Worldline and 4th Wave to Launch Integrated Payment and Supply Chain Financing Solution

Worldline, a  global leader in the payments industry and the technology partner of choice for merchants, banks and acquirers has partnered with 4thWave, a Finance and Banking As-A-Service (BAAS) Platform provider, to launch an integrated payment and supply chain financing offering for India and South Asia.

Through this partnership, Worldline will launch an innovative digital platform that brings together lenders and businesses to facilitate Supply Chain Financing, Collections and Payments on a single platform. The platform will facilitate businesses to access affordable finance on one hand and helps to optimize  B2B payments across multiple payment rails on the other.

The offering will address a diverse range of working capital financing use cases for MSMEs and large corporate alike, across various industry segments. The partnership will leverage the extensive merchant and banking partner network of Worldline India.

Advancing B2B Payment Landscape

Commenting on the launch, Vishal Maru, Executive Vice President, Merchant Payment Services Worldline, said, "Worldline India has been working relentlessly to modernise the B2B payments landscape and introduce new services such as supply chain financing services with the aim of enabling sustainable economic growth for all our present and prospective clients. We trust that the expertise of 4thWave will help Worldline develop and implement relevant products and services to address the working capital and supply chain financing challenges of the businesses in the short term and long run."

To commemorate this partnership, Partha Saha, Senior Vice President, Global Markets, 4thWave Inc stated, "We are confident that 4thWave’s experience in Supply Chain Financing in emerging economies, coupled with Worldline’s deep payments expertise will alleviate the B2B Payments and financing issues of the businesses, while catalyzing inclusive economic growth in India and South Asia."

Pandemic Impact on Lending

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted most businesses, and the traditional lending models limited easy access to finance. The credit gap in India alone stands at over INR 20 trillion <1> despite the contemporaneous extended credit environment. A survey conducted in 2020 highlighted that 9 in 10 respondents in India <2> are concerned over a deterioration of their working capital cycle and short-term financing flexibility.

While the region is witnessing a lot of innovation in B2C payments, large and costly gaps remain in the B2B segment, with most of the businesses reporting high Accounts Payable (AP) processing costs as a major challenge with traditional payment methods.