Facebook to enable access to loans for SMBs

Social media giant Facebook India on Friday announced a lending initiative to help small and medium businesses that advertise on its platform to get quick access to credit through independent lending

Social media giant Facebook India on Friday announced a lending initiative to help small and medium businesses that advertise on its platform to get quick access to credit through independent lending partners. The company said India is the first country to see the roll-out of the ‘Small Business Loans Initiative’. Ajit Mohan, VP and MD Facebook India, said access to timely capital is more important than ever as it can help small firms jump-start recovery and drive growth. The goal of the initiative is to make business loans more easily accessible to small entrepreneurs, and reduce the credit gap within India’s MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) sector, he added. “It’s going to be an arm’s length relationship with reputable and reliable lenders, but within the construct of a programme that has been co-designed with Facebook... Indifi is the first lending partner and the idea is that as we scale, others can follow,” he said.