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Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) have played a major role in the lending sector, especially in widening financial inclusivity. MSMEs in rural areas still do not have easy access to formal credit owing to less availability of banks and eligibility norms. Moreover, the loan application processes are lengthy and time-taking.
NBFCs revolutionised the lending system by addressing the unserved and underserved areas and fulfilling the diverse financial needs of people. They became an ally to the commercial banks to provide last-mile loans, using their own reach and network.
Although NBFCs had a large target audience and a customer-centric approach, they lacked access to cheap funds to lend to customers. This led to the origination of on-lending and co-lending models of loan disbursals as well as Lending Service Providers (LSPs).
With the digitization of payments, digital lending and co-lending segments have also witnessed exponential growth. In India, digital lending is expected to grow 5x and become a $1.3 Tn market by 2030.
The credit also goes to high fintech adoption for bringing this rapid change. As NBFCs are also digitising their operations, the partnerships with fintechs and co-lending should gain momentum in 2023.
As the NBFCs also took the digital route to acquire customers, disburse loans and collect repayments, they faced some challenges.
They looked for scalable solutions for processing loan disbursals, loan repayments and KYC verification of the customers. Simultaneously, they wanted to be compliant with the new norms of the Digital Lending Guidelines (DGL) by the Reserve Bank of India.
So, Cashfree Payments, as a front-runner in the API Banking & Payments space, strived to offer a solution to the NBFCs at this critical juncture.
Cashfree Payments’s Complete Lending Stack for NBFCs for On-Lending, Co-Lending and Partner LSPs
We have rolled out a disbursement and collections solution to ensure continuity and growth for our merchants. We facilitate both digital lending and co-lending while keeping compliance at the centre stage.
Cashfree Payments’s full lending solutions for NBFCs will facilitate the creation of lender escrow accounts, seamless loan disbursements direct to borrowers, managing multiple LSP partnerships and efficient reconciliation. It will also enhance the verification of bank accounts and borrower identities.
Cashfree Payments also enables repayments through e-NACH and UPI AutoPay in compliance with the guidelines.
Key Challenges faced By NBFCs
The Reserve bank of India (RBI) allowed commercial banks and big-ticket NBFCs to lend to smaller size NBFCs which can then offer loans to customers. Thus, the on-lending model allows NBFCs to provide loans through borrowed money.
Alternatively, the NBFCs can lend loans jointly with the other NBFCs or banks, known as co-lending by the NBFCs. Likewise, NBFCs can partner with other Lending Service Providers to lend loans.
However, loans disbursed via any of the three lending models put forth some blockades for the NBFCs that Cashfree Payments endeavoured to solve.
Let’s discuss this in detail!
On-Lending by NBFCs
The key challenge faced by lending NBFCs is to ensure that the loan amount is used for the intended purpose by the borrowing NBFCs. The lenders do not have visibility & control over the usage of the funds by the borrowers.
The borrowing NBFCs often misuse the on-lending proceeds. They use the borrowed funds for operating expenses instead of disbursing the loan to customers. It results in under collateralization of security cover by the lending NBFCs.
Thus, the NBFCs wanted a solution for watertight management of on-lending to other NBFCs. Cashfree Payments’s solution stack provides a solution that integrates disbursal & collection accounts on a single platform! Northern Arc, one of India’s leading NBFCs uses Cashfree Payments’ solution to disburse loans.
Co-Lending by NBFCs
In the co-lending model, two or more NBFCs come together to lend loans to customers in collaboration. They co-lend the loan, in a ratio agreed upon by both parties.
NBFC-NBFC co-lending is on the rise where an originator NBFC typically acquires the customer and co-leads along with multiple partner NBFCs. However, managing disbursals and repayments for multiple co-lending use cases becomes a key challenge here.
The loan disbursal & repayment journey has to be uniform while creating & managing multiple disbursal & repayment accounts. The management of multiple lending partners becomes a challenge from a recon, accounting perspective for disbursal & repayment.
Cashfree Payments offers a solution for launching and managing this co-lending journey with a one-stop solution for co-lending payments through APIs & Dashboard. Our lending solution provides a managed escrow setup with:
- Complete API control for the originator NBFC,
- Seamless access & reports for partner NBFCs.
NBFC-LSP Lending Disbursement
In the Digital Lending Guidelines, the RBI has mandated that all fund-flows related to loan disbursals and their repayments must occur directly between the bank accounts of the lender and the borrower. There should not be any passing through or pooling of funds by any third party.
So, in the case of NBFC-LSP lending disbursement, LSP cannot pool any funds. The loan disbursement and the repayment has to happen between the lender and the borrower, that is, the NBFC and the customer.
The key challenge is to support various lending models where LSP is originating & managing the customer journey on the disbursal end. Moreover, NBFCs have to ensure compliance with DLG.
Therefore, NBFC might need to end up managing multiple current/escrow accounts to support all their partner LSPs – to avoid compliance, recon & accounting challenges.
Cashfree Payments’s Digital Lending Solution enables NBFCs to manage multiple LSP disbursements & repayment through a single account and dashboard. Now you can onboard and manage all your LSPs with a single current/escrow account and not different bank accounts for each of them.
Why Cashfree Payments’s Lending Solutions – Features & Benefits
As an NBFC merchant, if you face challenges of recon, accounting & compliance, Cashfree is here for you!
Cashfree Payments’s complete lending stack helps you to overcome these hurdles with its unique features. Be it on-lending, co-lending and lending through LSP partnerships, choose us for these benefits–
On-Lending
- NBFCs can open a dedicated current/escrow account for borrower NBFC or use an existing account with the support of all major banks
- As an NBFC merchant, you can access your borrower NBFCs’ disbursal statement, balance and reconciliation details
- You can set loan ticket size limits as well as have better control by whitelisting end borrowers
- Verify the identity of the end customers of your NBFC borrower using our 360-degree Verification Suite
- You can also control the collection journey with split repayment functionality
Co-Lending
- Managed escrow support for opening multiple co-lending escrow accounts
- API access for disbursement for all co-lending escrows, with Dashboard access for your co-lending partner
- Custom report generation for effective accounting & compliance.*Multiple collection modes with split functionality for seamless loan repayment for co-lending
Lending via LSP Partners
- Open a new escrow/current account or connect your existing account with most leading banks to get started
- Give sub-account access to each LSP with ledger, recon & disbursal access for the LAPS
- Set static or real-time limits at each LSP level, to ensure LSP can only initiate loans within the limit and not the entire amount in the account
- Get automated recon, access & control to manage all your LSPs through a single dashboard
Head over to our solutions page for more details!
NBFCs can make instant loan disbursals directly from their current or escrow accounts with Cashfree Payments’s APIs. Our tailored solutions enable NBFCs and their partner LSPs to have better control over the movement of funds, take action, and minimise risk with real-time updates.
Additionally, our powerful risk engine allows you to detect fraud, set transaction limits, and generate custom reports for deeper analysis.
Interested? Get in touch with our experts to get started!
