State Bank of India launched SBI e-Smart SME, a new facility offereing easy working capital to online e-commerce players. The bank has tied up with Snapdeal in the first instance to offer instant loans to sellers on Snapdeal platform. Chairman of the bank Arundhati Bhattacharya said the e-commerce growth has created a new ecosystem enabling more than 5 lakh sellers to sell product on digital platform and this has opened up opportunities for the banking industry. SBI e-Smart SME will use data analytics gathered by Snapdeal to assess the sellers creditworthiness, instead of traditional lending based on financial statements like balance sheets and income tax returns. The bank is also planning similar tie-ups with Flipkart, Paytm and Amazon, Bhattacharya said. In May 2014, SBI had partnered with Snapdeal to finance seller loans through the latter’s Capital Assist platform. This initiative to offer instant loans will take it further ahead. Initially, sellers will be able to avail loans up to Rs 25 lakh. Loans up to Rs 10 lakh will be collateral free with a competitive interest rate. Women entrepreneurs will have a special concession of 25 basis points. Loans below Rs 10 lakh will be covered under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana Scheme.
