Spice Money partners Israel’s Tarya for lending platform for rural customers

PTI, Aug 31, 2021, 5:20 PM IST

New Delhi: Spice Money along with Israel-based fintech player Tarya Group will create a lending platform for rural customers in India.

Spice Money and Tarya Group have entered into a joint venture partnership for launching a lend-tech platform based on a community lending model enabling the rural borrowers to access credit digitally, a release said on Tuesday.

The digital lending market in India is expected to grow from USD 110 billion in 2019 to USD 350 billion in 2023 on the back of MSMEs’ (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) credit demand of an estimated USD 490 billion, it added.

The joint venture aims to fill the credit gap in India by offering underserved and underbanked rural India a convenient platform to access credit easily with minimal documentation.

This platform will address challenges that have kept rural India financially excluded such as lack of data, limited access, and unviable unit economics. India’s credit gap is estimated to be over USD 330 billion, the release said.

”At Spice Money, we serve approximately 20 million (2 crores) monthly transacting customers on an average, through our seven lakh Adhikari network across semi-urban and rural India. This has helped us observe the multiple financial needs of rural India and the key role that far-reaching technology can play in fulfilling these needs,” Dilip Modi, Founder of Spice Money, said.

Eyal Elhayany, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Tarya, said, India has a huge potential for lending technology, especially in rural areas.

”Leveraging Spice Money’s rural fintech expertise and experience, we aim to tap into the unaddressed rural credit gap and make it easy for rural India to get loans for their growth and development,” Elhayany said.

Spice Money offers cash deposits, cash withdrawals, Aadhaar-enabled payment services, insurance, loans, bill payments, cash collection among other services to the rural population through its Adhikari network.