Fintech platform Tide aims to be on board 10 lakh SMEs by December 2024

London-based fintech platform Tide plans to onboard 10 lakh small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in India by December 2024. Tide, the UK’s leading SME-focused business finance platform, has onboarded 50,000 SMEs since its entry into India in December 2022, says a statement from the company.

With the rapid platform adoption and market potential in India, Tide is confident that 10 lakh SMEs will join the platform and benefit from its digital business banking suite by the end of the year 2024. Tide has also crossed 2.25 lakh app downloads on the Google Play Store in March , since its launch, the statement added.

Taking a compliance-first approach to its India market strategy, Tide has accepted and issued RuPay cards to all SME members (customers) on its platform only after a video Know Your Customer (v-KYC), it said.

The Reserve Bank of India’s mandate will help prevent unauthorized users from accessing the platform and prevent bad actors from taking advantage of the platform. The process in turn supports the inclusion of SMEs in the formal economy, deepens the penetration of Digital India initiatives and increases credit access for the underserved segments. Tide has also issued 50,000 fully KYC RuPay cards for its members, it said.

The company’s current member base in India reveals Gen Z and millennials show a strong entrepreneurial drive with 90 percent members in the under-40 age group. Bengal, Bihar and Rajasthan.

The platform is used by small Mom & Pop shops, small restaurants and solopreneurs such as actors, bakers, beauticians, doctors, physiotherapists, teachers, business coaches, insurance brokers, accounting and tax experts. Gurjodhpal Singh, Managing Director, Tide (India) said Tide believes that the success of a financial platform lies in being agile and compliant at the same time.” While we are on track to achieve our target of onboarding 10 lakh SMEs by the end of 2024, we are not losing sight of compliance in any way. point during this journey,” noted Singh.

With 9 percent of the UK SME market share, Tide aims to expand its presence in the Indian SME ecosystem across Tier 1, 2 and 3 cities. In the coming months, the fintech is set to launch a suite of tailored products, including a business savings/current account in partnership with a bank, QR code for payments, bank transfers, invoicing, GST, pay via link and credit services, it said. .