EarlySalary is an innovative lending platform that aims to change the way loans are taken in India. Being a new age online brand, the company brings together new credit scoring systems for superior customer profiling. In an interview with The Knowledge Review, Akshay Mehrotra, the Co–Founder and CEO of EarlySalary shares his opinions about the company, the various services it offers, various organizational policies, and its future plans.
Kindly tell us how your company is revolutionizing the digital money lending and fin-tech industry in India?
EarlySalary is leading the digital salary advance and instant loans space and has gone on to become India’s largest mobile first consumer lending platform for salaried individuals. Currently, disbursing over 80,000 loans a month worth Rs.125 Cr, the company has already disbursed 900,000 loans.
EarlySalary aims to achieve full stack credit product portfolio to cater to all customer ’s need. They are also focusing on achieving customer engagement from the start of customer ’s credit life cycle & growing with their needs. The company also focuses on gaining a highly scalable, tech-enabled automated underwriting & risk management system. EarlySalary successfully went on to become the preferred credit line which grows with their customer to cater to his/her life’s every need by providing:
-Instant loan with tenure starting form 1 month to 3 years
– Shopping loans on Amazon, Flipkart & Big Bazaar
– Present in across 40+ Big Bazaar stores through feet-on-street personnel
– Salary card for universal payments
– Education fees payments in EMI -100+ tie-ups across the country with education institutes
What are the employee benefit programs initiated by your company and what steps are you taking towards employee development of client organizations?
EarlySalary started with a team of around 8 people in 2015 and has reached 250 employees today. The company works towards creating a company culture that encourages a healthy work-life balance while giving creative freedom to their workforce. Creating a strong, positive corporate culture helps their employees feel and perform their best at work. The success of an early stage company can be measured with their ability to attract talent from all over the world to build a next level organization. EarlySalary is one of those few companies who have been successful in attracting the best in class talent.
Moreover, EarlySalary’s participation in corporate programs, where they have now collaborated with around 350 corporates encourages financial wellness at workplace and offers salaryadvances to their employees. Along with the millennials, they also aim to benefit the blue-collared and entry-level skilled workers working with the corporates.
Please tell us about yourself. As a leader, what steps are you taking to spearhead the company towards development and prominence?
I completed my Master ’s Degree in Business Administration from Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies, Pune. Now I am spearheading EarlySalary along with the Co-Founder Ashish Goyal. Prior to this, I gathered 16 years of experience with brands like Future Retail Ltd, PolicyBazaar.com, Big Bazaar, and Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Co. Ltd. My business acumen and attention to detail has assisted me to achieve the “Most Talented CMO of the Year” award in 2013 – 2014 in the retail space, by CMO Asia.
In the last few years, I have led EarlySalary through various phases where funding cycles were critical and came out with flying colors with marquee investors like EightRoads (Fidelity) Ventures, Chirate (IDG) Ventures & DHFL backing large funding rounds. Today EarlySalary has raised not only $23 Million in equity but also raised more than $50 Million in debt to build and over Rs.1500Cr have been disbursed.
Growth cannot happen without building a strong team and hence at EarlySalary we have built a team of nearly 250 people comprising of data scientists, core technology developers, risk & underwriting, collections, product and marketing units which has helped them grow in a highly automated manner. Large customer acceptance is critical to any early stage business and today EarlySalary has over 9 Million app downloads, disbursed over 900,000 loans and tied-up with over 400+ large corporates along with 100+ education institutes to help kick start hyper growth.
What are the various loan facilities offered by your company, and what is the eligibility criteria for availing the same?
The various loans are:
Shopping Loans–Instant credit facility of EarlySalary made it easier to shop on EMIs and get vouchers for both Amazon and Flipkart. Whether its electronic appliances or household items – everything is accessible and affordable with our buy now pay later options.
Travel Loans–EarlySalary does not limit your travel plans with it’s no cost EMIs and partnerships with India’s leading travel agencies – Yatra and MakeMyTrip.
Education Loans–EarlySalary shares the same sentiment you do for education – which is why we are making it easier than ever to cover the cost of fees. Our program called FeEs, is designed to take the financial burden off your shoulders and allow you to provide the quality education you need, uninhibited, and uninterrupted.
Eligibility –
- Should be an Indian Resident
- Should be a working professional/salaried person
- Salary should be above Rs 18,000
In addition to instant cash loan, what additional benefits does your company provide?
EarlySalary is a customer focused organization and our mission is to provide financial assistance to the underserved classes. Consumer lending is fueled by an immense rise in the young working population. Our ability to lend to young first-time customers gives us a unique opportunity to create a strong niche and cater to a large underserved market potential. We believe that advisory efforts are required to help the young adults to take control of their finances and make smart monetary decisions to ensure a prosperous and stable future.
With its various product features like free monthly credit score report and providing knowledge through campaigns and onground activities, we try to encourage to understand their financial health and setting them on the right path towards making better financial decisions.
EarlySalary believes such initiatives will go a long way to help people understand the intricacies of managing their credit well, and also pay a useful role in influencing their financial wellness.
Please tell us how your company is promoting a healthy work-life balance and positive work culture.
EarlySalary employees can explore various opportunities where they can upskill themselves through various learning platforms and share their best practices at work. Thus, creating a strong, positive corporate culture that helps the employees feel and perform their best at work. EarlySalary as an organization is committed to work towards diversity and inclusivity and encourages its employees to contribute towards it in various forms.
Kindly enlighten us about the future plans of your company.
Our TG of young working professionals is the fastest growing segment in the country and hence we would like to build EarlySalary as a market leader in this category. And in next 3 years, we aim to build a billion-dollar balance sheet.
