UK FINTECH AND WORLD’S LARGEST SME ASSOCIATION LAUNCH PROGRAMME TO SECURE AFFORDABLE FINANCE FOR 70 MILLION INDIAN SMEs
‘Changemakers Programme’ will help plug a more than $320 USD billion gap in affordable credit that is not disbursed to credit worthy SMEs"
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), the world’s largest SME association and CreditEnable, a UK fintech specialising in credit solutions for the SME sector will sign an exclusive partnership agreement in Mumbai on 7 May kickstarting a national campaign for access to affordable finance.
CAIT /The CreditEnable partnership is designed to move the $320 bn that CAIT’s members currently take out from the informal sector at interest rates of 30-40%, into the formal lending sector, resulting in an overall annual savings on interest costs alone of close to $50B USD for existing borrowers as well as provide substantial opportunities for new borrowers to access affordable finance in a timely manner.
The programme will leverage CreditEnable’s expertise in credit assessment and technology and its extensive network of banking partners, and CAIT’s extensive organised SME ecosystem which includes 40,000 SME trade associations, to help CAIT’s 70 million members secure affordable debt.
The first phase of the Changemakers campaign will involve appointing 1000 influential leaders from within the CAIT organisation and embedding dedicated staff within 24,450 CAIT trade associations across 14 states in India to kick-start the programme on a national basis.
CAIT members joining the CreditEnable Changemakers Programme will be trained to assist their fellow SMEs to understand the loan process and help them to secure credit at competitive and affordable rates through CreditEnable’s technology-enabled marketplace which currently matches SME borrowers to lenders in India.
Components of the training provided to CAIT members through the programme will include such vital things as:
-What types of documentation a bank need from an SME in order to approve a loan
-What makes a company creditworthy from a bank’s perspective
-What a company can do to improve its creditworthiness and improve its likelihood of securing a loan.
The global market for SME credit stands at is $8.1 USD trillion . The global SME credit gap is estimated $4.5 USD trillion. India is the first stage for CreditEnable, whose ambitions are global.
Says CreditEnable CEO, Nadia Sood;
“Our mission is to help SMEs everywhere avail of affordable finance so they can live out their full potential. Indian SMEs are arguably the largest potential business growth area globally and are restricted only by the lack of affordable finance. Currently the vast majority of Indian SMEs are forced to secure financing from the informal market at rates that often exceed 30-40%.
We are delighted to be working with CAIT, the world’s largest SME association, to identify and train CreditEnable Changemakers who can help unlock the vast potential of the SME segment”.
The aim of Changemakers Programme is to ensure that Indian SMEs can access billions in available funding that is available, but not accessible. Technology is a great enabler, but we need to build a bridge between lenders and borrowers which allows them to understand and trust each other. That is what CreditEnable is all about and the Changemakers programme is a clear example of how we are executing on our values and our vision”.
Dear Friends,
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) commissioned perhaps the largest ever Voter Survey in any country. The survey was conducted between October 2018 and December 2018, prior to the General Elections to the Lok Sabha 2019. It covered 534 Lok Sabha constituencies with 2,73,487 voters participating in this exercise spread among various demographics. The three main objectives of this survey were to identify the following: (i) voters’ priorities on specific governance issues, (ii) voters’ ratings of the government's performance on those issues, and (iii) factors affecting voting behaviour.
Focusing on Himachal Pradesh, this report provides an analysis of 10 most important governance issues as rated by the voters of Himachal Pradesh (out of the 31 listed in the questionnaire). These voters’ priorities are further examined in relation to the performance of the Government on those issues as perceived by the respondents. A three-level scale of GOOD, AVERAGE and BAD was used, where GOOD was given weightage equal to 5, Average was weighted 3 and BAD was weighted as 1. The survey covered approximately 2,000 respondents across all 4 parliamentary constituencies of Himachal Pradesh.
KEY FINDINGS
§ The Himachal Pradesh Survey 2018 shows that Better Employment Opportunities (63.60%), Availability of Water for Agriculture (47.02%) and Better Hospitals/Primary Healthcare Centres (41.10%) are the top three voters’ priorities in overall Himachal Pradesh.
§ The performance of the government on all top three voters’ priorities of Better Employment Opportunities (2.63 on a scale of 5), Availability of Water for Agriculture (2.60) and Better Hospitals/Primary Healthcare Centres (2.64) was rated as Below Average.
§ In rural Himachal Pradesh, top most voters’ priorities were Better Employment Opportunities (64%), Availability of Water for Agriculture (53%) and Better Hospitals/Primary Healthcare Centres (41%).
§ The performance of the government on rural voters’ priorities of Better Employment Opportunities (2.65 on a scale of 5), Availability of Water for Agriculture (2.60) and Better Hospitals/Primary Healthcare Centres (2.64) was rated as Below Average.
