mumbai vaccine king adar poonawalla of serum institute has made a major play into technologybased lending even as many corporate houses are scaling down their nonbanking finance operations the 10billion cashrich group has invested rs 850 crore in poonawalla finance and aims to adopt a lowleverage lowcost delivery model to highquality individual borrowers the oneyearold poonawalla finance has already disbursed rs 1500crore personal loans in the range of rs 2 lakh to rs 30 lakh at rates that compete with banks with no security no guarantors and zero prepayment charges being its unique selling proposition with targeted disbursements of over rs 2000 crore during the current fiscal the nonbanking finance company nbfc is the fastest growing personal loan provider during the pandemicaccording to md ceo abhay bhutada the companys strategy is unique in many ways while nbfcs typically go after customers who are usually higher risk than bank customers poonawalla is targeting highquality bank customers offering 1012 rates which is extremely competitive in the unsecured segment ethics and values are core to the group there are no hidden costs or prepayment charges said bhutada also unlike other finance companies that are facing a problem of shortterm borrowings poonawalla finance is using longerterm funds to provide shortterm loans we have come into the market after dhfl and ilfs and what is a weakness for other nbfcs is a strength for us for instance our average tenure of borrowing is five years but the average tenure of our loan is only two yearsenabling scale during the lockdown is the appraisal process that is entirely automated with the underwriting software analysing the applicants bank statements credit history and gst data wherever available this is the first time it is happening that a 30lakh loan is being given in a 100 paperless and contactless manner even conservatively we will grow 35 this fiscal said bhutadafor us covid lockdown is an opportunity similar to what demonetisation threw up for digital payment companies said bhutada besides the strong parentage the company is able to borrow funds at 7 because of its high capital adequacy ratio which at 72 is nearly five times the 15 statutory requirementone reason why the company can grow even as others are shrinking is its ability to expand market share by drawing customers who are seeking to refinance highercost loans we are the first nbfc to offer loans at a lower rate than private banks in terms of customer category we are targeting the bank customer said bhutadathe company has started out with unsecured business loans personal loans for salaried individuals and professional loans for doctors chartered accountants architects and company secretaries it now plans to source customers through colending under which it will join hands with established nbfcs to lend and retain the majority of the loan very soon it is planning to expand into new categories like cobranded credit cards and loans against property