Deepak Singhal, Sr VP – Business at Rupeek, reveals how the company is taking a modern approach to a traditional product:
Ravi Lalwani: What has been your organization’s performance in acquiring New to Gold Loan (NTGL) customers in FY 2021-22?
Deepak Singhal: In India, despite having $2 trillion as idle-sitting household gold, credit against gold jewelry has always remained a highly stigmatized product. We saw an opportunity to innovate and reimagine the existing process by introducing India to the first-ever ‘Doorstep Gold Loans’. With disruptive technology being the key enabler, we were able to open the gold loan category at a faster rate as compared to the incumbent players, while recording yoy growth in disbursals touching $1bn in December 2020. As of today, we cater to ~60% of the NTGL (New to Gold Loan) cohort in more than 60 cities in the country. This is materially higher than the industry average of ~20%.
Which of your products are popular among NTGL customers?
NTGL category is one of the critical cogs hindering a large-underserved population from entering the formal economy. At Rupeek, being a quintessential, new-age asset-backed technology company we are moving strategically towards de-stigmatizing gold loans by combining deep consumer insight with superior tech capabilities – further fostering credit inclusiveness at a blistering pace.
Amongst a handful of offerings, our flagship ‘Doorstep Gold Loans’, has had the most significant impact in changing the consumer perception from gold loans being considered as a last resort to a smart resort.
Which are the top 3 regions where you are acquiring the most NTGL customers?
While we have witnessed strong growth from all sections of the country, Karnataka, Delhi NCR, and Maharashtra top the list with Rajasthan and West Bengal showing a strong percentage of NTGL consumers.
Through which channels are you attracting the maximum number of NTGL customers?
We have witnessed strong demand via organic channels that includes the Rupeek app and the website. This is a result of our strong brand recall along with word of mouth and referrals that we have built keeping Google, Facebook, and offline sales at the center.
What mechanisms do you deploy to verify gold purity?
We are the only company to have partnered with NSDC to create a pool of trained gold appraisers. Furthermore, we have built a technology stack that empowers our appraisers to carry out gold appraisals in record time with consistency and utmost reliability.
What is the income profile of the most common borrowers?
We cater to customers from all sections of society since doorstep offering is loved by all due to their de-stigmatized nature. We have seen a higher share of affluent customers compared to the industry.
We see a healthy mix of business and salaried customers with most of their income being in the sub Rs1.5 million per annum domain.
What seasonal variations does the gold loan business witness?
We have recorded steady demand for doorstep + branch walk-in gold loan offerings throughout the year except, for festive and marriage seasons where we have witnessed a marginal dip as customers want to use their jewelry.
What is the observation regarding repeat business from customers?
For Rupeek customers, the repeat rate is high as doorstep services further add to the convenience of taking the gold loan and releasing the gold without any hassle while comfortably sitting at their home.
Briefly describe the organization’s initiatives in terms of marketing, partnering, technology, analytics, etc, to tap NTC customers.
In our quest to serve NTGL and other gold loan consumers, we are building a modern-day, tech-led, digital brand, which is not stigmatized in the minds of the consumer. Furthermore, to make gold loans mainstream and accessible around the nook and corner of the country, we have partnered with banks like The Federal Bank, Karur Vysya Bank, South Indian Bank, etc. And, lastly, we are building the technology stack to deliver a seamless customer & partner experience and to enable the creation of new-age gold monetization products.
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