“A huge opportunity to completely automate lending”: The growth of digital lending in India

Over the last decade many other digital lending platforms like Kissht, Capital Float, Faircent and Telr have popped up to harness the potential of this space

By Arjun Harindranath

Two years after demonetisation in India, the amount of credit available to the Indian consumer remains low as a surging middle class looks to spend more on goods that had previously seemed unaffordable. Digital lending, which works in conjoint with traditional banks, hopes to change that by putting in place easy processes to ensure those without credit histories aren’t left behind in the new economy. But how far can digital lending go in India?

“A billion people are coming online faster, and more aggressively than they ever have anywhere in the world,” Lizzie Chapman of ZestMoney said recently, noting the potential in a country where many have gone from no internet to unlimited 4G coverage. “We saw a huge opportunity eight years ago to completely automate lending. And nobody in India was doing that or thinking about it at that time.”

Chapman was speaking last week at a panel canvassing India as a hub for foreign companies DisruptBerlin organised by TechCrunch in Berlin. The cofounder of ZestMoney has been in the country for nearly eight years, and their platform can now be found across 4000 cities in India and has found powerful backers like Xiaomi.

By way of example, Chapman referred to the curiosity of how many Indian customers would ring up, unnerved about how easy and quick the process was in taking out loans. “And so we got this funny thing where pretty much after every application the customer would call up and say, Did that really happen? Am I actually approved? Is it that smooth? Is it that quick? They just wanted to talk about it.”

This is not to say that digital banking won’t come across its own roadblocks. British lender Wonga, which had been in India as well, is a case in point as it strapped borrowers with exorbitant interest rates and has subsequently collapsed. In a country which has the very real concern over suicide threats over unpaid debts, digital lenders will look to tread carefully in a space that will require a firm and clear regulatory framework.

Arjun Harindranath is a freelance contributor and editor of The Tech Panda.

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IT Ministry discusses message traceability issue with WhatsApp

It is not immediately clear if the meeting resulted in any firm commitment from WhatsApp's side.

According to an official, the discussions with WhatsApp executives took place via video-conference on December 4.

IT Ministry officials and WhatsApp senior executives discussed through a video call this week the contentious issue of traceability of messages on the popular platform, a source said. The government is pressing on with its demand for identification of message originators on the platform, which has drawn flak over spread of fake messages.

According to a government official, the discussions with senior executives of WhatsApp took place via video-conference on December 4. However, it was not immediately clear if the meeting resulted in any firm commitment from WhatsApp’s side.

When contacted, a WhatsApp spokesperson said: “WhatsApp regularly engages with the Government of India to discuss our commitment to maintaining a private and safe platform for people to communicate with one another. We look forward to continued discussions on how we can work together towards these common goals.”

WhatsApp has been under tremendous pressure to put in place a mechanism to curb fake news on its messaging platform that have incited mob fury in India. Over a dozen people have been killed across the country this year in mob lynchings, fuelled by rumours circulating on WhatsApp

The rumours ranged from suspicion of stealing children to victims believed to be killing cows. Riots have been instigated by people forwarding and misinterpreting videos on WhatsApp.

The government has, on several occasions, warned the company that it cannot evade responsibility if its messaging service is used to spread false information. The Centre has directed WhatsApp to develop tools to combat fake or false messages and, more importantly, to identify message originators.

But according to WhatsApp, its system has been designed in a manner to not collect or store a record of who created or sent the message. It believes that creating a permanent record of messages for the purpose of future government surveillance would change the very premise of WhatsApp and would eliminate the ability for people to have a private conversation online.

It believes that mandating technology companies to go in for ‘traceability’ would contradict the privacy and free speech protections, and that requiring the collection of and access to personal data, even when a crime has not been committed, would have serious global ramifications.