By Manish Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO, KredX
- Supply chain financing will grow by leaps and bounds as a result of GST and e-way bills
GST has brought about a much-needed formalisation as a centralised govt portal where everyone has to report. This actually helps reduce fraud with more businesses being rightfully taxed, thereby helping in the process of invoice verification. In the case of e-way bills, it helps track and verify in the logistics sector. As a result of this, more lenders will be encouraged to get into supply chain financing because of readily verified documents and an easier underwriting process with a proper paper trail. Businesses, on the other hand, would benefit from such a scenario due to the low cost of financing these SCF are likely to provide.2. e-Invoicing will become a mainstay
Invoice verification has now become easier and more robust with e-invoicing. As a result of invoicing becoming centralised, every invoice will have a unique ID attached to it which makes it easier for all parties involved; the business, the government and the supply chain financing solution provider.3. Increased digital adoption and digitisation
With the increase focus by the government and regulators on GST, e-way bills, and e-invoicing, companies will look for systems that have multiple functionalities to take care of all this. On the business front, most business leaders have now realised the importance of digitisation as a result of the pandemic. The sort of negative impact and losses or shutdowns the pandemic brought about given the non-readiness of entire industries to equip themselves for a remote or geo-dispersed mode was apparent. The key now for businesses is going digital with more features and optimisation through automation.4. MSME-friendly Government initiatives
The government’s focus on MSMEs who contribute significantly to the nation’s economy, employment generation, and from a per capita income perspective, has been apparent. Various government initiatives to make credit readily available for MSMEs will gain traction. This in turn will mean that lenders will now have to be ready to lend to MSMEs through account aggregator frameworks with no long documentation to further support the initiatives. With increased credit-issuing speed, more businesses are likely to avail these facilities, which will then help create more employment and subsequent economic growth. UPI for lending will be something that will soon become a reality. With data collection and verification efforts reducing, enabling the UPI framework for B2B lending could soon be a cornerstone in supply chain financing.5. Focus on export-import
As a nation, ours is one with a significant global trade deficit which is something that various governments have been trying to improve through Make In India, the creation of GIFT City in Gujarat, and other initiatives to increase the export potential. Since the pandemic first hit, the world’s manufacturing hub has had to move from China. Businesses now are focussed on a geo-dispersed mode of operation which is a wonderful opportunity for developing nations like ours to support this with the necessary infrastructure. And for any business, credit is the primary requirement and through supply chain financing that focuses on import-export transactions, the possibilities are endless.