U Gro Capital, launched in 1993, has developed exclusive tools comprising customised SME sectorspecific statistical scorecards, underwriting insights based on in-depth sub-sector level research set up in a highly integrated technology platform. It has collaborated with Bank of Baroda for its first loan co-origination agreement to offer customised lending solutions at a competitive interest rate with a significant reduction in turnaround time to SMEs.
FACILITATING SMES WITH ‘GRO – XSTREAM’
It has deployed its indigenously developed co-lending technology platform ‘Gro– Xstream’ to provide big banks and other large financial establishments with the advantage of choosing customers according to their own selection criterion while utilising its proprietary underwriting engine. This platform also enables smaller non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) to enter into a colending agreement with the company while facilitating securitization and direct assignment of their assets and get these assets filtered and assessed by the company’s analytical proprietary tool. Additionally, this technology-enabled platform has helped U Gro Capital to accelerate the loan applications process. In a short span of 10 months, it has issued over 100 million US dollars to more than 6000 small businesses.
The firm has been tapping every opportunity to work jointly with various partners to support micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) for enhancing its footprint in the delivery of products and services in the MSME ecosystem.
FOSTERING CLEAN ENERGY
The company has also collaborated with Sunvest Capital, India’s first dedicated rooftop solar financing non-banking finance capital (NBFC), for a co-lending program which will help Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to embrace rooftop solar ecosystem. Under the colending program, both the companies will offer finance to MSMEs to help them shift to eco-friendly energy sources, thus streamlining the efforts in achieving the ambitious clean energy targets set by the government.
Leveraging Sunvest Capital’s market intelligence and U Gro’s tech-driven knowledge, the Rs. 20 crore co-lending programme aims to strengthen the government’s initiative towards clean energy by empowering the MSMEs through solar panel finance. This move will enable those organisations to save the electricity cost tremendously and help reduce the carbon footprint in India. Its co-lending partnership with Sunvest Capital bears great importance to the Government’s objective of achieving a renewable energy target of 175 GW by 2022, as solar rooftop energy is expected to provide 40 GW of the total target. There is a great scope for growth in this segment in India, as the country has so far installed only 10% of its rooftop solar target because of financial hiccups of MSMEs.
This co-lending programme will enable U Gro Capital to take advantage of the long-term lending opportunity in solar and sustainability domains, as well as promote the use of green energy among the SMEs by facilitating carbon mitigation and environmental sustainability, thus resulting in various economic, social and environmental benefits.
