Page 27 - Most Trusted Logistics and Supply Chain Brands & Booming Fintech Companies

DEFINING BENCHMARKS AND ENTREPRENEURIAL This is changing because the emergence of The Data
BEGINNINGS Tripod of GST, Banking and Bureau, this coupled with
Mr. Nath’s one of the most endearing characteristics- OCEN network is the UPI moment for MSME financing in
his openness to ideas and viewpoints has earned him India. We are disrupting the MSME lending by creating
great respect. After spending nearly three decades a platform which has an ability to combine the power of
into his professional career, Mr. Nath plunged into the data coupled with our deep sectoral analytics platform.
entrepreneurial world with the acquisition of small listed MSMEs are a non – homogeneous class, a casting and
NBFC, in 2018 and rebranded it as U GRO Capital. U forging business cannot be compared with an elec-
GRO simultaneously raised capital of INR 9500 million, trical component manufacturer, or a dentist cannot
which arguably is one of the largest institutional capital be compared to an IVF Clinic, a play school cannot be
raising feats for an NBFC. compared to a K12 School. We have built both the digital
and physical infrastructure to address the need of small
After gaining insight, we were intrigued to learn more business which is tailor made for them.
about it from the exemplary leader. More than just
addressing the loopholes of the lending process, Mr. We are reaching to our targeted customers through
Nath is also weathering the distress of the country’s our multi-pronged product and distribution strategy
MSME Sector by addressing the sector’s credit gap of built on these pillars of knowledge and technology. Our
$330 billion. GRO+ platform caters to our branch led channel caters
to tier 1-2 segments through nine branches in top cities
Mr. Nath shares his journey, current plans of U GRO Capital of India & via 40 branches in Tier 3-6 locations, which
and the plans ahead. is further slated to reach 100 branches by end of the
year. Our GRO – Line platform caters to the need of
ecosystem finance of supply chains from the supplier to
WHAT retailers and Machinery & Equipment Financing through
partnership of more than 150+ OEMs in India. Our GRO
INSPIRED YOUR X-stream platform is powering credit to the FinTech
eco system of India through tie-ups with aggregators,
ENTREPRENEURIAL e-commerce platforms and other NBFCs with a set of
curated credit products. We would soon be launching
DECISIVENESS? our GRO Direct digital platform which aims to aims to
reach the end customer directly through a customized
During my visits to different rural areas of the platform.
country... I understood the underlying problem of
lack of finance for micro and small businesses was
a common trait. It is spread all over the rural, semi-
urban & tier3-6 map, slaughtering small businesses Our product suite includes term loans from 5 lakhs
every day This colossal problem needs to be to 5 Crores based on cash flow underwriting with
addressed and communicated by creating an insti- wide-ranging collateral coverage, a range of receivable
tution that aims to solve this problem, no matter finance solutions based on ecosystem underwriting,
what. That was the beginning for U GRO Capital, and customized credit programs that leverage alter-
and the rest is history. nate data from our partner platforms.

HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE U GRO CAPITAL AS A
FINTECH DISRUPTOR? WHAT HAS BEEN THE SECRET INGREDIENT BEHIND
U GRO Capital is committed to solving the unsolved THE SUCCESS OF U GRO CAPITAL?
credit needs of the SME sector. MSMEs today Financial Services businesses are built on 3 core tenants
contribute around 30% of India’s GDP and this but – Governance, Capital & People and added today with
naturally & positively impacts the economic status of power of data analytics and technology. We have taken
the country. The growth of small businesses in India is a unique approach in each of these, our company is
strongly associated to their access to credit footprint. supervised by a majority Independent Board of Direc-
A small business with entrepreneurial spirit does not tors which consist of senior industry experts drawn from
have the same level of capital support as mid-level and Private & Public Sectors Bank, Regulators, Development
large-scale corporates. Financial Institutions, Rating and Government. Our key
shareholders participate in through their nominated
India’s MSME financing is now at an inflexion point, Board Members. Our Management Team consist of
lending is moving from Collateral to Cash Flow. We entrepreneurial people who are driven by our mission
believe that in next 5 Years MSME would be able to and embedded through a very strong equity option
avail on tap financing similar to consumer financing as an equal stake holder and last but not least we are
in India. Today, any consumer who has a good bureau backed by strong equity and debt capital providers in
footprint can avail financing at the point of purchase India.
itself, however for an MSME to get a working capital to
fulfill an order can take anywhere between 15 days to 3 Our data analytics have created our Gro Score platform,
months. which is a set of sector-specific statistical scorecards,

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