ICICI Bank Offers Instant Overdraft Facility to Flipkart Sellers

ICICI Bank has partnered with Flipkart to offer an instant and completely digital overdraft (OD) facility of up to Rs. 25 lakh to individual sellers and businesses registered on the e-commerce platform. Enabled by API integration, the partnership helps sellers to avail an OD from the Bank instantly in a process- from application to sanction to disbursement - that is entirely digital. Customers of any bank can avail of ODs from ICICI Bank if they are registered as sellers with Flipkart.

ICICI Bank leverages advanced data analytics to develop an industry-first scorecard that helps it evaluate the credit-worthiness of the sellers instantly. The new credit assessment method does away with the traditional process that involves examining paper-intensive bank statements and income tax returns. This method helps the sellers who are ‘new-to-credit’ as well as existing Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) borrowers to unlock the value of their digital transactions and get access to instant credit.

Sellers having a current account with ICICI Bank can immediately start using the OD to meet their working capital requirements. Customers of other banks can avail of the OD by simply opening a current account with ICICI Bank digitally, post KYC verification.

Speaking on the initiative, Mr. Pankaj Gadgil, Head - Self Employed Segment, SME & Merchant Ecosystem, ICICI Bank said, “At ICICI Bank, we understand that timely credit and ease of doing business are important factors for functioning and growth of MSME businesses. With this partnership, sellers registered with Flipkart can avail instant OD of up to Rs. 25 lakh, in a completely digital manner and start using it immediately. The quick processing of the OD facility has been made possible by a specially developed scorecard for credit assessment of the sellers. This new and improved process helps individual sellers and businesses who may otherwise not get access to adequate credit when assessed in the traditional way of using only balance sheets, bank statements and tax returns. We believe that this new proposition resonates with our effort in developing path-breaking innovations for MSME customers and will empower them with new avenues of business expansion.”

Mr. Dheeraj Aneja, Senior Vice President - Fintech and Payments Group, Flipkart said, “As sellers and MSME partners from across the country continue to put their trust in Flipkart marketplace, we want to ensure that our efforts to enable their business growth entails financial support as well. Flipkart has been working towards the financial independence of its sellers through its dedicated program - Growth Capital and continues to evolve it based on market requirements. The introduction of a digital process to avail an OD, in partnership with ICICI Bank, is another step in the direction of providing the necessary support that can help fulfill the ambitions and aspirations of our sellers.” 

Here are the benefits of ‘InstaOD’ for Flipkart sellers:

• End to end digital processing: Sellers registered on Flipkart can apply for the OD instantly through Flipkart Seller Hub, an online portal for Flipkart sellers, in a completely digital and paperless manner
• Quick evaluation: ICICI Bank evaluates sellers instantly on the basis of their Credit Bureau score and their transaction history on Flipkart, making the loan approval process easy and quick. This is a marked improvement over the typical process which demands sellers to go through the tedious paper-intensive process of submitting income tax returns, bank statements and GST returns.
• Immediate sanction and disbursal: The approved OD amount is instantly sanctioned and disbursed into the seller’s current account
• Interest benefit: Interest is payable only on the amount of OD utilised by sellers
• Auto-renewal facility: The OD is renewable on an annual basis, depending on the repayment track records of the seller

Below are quick steps for the sellers to avail the ‘InstaOD’:

• View offer: Eligible sellers can find the ICICI Bank offer on their Flipkart Seller Hub account portal
• Click on the banner: The seller is redirected to ICICI Bank’s ‘InstaOD’ platform upon clicking the banner on the Flipkart Seller Hub portal
• Fill the application form: The seller needs to log in and fill in the digital application form
• Confirm to sanction amount: Upon confirmation of the amount from the seller, the OD is instantly sanctioned. If the seller already has a current account with ICICI Bank, then the seller can immediately start using the OD
• Account opening for a new-to-bank seller: Sellers new to ICICI Bank, will be redirected for an instant opening of current account and KYC validation.