Capital Float, the largest digital lending platform in India, has partnered with Payworld to provide kirana (grocery) store owners with convenient financing options, enabling them to expand business operations. Small retailers are often underserved by traditional financial institutions because of their limited credit history. These retailers can now avail hassle-free working capital from Capital Float, which will help them manage inventory and cash flows with added scalability.

There are more than 12 million small retailers in India. Many of these businessmen put decision-making on hold because of traditional credit barriers. Through this partnership, Capital Float will provide small retailers with collateral-free loans, which will help to exponentially increase their capacity to do business on the Payworld platform. Once the loan is approved, the retailer can request for funds using the Capital Float mobile app and the funds are disbursed within 10 minutes.

“Due to the lack of established lending norms and consequent delay in financing activity, existing and new players in the retail space have lesser access to credit, which affects their growth and expansion plans”, said Gaurav Hinduja, Co-Founder, Capital Float.

“With Payworld, we have simplified the lending process so that neighbourhood kirana stores are able to fulfill their financial needs and better service their customers”, he added.

With India becoming digital, Payworld helps customers in remote locations with limited access to electronic payment methods, perform daily transactions like booking bus tickets or paying mobile bills via Payworld’s network of retail points, which includes kirana stores. A proprietary algorithm developed by Capital Float uses non-traditional, surrogate data sources, including each retailer’s performance on the Payworld platform, to build a personalized credit profile and provide customized finance options to the retailer. In the long term, this will also develop an official credit profile for these retailers, thereby increasing their chances of availing credit products from traditional financiers.

“In keeping with our business philosophy of ‘Making Life Simple’, we have partnered with Capital Float to provide the retailers in our network the support they require to boost their business. This is critical in building retailer loyalty to our platform, giving them the confidence to increase the number of transactions, positively impacting revenues for them and us”, said Praveen Dhabhai, COO, Payworld.