the world. Advances in transportation, communication and infrastructure made way for a greater cultural, political, technological and most importantly economic exchange. Global economies had become much closer and more intertwined that ever before. But in March 2020, all that changed within days. With travel ceasing, communication limited and physical contact non-existent, it was time to rethink the new normal.

On May 12, 2020 PM Modi addressed the nation, advocated self-reliance and announced the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. From May 13 to 17, 2020, the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made announcements on the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan stimulus package with respect to five major backbones of Indian economy – Small businesses, poor including migrants and farmers, agriculture, growth enablers & infrastructure development and reforms that will boost measures for ease of doing business.

By no means does the package or for that matter PM Modi’s Atma Nirbhar Bharat Initiative claims that India needs to digress from its global path. However, while extolling India’s kinship to the rest of the world, he emphasizes the need to look inwards, to become more self-reliant. To become more local. On 15th August, he took this one step forward, when he pitched not only for “Made in India” but also for “Make for World”

P2P lending has always focused on helping the local, small businessmen. Our borrowers include the unbanked kirana wala who did business worth lakhs every month but was unable to prove his credit worthiness to banks. Or the underbanked Chemist who could access credit from traditional sources only at very high cost. Or even the business owner with his small manufacturing unit in a SEZ, who was able to apply for P2P loan online and access quick and cheap credit even during the lockdown when no bank was willing to visit him. Even during lockdown, we used deep bureau-based profiling and tech-driven analytics-based assessment methodology to evaluate the credit worthiness of individuals and businesses ensuring credit reached the last mile.

To be self-reliant, we need to boost our local businesses, provide credit support to these hardy entrepreneurs to help them kickstart their businesses and take on the world. A staggering 95% of all industrial units in India can be categorized as small or medium and they employ almost 40% of total workforce, next only to agriculture. When you support a local business, you don’t just help the owner make profits, but you also support his employees and their families. 

P2P lending by unlocking alternative credit supply from individuals with funds locked in low yield investments, provide each Indian a chance to participate in the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. Every Indian with surplus funds can invest in these builders of an Atmanirbhar India by becoming a P2P lender while building a portfolio that includes this new-age asset class.

If anything, 2020 has opened our eyes to the fact that the new world order will not be measured by how quickly we can cover the distance between India and the West but how quickly can we help the business next door. Become Vocal for Local. Invest in India for India.