At a time when banks are grappling with loan segment, an alternate lending segment is mushrooming to fill the gap and support the rising economy in the country.
Founded by an ex-investment banker at Lehman Brothers, Aditya Kumar, Qbera is one such platform in the alternative (online) lending space.
The platform claims to be launched with an objective of addressing the growing need of personal finance to the sub-segment of the salaried class who are usually overlooked by banks and financial institutions.
“We help salaried people securing loans with a minimum monthly salary of at least Rs 20,000. Besides, we provide loans to the eligible applicant in the shortest of time (within 24 hours) which is our USP,” said Kumar, Founder and CEO, Qbera.
He added that banks and other financial institutions usually have a very limited data base which limits them in providing loans to only those individuals who fall under categories A+, A and B.
That is why the platform focuses on the general borrowers that is made up of those segment of the population who fall under the abovementioned categories.
Founded in 2015, Qbera has till now disbursed Rs 30 crores with an average loan size of Rs 2 lakh. Recently, the company’s loan book size has expanded swiftly and has been originating Rs 4 crore of loans per month. It aims to disburse around Rs 200 crore worth of loans by this fiscal.
How likes of Qbera changing lending space
Qbera considers EarlySalary, IndiaLends, MoneyTap and PaySense, among others, as its likely competitors in the sector.
Like its competitors, Qbera also works with banks and NBFCs to provide loans to consumers. RBL bank, IndusInd bank and IIFL are some of the lenders to meet loan requirements of the target group.
The platform follows an end-to-end process for evaluating loan disbursal and adopts an amalgamation of data and technology to build various loan designs and criteria.
The product’s design and loan criteria are based on different score points of consumers.
The interest rate of loan varies between 10.99 per cent to 20 per cent.
“The interest rate is based on risk-based pricing. It means that applicants with low score points will be given loans on higher interest rates than consumers with high score points,” said Kumar.
Qbera is also planning to rope in other banks and expand the consumer base. The online lending platform which currently operates in eight cities, including Delhi-NCR, Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad and others, aims to expand to 20 locations by the next quarter.
The platform works on risk and revenue model in which it charges commission from funders for its product line and services. It claims to have booked revenues of around Rs 1 crore last year.
Mission 2020
Experts believe that in the lending sector particularly, there are various layered factors, such as absent credit records of people and missing tangible financials of MSMEs, that have boosted the alternate lending space.
The online lending sector is estimated to be worth $300 billion and holds immense opportunity for lenders in making money while developing infrastructure.
The growth of India Stack, rising pitch for GST and growing cashless economy are paving the way for tech-oriented intermediaries.
Kumar said that with the increasing migration of consumers from offline to digital channel, the scope for the online segment increases magnificently. Citing the benefits of online lending platforms over traditional method, he added lower turnout, transparency throughout the process and overall better experience makes the sector more appealing.
In his views, the online lending segment is poised to witness around 100x growth in the next 2-3 years.
