Paytm ramps up instant loans for MSMEs, self employed; partners with Clix

Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s Paytm has ramped up its loans operations and has partnered with Clix Finance India Pvt. Ltd. to provide loans to MSMEs and self-employed people, it announced in a statement on Tuesday. Clix, a digital lending NBFC, and Paytm will now offer instant digital loans to both the customers and merchants of Paytm. The company targets “new-to-credit, self-employed, small and micro enterprises and small borrowers,” who are largely underserved and face difficulties to get loans, the digital commerce company said. The One97 Communication Ltd company will use proprietary machine learning models developed by Paytm and Clix, for the same. Paytm already has a partnership with Tata Capital and Indifi, two other NBFCs.

Paytm said that it will offer “Deferred Payment or Post-paid” and “Merchant Lines” amongst other products to its customers and merchants. Both Paytm and Clix are expected to launch several other new products over the next few months to meet consumer demands, Announcing the partnership, Nitin Misra, Senior Vice President, Paytm said that the company has already seen an overwhelming response to Paytm Postpaid & Merchant lending products.

Meanwhile, Paytm’s e-commerce arm Paytm Mall announced its collaboration with American multinational e-commerce company eBay. eBay has acquired 5.5% share in Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s Paytm Mall in a move that is expected to create a strong foothold in the domestic e-commerce market for eBay. eBay has already ventured and failed twice to get a significant share in the Indian e-commerce market.

However, with the recent collaboration, Paytm Mall customers will be able to shop for products available on eBay. “This will make eBay inventory accessible to tens of millions of Paytm Mall active customers in India,” Paytm Mall announced in a statement. Paytm Mall, a subsidiary of the largest Indian e-commerce platform, plans to sell millions of products from eBay inventory via its digital platform. Neither of the companies has divulged the details of the deal.

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