“Small businesses in India have stayed small for decades and the time has come for these entrepreneurs to grow. The realization is yet to mature for many MSMEs to understand the power of technology to run businesses. Our plan for the next 1-2 years is to cater to at least 40,000 businesses, empower their financial well-being, and fuel their growth.”
There has been a lot of push from the government through various initiatives as part of Digital India, however the adaption has accelerated due to remote working during lockdowns.
Winny Patro, CEO & Co-Founder, Recordent
How did you come up with an Idea of establishment of this organization?
Delayed customer payments was a pain point that both Harish and Winny Patro experienced in the companies that they were running earlier. Their inspiration came from this shared peril where they began thinking on the lines to find a startup that could provide solutions for delayed payments and enable businesses to reduce their credit risks. The research that went into was first to deep dive into how the trade credit sector operates, and how manufacturing to the last mile delivery value chain works, the trade credit practices and how the credit practices are. How the delayed payments are furthermore affecting the value chain. The founders spoke with key people in the trade credit sector, in trade associations and with bankers to understand the viability of their idea, and that gave us a kickstart to all activities that are currently happening at Recordent.
What kind of major financial challenges are faced by Enterprises of India?
For a long time, Small & Medium Enterprises have been facing a financial crunch which is a major hindrance in growth. Delayed payments are one of the major factors that derail the progress, and sometimes even the day to day operations of a small business. The major part of the MSME sector is caught up in the vicious cycle of delayed payments causing stressful environment affecting the business growth. Most of the Small & Medium Enterprises spend lot of time and resources on collection of dues which are generally not paid on-time. Often, company founders, directors, owners, and staff spend a considerable amount of time collecting dues. This is an unproductive use of resources. Spending that time and resources on sales or business expansion would definitely contribute to growth and job creation
What are your product offerings and which product are you planning to launch in the upcoming time?
At Recordent, we offer a host of solutions that are aimed at a business’s growth and financial well-being.
Credidue
- Payment reminder mechanism through SMS, Email and IVR with tailor made features to notify buyers about upcoming and overdue payments
- Managing defaults in business by using legal notice feature where the cost, time and effort are drastically reduced to serve a legal notice on defaulting customers using technology and traditional methods to recover bad debts, additionally subject to conditions also reduce the hassles involved with invoking arbitration against chronic defaulters through our e-arbitration feature where sitting in the comfort of the office one can electronically engage in arbitration proceedings that are completely faceless
- Analytics, a feature that again combines the power of data and technology to empower business owners with business intelligence for monitoring their business and controlling their business to power growth and lower risk, we use state of the art business intelligence software for developing our analytics feature and is single sign on and in app experience.
cRediEye:
- Businesses operate on a circle of trust. Despite that, the challenges of late payment exist and are the biggest hindrance to business growth
- Our partnership with a leading global credit bureau enables us to offer vast coverage and depth of information, domestically and internationally, to make sure you know who you’re doing business with before you sign a contract, create a purchase order or ship that big customer order. It also enables the business to make informed and confident decisions into setting the right terms to minimize risk and optimize profitability
- Layered with our IP that breaks down complex information into simplified insights to make quick business decisions.
cRediCart:
- Financing Options for Every Business Need
- Every business is unique and so are the financing needs. Choose from a range of unsecured funding options based on purpose, tenor, interest rate and loan amount, that suits you!
What can the government do to promote the adoption of digitalisation for Indian Enterprises?
There has been a lot of push from the government through various initiatives as part of Digital India, however the adaption has accelerated due to remote working during lockdowns. But, the realization is yet to mature for many Small & Medium Enterprises to understand the power of technology to run businesses. Government can look at collaborations with various technology companies and MSME associations to conduct digital drives & road shows which creates deeper impact.
What are your plans for expansion?
Our plan for the next 1-2 years is to cater to at least 40,000 businesses, empower their financial well-being, and fuel their growth. The focus will be to keep up the tech-oriented solutions and spend time on customer acquisition in the coming future. Our major focus areas will be collaborations with complementary fintech and banks to provide financing options to businesses, invoice reconciliation, and add more services and features to the tech platform for further ease of use.
What can you tell about market trend? Small businesses in India have stayed small for decades and the time has come for these entrepreneurs to grow faster with the aid of technology and the internet. Every small entrepreneur has witnessed the power of technology in the consumer tech revolution. They have now started thinking of using technology in their businesses also. With 6.4 million businesses, the number largely dominated by Micro enterprises will see a tremendous growth. We will witness many micro enterprises growing to become small and medium businesses in the next 2-3 years. And the level of growth anticipated is very much possible if businesses start adapting to technology.