§ In addition, the government has performed poorly on Better Public Transport (2.39) and Better Roads (2.75) in rural Himachal Pradesh.
§ For the urban voters in Himachal Pradesh, the top most priorities were Better Employment Opportunities (60%), School Education (60%) and Eradication of Corruption (44%).
§ The performance of the government on urban voters’ priorities of Better Employment Opportunities (2.46), School Education (2.48) and Eradication of Corruption (2.54) was rated as Below Average.
§ In addition, the government has performed poorly on Better Roads (2.58) and Better Hospitals/Primary Healthcare Centres (2.71) in urban Himachal Pradesh.
Top 3 Voters’ Priorities and the Performance of Government in Himachal Pradesh – Overall and Rural & Urban
Graph 1: Himachal Pradesh - Top 3 overall Voters’ Priorities and Government’s Performance Scores
Graph 2: Himachal Pradesh - Rural & Urban Breakup of Voters' Priorities and Government's Performance Scores
Attachment: Attached are the detailed Himachal Pradesh Survey Report 2018 both in English and Hindi. We believe that the assessment report can be an important tool in engendering improvements within all institutions in refining their own institutional practices and developing better oversight of other bodies. We hope the report will be instrumental in starting a coordinated effort to work together to ensure the most efficient use of resources to serve the nation as a whole. Please find a link to the report on our website.
A Mid Poll Evaluation of the 2019 Elections'
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TATA Steel PGTI second day
Tricity golfers on the rise as Angad Cheema grabs halfway lead and Yuvraj Singh Sandhu moves into second with day’s best score
Panchkula, Haryana, May 8, 2019: The second round of the TATA Steel PGTI Players Championship Presented by Panchkula Golf Club belonged to players from the Chandigarh Capital Region as Panchkula’s Angad Cheema grabbed the lead with a five-under-67 while rookie Yuvraj Singh Sandhu from neighbouring Chandigarh shot the day’s best score of seven-under-65 to move into second place.
Twenty-nine-year-old Angad Cheema, looking to win his first title since 2013, took his tournament tally to 10-under-134 at his home course on Wednesday and thus enjoyed a two-shot advantage over 22-year-old Yuvraj Singh Sandhu.
Angad Cheema (67-67), lying one shot behind the lead in joint second place on day one, made a terrific start on day two with a 40-feet eagle putt from the edge of the green on the par-4 first hole. Angad’s bogey on the fourth didn’t dampen his spirits as he picked up birdies on the next three holes and added two more on the 11th and 12th.
Cheema hit rough weather on the 15th and 16th where he dropped a double-bogey and a bogey respectively. On the 15th he found the bunker and then the hazard while on the 16th his tee shot landed at the base of a tree. However, the tall and lanky golfer, who had an Asian Tour card few years back, pulled it back on the last two holes by setting up birdie putts within four feet of the pin.
Angad said, “I struck it well and also made most putts today. Looking back I feel that I made just one big mistake on the 15th where I had a chance for birdie. But I’m glad to have closed the round on a high. I know the course well as I play here often so that definitely will be an advantage over the last two days.
“I had a tied sixth finish at the last PGTI event in April so I feel I can now put four good rounds together and sustain the intensity through a tournament. I feel the positive energy in my game once again.
“I will need to be precise with my hitting over the next two days as a few yards here and there could be very punishing on this course.”
Yuvraj Singh Sandhu (71-65) fired the best round of the tournament so far and as a result gained 22 spots from his overnight tied 24th. Yuvraj had a nervous start making bogey on the opening 10th. He was on a roll thereafter as he knocked in nine birdies at the expense of just one more bogey to end up with a total of eight-under-136.
Sandhu, who was India’s number one amateur in 2016, made some top-class chip-putts and landed his approach shots within a couple of feet of the flag on the 16thand ninth. His approach shot from 70 yards lipped out on the 16th.
Yuvraj said, “I’m sticking to my process and not trying to play against the wind. One can’t afford to go against the wind at this course. I feel chipping and putting will hold the key over the last two days. Whoever chips and putts the best will win the tournament.
“I started the year well with a couple of top-20s but then had a bad stretch during the Kolkata and Pune events. But now I feel I’m settling down and my graph is moving up steadily.”
Rashid Khan of Delhi, the round one leader, slipped to tied third at seven-under-137 after a round of 71.Mukesh Kumar (67) of Mhow too took a share of third. He gained 14 places from his overnight tied 7th.Jyoti Randhawa was tied 26th at even-par-144 after he shot a second straight 72.
Defending champion N Thangaraja (70) of Sri Lanka was also in tied 26th.
The cut went at two-over-146. Fifty-eight professionals made the cut.
