BharatPe launches investment platform for merchant partners

Fintech firm BharatPe on May 18 announced the launch of an investment platform for its merchant partners, that, it said, will allow the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)-regulated entities to market their investment products to more than eight million of its affiliated merchants across the country.

In the first phase, the company is going live with P2P investments and bank deposit products with its partners on the platform, a press release noted. Currently, P2P investment product is being powered through RBI-regulated NBFCs- LenDenClub and Liquiloans.

"BharatPe is also working on providing its merchants an option to invest in fixed deposits by Unity Small Finance Bank and earn assured returns from the bank," the release stated.

Based on the success of the pilot, BharatPe said it aims to facilitate investments for over 20 lakh merchant partners over the next 12 months via this platform.

"BharatPe merchants would be able to access the ‘investment platform’ on the BharatPe app by clicking on the ‘Investments’ tab. The investment offerings by LenDenClub and Liquiloans will allow the merchants to register as a lender with the P2P platforms and deploy their money against loans on these platforms," it said.

With the P2P lending product, merchants will have an option to earn interest of up to 12 percent per annum in the first phase; and around 8 percent on the fixed deposit product, the company added.

BharatPe also noted that it intends to further diversify the offerings on the investment platform and offer a range of investment products under a single window, including mutual funds, ETFs, etc, in the coming months.

"With the launch of the investment platform, we intend to give our merchants a plethora of investment options to choose from. We believe that it should be the merchant who should have the power to decide which investment product and which partner he/she would like to invest with. With the Unity Small Finance Bank now operational, we are also looking forward to adding a range of investment products offered by banks, to our merchants," BharatPe CEO Suhail Sameer said.

“We are bullish about this category and are confident that this product will add tremendous value to our merchant partners," Suhail added.