B, Xiaomi eye $1 tn digi loan mkt

India’s digital loan ket is becoming a battlend for companies from book Inc. to Xiaomi Corp., ing a foothold in what’s set a $1 trillion industry. cebook this month said a would be the first country re it rolls out its small busiloan program offering loans partner to firms that adveron its platform. The loans range from 500,000 rupees 20) to 5 million rupees with est rates of 17%-20%, potentially without collateral.

The social media giant’s foray into India coincides with Xiaomi’s, the Chinese maker of everything from rice cookers to gaming monitors, plans to offer loans, credit cards and insurance products in partnership with some of the nation’s biggest banks and startup digital lenders, the Press Trust of India reported, citing local head Manu Jain.

Amazon also made its maiden investment in the country’s wealth management sector this month, participating in a $40 million round by fintech startup

Smallcase Technologies Pvt.

Alphabet Inc.’s Google is also upping its game. After offering wealth management products such as digital gold, mutual funds on its popular Google Pay platform, it’s now tied up with small Indian lenders for opening time deposits for its customers.

India’s digital payments market is drawing the attention of some of techs biggest names after online transactions surged during the pandemic and traditional lenders turned cautious following a rise in bad debt. Digital lending is expected to treble to $350 billion by 2023 and reach a total of $1 trillion in the five years since 2019, according to estimates from the Boston Consulting Group.

While the potential of India’s loan market is significant, so too are its risks. The nation’s bad loan ratio is expected to rise to 11.3% by March making it the worst performer among major countries for a second consecutive year.

As well as addressing loan collections by digital firms, the Reserve Bank of India is also planning to regulate online lenders, which include more than 300 startups.