The talent and resources pool in India has been on a significant rise in the recent years. The most important aspect when starting up a venture is to have clarity of the business path the business needs to take and to follow it assiduously. One also needs to keep an eye on cash flow for growing successfully. This can be achieved at its best by having a broad range of capital sources – and cash substitutes – to draw on. And, it is important to remember that a thoughtful and flexible financial plan focused on scale-up will make one’s business to grow fast, be responsive, and thrive.
The flip side of supplier financing is Peer-to Peer (P2P) lending. And, for the benefit of this industry and the individual bowers and lenders, one such first P2P lending business, i-LEND has pioneered the online lending services in India.
The Commencement of the Trail
The company, i-LEND has been founded by the seasoned professionals Uday Sudhir Pilani, the Director.
A lead investor in different projects across the globe, Uday Pilani is also the director of i-LEND. Invested in different hospitality industries across United Kingdom. Some names are The Makeney Hall Hotel, Derby, the United Kingdom, The Lace Market Hotel, Nottingham, United Kingdom, Silverstar Properties LLP, Croydon, United Kingdom, etc. He has built up multiple companies across India and also associated with Krish Motor Services Ltd, Mablethorpe, United Kingdom – UK’s Largest Independent Filling Station.
The original idea of the core team, behind the starting up the company, was to develop a credit behavior prediction algorithm. An algorithm that can lead to better decision making for lending money to thin files and can also change the way the scoring model works. Also, one of the key objectives was to assist individuals to manage risk which is the cornerstone of all lending models in the world. Finally, the last mile contact was automated so that businesses can harness technology to deliver on the last mile connectivity.
Founders’ Experience Tale
As the saying goes, ‘Experience greatly improves chances of success’; the company has experienced a huge success while working with the profound founding unit – Shankar Vaddadi and Niti.
Shankar plays a successful role in leadership with verifiable year on year success in delivering on Strategy Planning, Operations, International Business, Startups, Strategic Alliances, and fundraising. He is deeply involved with social entrepreneurship through path-breaking leadership of Pochampally Handloom park which was the first initiative of its kind in the world. His second venture is i-LEND and he has also held ‘C’ level positions across diverse industries.
Niti carries diverse experience over different sectors, primarily in product management. She has successfully launched a range of Retail POS systems for TVS Electronics. She is establishing the entire ecosystem from sourcing, manufacturing, and building marketing strategies to customer satisfaction. She has also handled Strategic Alliances, Social sector challenges in PHPL, Retail Finance, Business Strategy, and Planning over the years. She also has experience in building a complex software platform in i-LEND.
Both the founders faced multiple challenges during the initial phase since lending in India is tightly regulated grounding the business model. Adhering to multiple state and central laws, legislation, creating awareness of the business model, recruiting talent, and raising funds were all challenges encountered by the founding team.
Tech-Enabled Solutions
Revolutionizing the Indian money market, i-LEND has made access to credit at affordable rates of interest a reality by building a platform for people to strike an ideal deal. The various viable lending options provided by i-LEND has opened new avenues for lenders to effectively manage their financial portfolio.
At i-LEND, they believe the availability of credit should not be limited by narrow workflow walls. Thus, as an end-to-end P2P lending tech-enabled marketplace, i-LEND connects individual borrowers with lenders. It verifies KYC, assigns a credit score based on both qualitative and quantitative parameters, and match makes between lenders and borrowers. It also monitors the loan performance, as well as helps, and manages the collections process as and when required. All this is done through the website and various API’s.
One notable factor that needs to keep in mind is that UI & UX are the key aspects while catering to customers across the length and breadth of India. And, from an operational perspective, the privacy of the data collected is of utmost importance in tech-based products, and services.
An Admonish
“Get the value proposition right, identify the pain point with clarity. Identify a team with a shared vision and don’t be in a hurry to raise money.” advises Shankar to the young entrepreneurs.
Stepping Forward
i-LEND is scaling up its presence across the country, improving the tech interface, and building various API’s to enhance the user experience. Recently the company has moved into a new premise which is an upgrade from the previous one.
Also, the company believes and is working hard to grow continuously at the same pace in the coming years as well.
