Digital Trade Finance Platform Launched by MODIFI in India

MODIFI, a European fintech, recently announced to launch a digital trade finance platform in India. The objective of this platform is to allow the exporters (small and medium-sized) to thrive and provide lucrative terms of payment to international buyers.

In Europe, this organisation launched the digital trade finance platform for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in November 2018. In order to expand its operation in Asia, MODIFI has decided to enter the Indian market.

At present, India’s export stands at $292 billion and 40% of this trade comes from SMEs. However, there is a substantial amount of difficulty in securing finance for the SMEs because of tedious paperwork, high rates of rejection, and collateral requirements.

In an interview with The Economic Times, Dr Nelson Holzner, Co-founder and CEO of MODIFI stated that the organisation is suitable to support the SMEs in India. He added that the product designed by them will be beneficial for the Indian exporters. According to him, the Indian market is ready for the digital platform created by MODIFI as India, in its recent Budget, committed to digital finance with initiatives such as TReDS.

Also Read: Union Budget 2019: 8 Key Takeaways for MSMEs and Startups

TReDS, a digital bill reducing programme for the SMEs supported by the government, is expected to allocate Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 crore in FY 2019-2020. However, at present, this scheme does not cater to the exporters and only focuses on the domestic market.

The recent investment of Euro 5.5 million and partnership with the global leader of container shipping A.P. Moller-Maersk have fuelled the expansion of MODIFI to India.  The CEO of MODIFI expects that the partnership will give credibility to this company amongst the exporters in India.

By 2020, the organisation expects to invest a finance volume of $1 billion in this country. Presently, MODIFI is focussing on creating awareness about the platform and onboarding multiple SMEs.