The evolution of Indifi's digital lending DNA

When Indifi entered the unsecured micro, small & medium enterprises (MSME) lending space in 2015, the handful of digital lenders that had popped up around the same time largely looked at credit bureau scores and default history to identify potential borrowers. While this data was standard in the risk management policy of traditional non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) for years, digital lenders like Indifi realised this wasn’t enough. They needed different data sets to efficiently lend to small businesses, many of which had just started to move online. 

This was also around the time that cash-flow lending or unsecured loans meant to service regular operational costs were gaining popularity among MSMEs. This forced lenders to move away from analysing just the audited financial statements of companies and pay greater heed to MSMEs’ bank statements instead.