TTK Prestige and Innoviti roll out unique Channel Financing Solution

Bangalore, January 25, 2017: TTK Prestige Ltd. (TTK) and Innoviti Payment Solutions Ltd. (Innoviti) today announced the successful roll out of a unique channel financing solution for 500+ dealers of TTK Prestige. Under the Innoviti-TTK partnership, qualified TTK Prestige dealers are given a smelending card which they can swipe in a similar manner to a normal credit card, for taking an instant 30 day loan against any current or past invoice from TTK Prestige. The initial pilot rollout of the program was completed in Bangalore in Q2’16 , and currently covers over 80+ dealers actively using their allotted credit limits of over Rs. 2 lakh each on average per dealer.

The Innoviti-TTK program runs exclusively off Innoviti’s unique 3-Party smelending.com platform, which for the first time links credit-related data flows between the individual Dealers, TTK Prestige and the lending partner, Kotak Mahindra Bank. By leveraging both customer aggregation benefits as well as innovative use of credit scoring via non-traditional data points like a Dealer’s past transaction history with his Principal, the smelending.com platform successfully lowers both the Lender’s credit risk and operational cost barriers in lending to this large but fragmented market segment. By digitizing key operational processes like dealer enrolment and credit evaluation, loan origination and disbursement etc, the smelending.com platform is able to greatly reduce the time, effort and cost involved in managing large scale SME Lending operations.

Commenting on the program, Mr. K G George, Senior VP Retail at TTK Prestige said, “We have built a network of 530 Prestige Smart Kitchen stores pan India over the last 13 years. Back then , dealers would invest Rs.5 lac to stock up their store, nowadays even Rs.15-20 lacs is not enough to showcase our entire range. That’s why getting convenient access to working capital loans for financing their invoice cycles is a very important business growth enabler for our dealers. With this partnership, we are looking to significantly enhance same store sales growth over the next 12 months.” A unique feature of the smelending.com model is the win-win approach for all participants on the platform. Dealers benefit by getting access to cost-effective, collateral-free loans that are otherwise not available from regular banking channels. Principal partners benefit by facilitating much-needed channel credit without having to take on the credit risk and operational costs to their own account. Lenders benefit by having access to a credit-hungry but highly fragmented market segment that is otherwise economically unviable in the absence of an aggregator platform.’’

Dealer response to the new program has been very enthusiastic with over 70% average m-o-m growth in total credit utilization since launch. Since the launch, the program has seen over 60% average credit limit utilization with a zero credit delinquency rate. Credit qualification rate amongst applicant dealers is also 60%+. Based on success of the Bangalore pilot, the Innoviti-TTK program is now being expanded across all 500+ TTK Prestige PSKs nationwide in a phased manner.

Said Ms. Amrita Malik, Business Head- SMELending at Innoviti, “Even though the SME segment contributes 30% to India’s GDP, their demand for capital is largely unmet by the banks. With the smelending.com platform, we hope to take a positive step towards addressing this systemic gap. We are delighted to partner with TTK Prestige in providing a convenient financing solution that will fuel the entrepreneurship of their dealer channel!”

Says Mr. Bhupal Reddy of Imperial Kitchens (a PSK in Bangalore), “These 30Day loans are very helpful in growing my business. I can now increase my inventory spread and also stock up more, which leads to more customer satisfaction. One really good part for small merchants like me is that the 30 Day period starts only after order delivery.”