Poonawalla Finance and Capital Float Partner to Disburse Rs 500 Crores Over the Next 12 Months

Poonawalla Finance, part of the $9.8-billion Cyrus Poonawalla Group, has partnered with Capital Float, India’s leading fintech lender, to deliver working capital financing to Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) across India. The two companies will co-lend on Capital Float’s co-origination model to deliver last-mile credit to MSMEs across the country. MSMEs will be able to apply for these loans online and receive in-principle approval within four hours, the quickest turnaround time in the industry, powered by Capital Float’s path-breaking technology and credit underwriting platform integrated with Poonawalla’s systems. Poonawalla Finance which started in April 2019 has already crossed Rs1500crs in AUM is one of most well capitalized NBFCs in the country.

Sashank Rishyasringa, Co-Founder, Capital Float, said, “Capital Float is the pioneer of digital lending in India with proven capabilities and experience in MSME financing. We recently crossed $1 bn in lifetime disbursals and are heavily motivated to foster the growth of small businesses at a grassroots level. In this regard, we are delighted to partner with Poonawalla Finance and add impetus to our lending initiative for MSMEs. We are deeply impressed by Poonawalla Finance’s speed in business execution and the significant focus on technology to innovatively solve problems. The agility of the companies involved helped take the partnership live in record time.”

Abhay Bhutada, Managing Director & CEO, Poonawalla Finance,  said, “We are very excited about our partnership with Capital Float. They paved the way for digital lending in India and have demonstrated maturity and resilience over the years. Capital Float is led by strong and professional promoters with significant experience, a key determinant of their success. Poonawalla Finance believes in relationship-driven partnerships being integral to jointly achieving mutual objectives and growth in a tightly contested market. Through our collaboration with Capital Float, we will expand our reach beyond the metropolitan cities to tier 2-3 towns of India.”

The two NBFCs will begin by co-originating on MSME loans, but are expected to expand the engagement to consumer financing as well. Poonawalla Finance and Capital Float are targeting to disburse over Rs 500 crores over the next 12 months, with a monthly run rate of Rs 50 crores. Poonawalla Finance’s systems will be fully integrated with Capital Float’s co-origination platform through APIs to facilitate real-time decision-making and faster disbursals. This partnership unlocks immense scale in small-ticket MSME credit by combining tech-based lending infrastructure and financial wherewithal.