Nepal’s leading online marketplace, Daraz, and the leading commercial bank, Nabil Bank Limited, have jointly launched the Sarathi program.
Under this strategic partnership, small and medium sized enterprises (SME) selling via the Daraz online shopping marketplace will now 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 Daraz marketplace, the better the credit offering. Under the 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 the Daraz Nabil SME Loan, especially designed for Daraz sellers, where sellers can obtain loan amounts up to NPR 10 million at attractive interest rates.
Mr. Sujit Kumar Shakya, Deputy CEO, Nabil Bank and Mr. Lino Ahlering, Managing Director, Daraz Nepal Pvt. Ltd had signed the agreement during a special ceremony.
Speaking about the launch, Deputy CEO of Nabil Bank said, “This collaboration will remain as a milestone for the development of digital marketplace in Nepal. One of our top priorities is to provide support to SMEs in Nepal to enhance their business through value chain financing for which we have collaborated with Daraz for the Sarathi Program. We believe this financing arrangement shall help them to navigate through the hardships due to COVID-19 and revive their businesses for long term stability and growth.”
Likewise, Managing Director, Daraz Nepal said, “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 in the beginning of this strategic partnership. Hence, we are looking forward to working very closely with Nabil Bank on such initiatives so we can further strengthen the Nepali ecosystem.”
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 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
SMEs interested in creating their online presence can visit the following link to the Sarathi Program which is jointly facilitated by Nabil Bank and Daraz.
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About Nabil
Nabil Bank is operating with a wide network with 119 branches, 185 ATMs and more than 1,500 Nabil Remit Agents spread across the country. With banking experience of more than three decades with a highly trained team and robust / secured banking system, the bank is intended for superior service delivery for enhancing value to the customers.
About Daraz
Daraz is the leading online marketplace in South Asia, empowering tens of thousands of sellers to connect with millions of customers. Daraz provides immediate and easy access to 20+ million products in 100+ categories. Daraz is a mall, a marketplace and a community for its customers. It is also a university for entrepreneurs, and every month it educates more than 2,000 new sellers on e-commerce operations. Daraz Nepal, the leading online marketplace in Nepal, has 7000 plus sellers, more than 5 lakh products, and delivers to over 27 cities in Nepal.