Credit Saison India raises $47 million from Japanese parent company

Non-deposit taking NBFC Credit Saison India said on August 24 that it has raised an additional $47 million from its parent, Japanese credit card issuer and consumer finance company Credit Saison. This takes the total funds raised by the Indian arm to $150 million.

CS India received its NBFC license in 2019, since then it has started its wholesale lending vertical as well as a co-lending/fintech partnerships vertical. The company which partners with other NBFCs, fintech companies and other new age lending companies to help build its retail book, focusing on the consumer and SME segments.

Presha Paragash, CEO of Credit Saison India said, “Taking into account the Covid situation and the corresponding setback this has brought to the lending space, on a forward-looking basis, we are bullish on our growth plans. Out target is to have Assets Under Management (AUM) worth $1 bn over the upcoming years.”

CS India has tied up with nearly 30 NBFCs under its wholesale lending vertical, across various asset classes such as SME, consumer, vehicle financing and gold loans. It is looking to start onboarding entities in the MFI and agricultural finance space in the near future.

On the co-lending/fintech partnerships vertical, CS India is working with around 15 partners across the SME and consumer segments.

“While aggressive, we are confident of getting there with the ability to further leverage our parents’ balance sheet and also having a diversified lender base that will be commensurate with our Credit Rating,” Paragash added.

The non-deposit taking NBFC aims to become a neo lending conglomerate and has received an AA+ rating from CRISIL.

Kosuke Mori, Head of Global Business Division and Senor Managing Executive Officer at Credit Saison said, “As a group, we are looking to becoming a leading neo-finance company in Asia. We have actively ventured out and have built many successful ventures outside of Japan and continue to invest heavily towards geographical expansion specifically in the emerging markets.”

“India is one of the most important markets for us which benefit not only from our financial support but also our global. We look forward to our India team building the book to $1 billion in the upcoming years,” he added.

CS India’s board consists of 3 directors from the parent company, including Kosuke Mori. Furthermore, the board also consists of Jupiter Founder Jitendra Gupta, two independent directors and Paragash who is the Wholetime Director.

Credit Saison is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and is the third-largest credit card issuer in Japan with over 36 million credit card holders.