India is managing the effects of the global Covid-19 pandemic using unprecedented public health and economic measures. With adverse outcomes looming large on the economy, relief interventions will need to minimise permanent damage to lives and livelihoods. Among the many parts of the economy that require immediate attention and succour, are the micro, small and medium enterprises. The RBI has allowed a moratorium on term loans, eased working capital financing and deferred interest payment on working capital facilities without an asset classification downgrade.
Here are 5 companies that are working to help SMEs and MSMEs to evolve and stay afloat during these times:
Amazon India:
Amazon India has set up a special fund to support delivery service partners and transportation partners associated with the company, and provide financial aid for April. Through the one-time disbursement, the fund will support the partners in multiple ways, including enabling them to provide financial aid to close to 40,000 of their staff for the month of April, Additionally, it will help cover some critical fixed infrastructure costs, and support liquidity as well as cash flow for these businesses as they resume and scale their operations post lockdown.
Tradeindia:
Tradeindia is India’s largest online B2B marketplace, connecting buyers and suppliers. Their mission is to help SMEs go Digital. Now more than ever, company is committed to provide SMEs with the resources they need to take their businesses online. As the shift from offline to online accelerates, during these times companies are being asked to do more with less. Tradeindia client Relations team helps SMEs with tools to digitize their business operations and make your business future-ready.
Crediwatch:
Crediwatch is an information intelligence platform providing big data risk analysis to lenders and corporates, helping them in the process to deploy intelligence while making credit decisions. Our company provides ‘Data Insights-as-a-Service’ to enable lenders, businesses with actionable credit intelligence on private entities to improve trust and increase their lending and trading activity. The impact of COVID-19 across clients and partners alike has highlighted Crediwatch’s ability to deliver seamlessly through their technology platform. Given that the company works on a ‘zero human touch’ model, none of their solutions have been impacted due to remote working environments – helping deliver uninterrupted solutions to our clients. The company has followed standard BCP protocols, keeping in mind info-sec guidelines, to continue work during this challenging time.
Happy:
Happy Loans provides customised loan offerings to micro-enterprise owners to meet their specific demands. It assesses over 1,000 variables about the merchant to underwrite their micro business. Its credit model is based on the merchant’s level of business engagement with the partner, his behaviour towards borrowing, APIs, demographics, and business trends. The ML-based MSME digital Lender has launched a ‘Lockdown Loan’. The digital credit facility is developed to address the working capital woes of Indian microenterprises during the lockdown period. It will provide them capital access of Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000 with bullet repayment after 6 months. The Lockdown Loan comes with COVID-19 protection insurance, wherein full loan waiver is extended to the coronavirus infected.
Locus:
Locus, a global B2B SaaS company, has announced the launching of a free tool ‘QuickStart,’ which is a self-serve lite version of the product suite for startups and small and medium enterprises to improve their supply chain efficiency amid COVID-19 pandemic. The company is also providing a free trial for two months from the start of the subscription, which will help companies to improve their supply chain amid this pandemic. Companies can now focus on execution and ensure a good customer experience.
