MSMEs favour daily EMIs, auto deduction from bank accounts for repayment: Solv report

Solv, a B2B e-commerce platform for micro, small and mediumenterprises (MSMEs) conducted a survey of 1000 plus MSMEs to understand their credit andrepayment needs and preferences.

The objective was to uncover insights to help various stakeholders address the $300-billion credit gap in the MSME segment, especiallyconsidering the government's recent guidelines bringing retail and wholesale trade under theMSME category.

In terms of demand for credit, the survey found that 90 per cent of retailer touch points acrosscategories have seen higher sales in the last three months, implying a need foreasy access to small ticket size collateral-free loans to improve working capital and sales. Italso found that 90 per cent of supply chain participants in high volume commodity segments areactively seeking collateral-free loans of up to Rs 3 Lakh.

It also uncovered that for repayment, more than 50 per cent of retailers and wholesalers said they are willing to pay in 7 to 15 daysinstalments. More than 95 per cent of respondents indicated they would pay back loans within 30days if given the option of daily repayment or daily EMIs. On collection of payments from customers, the survey found that while cash is still the mostpreferred mode, there has been a sharp rise in collections through UPI, debit andcredit card payments, the report says. Interestingly, more than 90 per cent of small retailers, wholesalers and traders felt that online B2Be-commerce platforms customized for MSMEs would help them grow their business faster interms of getting better rates to procure goods, accessing cheaper and faster credit, andincreasing sales, The survey added.