We are seeing almost 200% growth in business every quarter: Akshat Saxena, ePayLater.in
We are seeing almost 200% growth in business every quarter: Akshat Saxena, ePayLater.in

 How do you see the present credit market in India in terms of size and growth potential? How do you gauge this market in next five years?

Credit will always be in demand for a growing economy like that of India. Credit provides the fuel to keep the economic machinery moving smoothly. In the coming five years the credit market will transform on all fronts (i) gathering and updating relevant information for underwriting to bring more people under the formal credit system (ii) digitized underwriting and disbursal process and (iii) digitized confirmations. Government initiatives in terms of Aadhaar based KYC, payments framework will go a long way in enabling this transformation. Regulatory support will be needed to accommodate and support the emerging methods of lending using technology which can widen the scope and access of the formal credit systems.

What are the challenges of the industry?

The challenges of the industry are (i) lack of easy access to credible information on large part of the population (ii) requirements for documentation and physical verification (iii) enforceability of contracts and quick resolution of disputes

  Briefly describe the journey of the company?

The company was incorporated in Dec 2015. ePayLater is primarily an innovative digital method of using credit for making payments. Our focus has been largely on online e commerce markets, where we want to focus on increasing the ease of making payments through credit and at the same time get the large cash-on-delivery segment within the ambit of digital payments by catering to the many needs of the consumers not being met currently by the existing methods. We have been growing steadily in terms of traction and volume and are seeing almost 200% growth in business every quarter.

How the thought of this concept came to your mind?

Our team is a mix of professionals having backgrounds in Banking, Payments, Technology and E commerce. The team was very much aware of the issues with availability and access to credit for a large part of the population of the country. At the same time the high incidence of cash on delivery (COD) and associated costs to merchants on one hand and inconvenience associated with online payment methods on the other were staring at us in our face. Now e commerce users have an online footprint making it easier to access a lot of alternate data which could be a basis for making credit decisions. At the same time if credit was offered to the e commerce users at time of payment it would not only make it very convenient for users to make payments but also address most of the trust related challenges why people preferred COD to making online payments. That is when the idea of ePayLater came to our mind as a one stop solution to many of the challenges.

What is your USP? Are you looking at having pan India presence?

We are looking at pan India presence and want to contribute to the Govt push for financial inclusion and digitization by catering to consumers and businesses primarily in the self-employed category in the smaller towns and interiors of the country as well. Our USP lies in our unique way of underwriting customers to make it very convenient for end users to access credit and make repayments. At the core of our strength lies our strong data science abilities

Give us insights about the company’s approach towards getting the customers on board. 

We make it very convenient for our customers to access credit. We usually tie up with marketplaces catering to these customers to enable a seamless experience for the retailers.

  How the industry is evolving? What are the current trends?

Industry is moving towards a more digitized framework for on boarding and underwriting customers, thanks to the Govt initiatives over the years. Aadhaar framework is expected to contribute in a big way to the digitizing of information and overall ease of credit access. The upcoming GST framework would help in a big way to ensure digital confirmation of transactions thus lending more credence to business numbers provided by small businesses

Kindly also shed light on your TG and market share?

We are currently targeting the customer who is looking for convenience in payments and access to credit and also self-employed individuals who are creditworthy but do not want to go through the hassles of traditional underwriting methods.

At last, kindly shed light on your growth plans?

We intend to make ePayLater a prominent method for payments in the industry which can lead to greater digitisation and consequently greater financial inclusion in the country.

 

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