After Conquering Ecommerce In India, Flipkart May Soon Venture Into Financial Services

Snapdeal’s acquisition is not the only star under the belt of homegrown ecommerce marketplace Flipkart. As per a recent report, after establishing a strong foothold in ecommerce in India, the online marketplace is in talks to offer financial products to overtake loan companies.

The Bengaluru-headquartered company has also created a team for financial services and products.

A source close to the development said, “While several ecommerce companies are looking at financial products, Flipkart is leading the pack and is keen to launch this as a revenue-generating business and also to help its customers.”

Another person familiar with the development said that certain “startups are in talks with Flipkart executives including Monomita Roy Avasarala.” Avasarala is currently the Group Product Manager, as per her LinkedIn profile.

The ecommerce marketplace launched Flipkart Growth Capital a facility in July 2015, with the aim to create a platform for sellers to compare and avail loans. Apart from this, the company also launched SBI’s ecommerce SME loan product in 2016.

Currently, apart from credit and loans, the ecommerce player is reportedly eyeing mutual funds and insurance products.

Srikanth Meenakshi, co-founder of online investment platform FundsIndia told ET, “The margins for Flipkart on products like mutual funds through partnerships could be as low as 1%. But the fact is that Flipkart does not have the expertise in this area, which is why they will need to partner with these platforms. The advantage for them will be the products like mutual funds are sticky products, and the platform can become a one-stop place for its customers.”

The Indian fintech market is forecasted to touch $2.4 Bn by 2020, a two-fold increase from the market size currently standing at $1.2 Bn. Earlier this month Mumbai-based fintech startup PaySense raised $5.3 Mn Series A funding led by Jungle Ventures, along with Naspers Group and Nexus Venture Partners.

If homegrown ecommerce unicorn, Flipkart, ventures into this sector it will compete with other loan companies that offer such financial services, and include the likes of EarlySalary, Capital Float, Lendingkart, FlexiLoans, KredX, etc.

(The development was reported by ET)