24th November 2020, Kathmandu
Nepal’s leading online marketplace, Daraz, has officially launched the Daraz Sarathi program in collaboration with Nabil Bank. Under this strategic partnership, small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) selling via the Daraz online shopping marketplace will be able to obtain a wide range of preferred credit facilities and benefits which they can use to grow their business. The ongoing economic crisis caused by COVID-19 has had a severe effect on the overall economy, particularly on SMEs. The Sarathi program will enable SME sellers active on Daraz, to navigate through the hardships and restrictions presented by COVID-19.
This SME lending program is a new merit-based approach to credit scoring, considering data points from Daraz and loan provider Nabil Bank. The better a seller performs on the Daraz marketplace, the better the credit offering. Under the Daraz Sarathi Program, SME sellers can get financing of up to NPR 50 million and beyond under different categories. SME sellers will further be able to avail of the Daraz Nabil SME Loan, specially designed for Daraz sellers, where sellers can obtain loan amounts up to NPR 10 million at attractive interest rates.
On top of the credit facilities, the program offers a variety of benefits to existing as well as new SMEs on Daraz, which will help sellers to revive and uplift their business online and offline.
The benefits of the program include:
- Loan decision within 72 hours (after document submission)
- Attractive interest rates for SMEs
- Various loan solutions to choose from, designed to cater to various SME needs
- Discount on loan admin fee as per performance on Daraz marketplace
- Further discount of 0.25% on Loan Admin Fee for first 10 SME signups
“We are very excited to present Sarathi in collaboration with Nabil Bank. Even though we have worked on this for a long time, it proves to be even more important considering the impact of COVID-19 on the economy. This is a new solution to credit scoring in Nepal and we are just at the beginning of this strategic partnership. Hence, we are looking forward to working very closely with Nabil Bank on this SME lending program so we can further strengthen the Nepali ecosystem.” – Lino Ahlering, Managing Director, Daraz Nepal
Eligibility for the program is based upon certain criteria. SMEs interested in creating their online presence can visit the following link to understand how to join Daraz and the Sarathi Program which is jointly facilitated by Nabil Bank and Daraz.