Lendingkart disbursed Rs 1,000 crore of loans every quarter, says CEO Harshvardhan Lunia

The Lendingkart Group which consists of Lendingkart Finance Limited and Lendingkart Technologies Private Limited is disbursing about Rs 1,000 crore worth of loans every quarter in this fiscal year. It is aiming to close this financial year with a total of Rs 4,000 crore in annual disbursement. 
 
The Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) lender is also looking to make its stock market debut in the next six to eight quarters, the Group’s Co-founder and CEO, Harshvardhan Lunia told Business Today in an exclusive interaction. And from this year on, it claims to be on the profitable side with a profit before tax of Rs 51 crore in the first half of FY23. 
 
Last year, Lendingkart’s losses grew 7x despite a 24.4 per cent increase in its revenues. In FY22, the Ahmedabad-based company breached the Rs 600-crore mark in operating revenues. Lunia is not worried about the past losses because now “we are making money.”
 
Lendingkart was launched in 2014 by Lunia and Mukul Sachin. The non-banking financial services (NBFCs) company has been providing unsecured loans and other financial services products to the MSMEs sector. Since its inception, the company has disbursed over Rs 11,500 crore worth of loans across 4,000 cities and loans. 
 
The Indian MSME sector is considered the backbone of the Indian economy. India is home to about 63 million Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). This sector contributes about 30 per cent to India’s GDP, and 45 per cent to India’s exports and is also the second largest employer of workforce after agriculture, as per data shared by the MSME Ministry. Infact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has often highlighted the crucial role this sector will play in making India a $5 trillion economy by 2025. 
 
However, several challenges beset Indian small businesses. The MSME sector is highly underbanked and underserved. According to estimates shared by the World Bank, Indian MSMEs face a credit gap of about $380 billion. 
 
Additionally, while the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated digital transformation within this segment, the penetration of financial literacy continues to be low, especially in the hinterlands of the country. Lunia tells BT that 50 per cent of the company’s business comes from Tier II and below cities. 
 
It is also important to note that one of the products by Lendingkart has been making waves in the market. This is the co-lending offering called 2gther. Launched in 2020, Lendingkart has partnered with banks such as Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, and more to help MSMEs build their loan portfolios. It has already disbursed loans worth Rs 5,000 crore through this platform. 
 
He also says that through this an NBFC like Lendingkart is bridging the gap between traditional banks and the SME sector. 
 
Lunia concludes by saying that they are aiming to make a profit of about Rs 170 crore in this fiscal year.