Mobile app becomes the epicenter of business
Beyond apps, PrestLoans is looking at an end-to-end data rich digital platform:
Started in 2017, PrestLoans is an NBFC focusing on lending to small businesses and MSMEs. The company, trying to address the affordable credit needs to under served small businesses, has witnessed robust growth in the last 4 years, building a mixed portfolio of secured and unsecured MSME loans. It has partnered with various larger lenders for debt funding and providing fast and affordable credit to the MSME sector. Ashok Mittal, a seasoned professional having a rich experience of more than 20 years in banking and financial services, is the Founder & CEO of the company.
PLATFORM FOLLOWERS UP
PrestLoans has been a tech enabled digital focused lending company since beginning, where a client can directly apply for a loan, upload documents and view the status of application at various stages in the disbursement process. The internal process of underwriting also involves digital implementation to smoothen the process.
Ashok Mittal states that the company adopted an aggressive strategy post the first phase of covid in March 2020. “We have used social media platforms more efficiently to stay connected with the customers and to keep them updated about various products, services, payments, dues, government announcements etc,” he says.
The company is present on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, Blogger, Medium, etc. The company has more than 10,000 followers on its Facebook page, which has seen about 50% growth on yoy basis. About 89% of them are male and the rest female; 50% of them are in the 25-34 years age group. “Since we largely operate in Delhi NCR and Rajasthan, most of them belong to this area, and our social media focus is also concentrated in this geographical area,” says Ashok.
On its LinkedIn page, the company has more than 1100 followers, which has seen 30%+ yoy growth in the last 3 years. Says Ashok: “We have seen good number of likes and comments on our posts. While our followers on Instagram are few hundred, we have seen some of the posts reaching to more than 6000 people with good likes and comments.”
APP IMPROVES EFFICIENCY
Its mobile app has substantially increased its sourcing, underwriting and collection process, which in turn, says Ashok, has improved the efficiency, hence faster services and turnaround time (TAT) for the customer.
“We are servicing the MSME segment, which is not very tech savvy and comfortable providing all data through mobile app. Hence, we don’t consider app downloads which is generally used by ultra-micro loans for extremely short tenure. Our app works very well on mobile phones and hence we are able to work well with a good quality smart phone,” says Ashok.
PrestLoans has an integrated app, which is used by its sales team and agents for new loan origination. The same app is used by the credit team for underwriting using Prest Score and by the recovery team, where the team can see the overdue accounts and generate receipts of amounts recovered from defaulting borrowers. The HR app is used by all the employees for attendance, payroll, expense claim, etc.
LOANS BY MISSED CALL, WEB
The company’s business has been stagnant in the financial year 2020-21 due to very high impact of the lockdown and the moratorium announced by the RBI. Ashok says most of the business is originated online as customers approach the company by using the ‘missed call service’ or applying online through the website. All the sourcing agents are able to provide loan documents, KYC, bank statement, etc, through the app or website.
“We have been cautious in granting fresh loans due to uncertainty of cashflow in few businesses like travel, export, import, toys and non-essential items, while we have limited fresh exposure to grocery, medical, daily usage related businesses,” says Ashok.
SEVERAL VENDORS: OPEX UP
PrestLoans uses various products and services to meet its technology requirement. Says Ashok: “In today’s world, technology is like a commodity and we need to use various partners to get the best out of the available products and services. We use Amazon Web Services for data and LMS,
Outlook 365 for the mail server, GreytHR for people management services (employee payroll processing) and Perfios for bank statement analysis and other underwriting related services. Web and app-based CRM is prepared and managed by SR Tekbox. We also use the services of Karza for various authentications, etc.”
The company’s use of Amazon Web Services has increased substantially. In some cases, it uses SaaS platforms. Most of the cost increases on digital initiatives have been on the opex side. There are about 6 people at the company who are directly involved in tech development and coordination work.
API FOR PARTNER PORTALS
The company has several employees now working from home. Ashok says: “Our employees and officers have been using tablets and multiple apps on the phone for origination, underwriting, collection, attendance, partner services, etc. They and our agents also use desktops, laptops, mobile phones and handsfree gadgets.”
AUM GROWTH 80%
Ashok justifies the company’s reason for not taking up expansion to other areas apart from Delhi NCR and Rajasthan. “We consider this region a fairly large MSME market and hence we have not yet gone to many other states. Technically, NCR covers UP and Haryana state as well. Our yoy AUM growth in the last 3 years has been about 80% in terms of value and volume. Most of our customers are in the 25-45 years age group, with 80% of them being male.”
ANALYTICS FOR CRM
PrestLoans has developed an in-house algorithm to track customer profiles and behaviours and capture key data points of its customers related to their personal, social, business, banking, and financial information. These data points are analyzed using various AI and ML tools from time to time and updated on regular basis.
The company uses its CRM system both on the web and through the app and the system is integrated with the LMS. Says Ashok: “We are planning to add few unique features in the mobile app for customer for faster services, ease of use and better customer experience. The customers themselves can check/ track their status anytime by giving the credentials. This creates a good relationship with them. The solution also helps us in maintaining and protecting the data for follow-ups, reminders and offering other services in future.”
ONLINE PROMOTIONS
The company’s social media promotional campaigns are not always for targeting clients. It announces its participation in various virtual seminars, winning o f a wards, s t a f f per f o r mance a nd achievements, celebration of festivals etc on social media. Ashok says this has received an unexpected feedback. “For example, one of our promotions was rewarding a sales executive’s performance with a chocolate and appreciation in front of entire office staff. We shared it on social media and it became viral overnight with more than 45,000 views on LinkedIn. Similarly, some other posts got 15,000-25000 views. We had also run a contest, during which time we saw a jump of 77% in the number of viewers during that month, which rose from 170,000 to 300,000,” he says.
BULLISH ON DIGITIZATION
Digital is a big thing at PrestLoans as it aims to bring in operational efficiency in all its processes and accuracy at every stage of the process - like integration with the partners to capture data, backend financial analysis, report generation, collection data etc. And for the team digital is a must for smoothened and hassle-free workflow. The attendance system, internal controls etc are gradually moving to digital.
Ashok says: “Whether it is our customers or our team members, we continue to stay very bullish on further digitization of processes and services.”
FUTURE PLANS
He adds that the intention in introducing digital initiatives is to assist stakeholders in achieving growth through customized financing solutions and support the financial inclusion initiative for the MSME sector in India.
He also points out another aspect: “As the world is still in the throes of the pandemic, providing continuous services to the customers during such time is possible only by extensive use of technology. Reliance and dependency on technology have risen tremendously. For a NBFC like us, IT and digital uses are always good options to reduce capital expenditure and improve the efficiency of workflow. This also benefits the customers to reach our platform easily and get quick response from us at various stages of process.”
He adds that the company is continuously exploring new ways of using technology, particularly ML and AI, for better services to its customers. “In times to come, we would create a complete digital platform for lending process to make it easy and hassle-free for the customers. That means starting from application received to disbursement, the entire process will be analyzed automatically. And not just lending but for borrowing all the required data will be just a finger touch away,” he says.