Indian Bank Operationalises 10 Startup Cells To Offer Tailor-Made Products To Startups

Public sector bank Indian Bank has reportedly established 10 startup cells across the country to cater to the specialised requirements of the ecosystem. 

As per news agency PTI, these cells have been set up in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Chennai, New Delhi, Gurgaon, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kanpur and Mumbai.

Earlier this week, Indian Bank managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) Shanti Lal Jain inaugurated the Chennai cell in-person and the other nine cells virtually. 

“The launch of the startup cells is a major milestone in Indian Bank’s journey to support the growth of the startup ecosystem in India,” said Jain. 

Indian Bank’s startup cells will offer a suite of tailor-made banking products and solutions to homegrown startups. As per the report, these centres will offer a gamut of services including payment gateways, corporate credit cards, credit facilities as well as already existing products of the bank as per specialised banking requirements of startups. 

In addition, these cells will also have dedicated relationship managers for startups to ‘build lifecycle engagement’ with local entrepreneurs. The bank reportedly also said that it has launched a customised credit offering for startups.

With this, Indian Bank joins a growing league of financial institutions offering dedicated products for startups. While the country’s biggest bank State Bank of India (SBI) already operates a dedicated branch for startups in Bengaluru, other institutions such as Bank of Baroda, IDFC First Bank and RBL Bank also offer such niche products. 

Experts opine that such dedicated branches are better equipped to study the technology risk of new-age startups and have better resources to evaluate the product-market fit of an upcoming business. These centres also enable startups to access formalised credit, which is generally scarce as banks shy away from untested business models. 

However, with the launch of the Centre’s Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups (CGSS), many banks have come forward to offer loans to startups. Meanwhile, dedicated branches also enable banks to tap into potential big ticket startups which could later bring big business to a financial institution. 

As the world’s third-biggest startup ecosystem grows in size, banks appear eager to cash-in on the burgeoning space and add parallel revenues streams. On the other hand, startups get access to specialised offerings catering specifically to them.