SalaryDost: Enhancing Spending Capacity By Revolutionizing Lending
In recent years, FinTech companies have gained immense recognition as they revolutionize the entire loan process. While most financial institutions take days to process a loan application, FinTechs are now positioned to disburse the loan amount within a significantly lesser amount of the time taken, right from the application process up till the disbursal of the loan amount. Fintechs are harnessing the power of cutting-edge technological integration, ubiquity of smartphones in the market and faster internet connectivity, superior interfaces, easier documentation processes and not-too-stringent eligibility criteria for loan applications to extend customers easier access to instant loans. This market is proving to be a lucrative sector as salaried class individuals are increasingly turning to FinTechs in a bid to extend their spending capacity during certain or urgent instances and cannot depend on their meagre wages. In today’s fast paced environment, end-users applying for loans are knowledgeable and are on the lookout for a credible platform that ensures a smooth end-to-end loan process with an easy-to-use UI. In a digitally connected world, consumers can now go online and compare loan players and choose one to go ahead with that he deems best.Propelling this industry forward and ensuring a seamless loan application process with a myriad of benefits to offer is Thane, Mumbai headquartered Salarydost with its 100 percent digital consumer lending platform that is perfectly equipped to provide instant unsecured loans for all the salaried individuals. The platform is equipped to disburse the loan amount within a fraction of the time banks and other financial institutions would otherwise require. “Other companies take two to three days to disburse the loan. But we, if the customer has all the documents in place, then we disburse the loan in two or three hours into the customer’s account,” says Mrityunjay Shahi, Founder & CEO at Salarydost. He is a tenured entrepreneur that possesses 18 years of experience in the retail, core banking, insurance and sales sectors that he has gained out of long term association with some of the top private banks of India. “Additionally, another USP of the product is its ability to offer individuals the capability to secure even eight to ten loans in a year provided the loan is paid off in a timely fashion,” adds Manish Shukla, Co-founder & Data Scientist, Salarydost.
Offering an Easy-to-use Loan Application
Ashok Choudhary, Co-founder & CTO, weighs in to explain the easy loan application process that customers can avail within a short span of time. All that the customer is required to do is download the app onto a device and create the user profile. “We have a calculator in the loan application. Customers can calculate the loan amount and also select the loan payoff. The customer is his own boss, he can select his loan amount and apply for the loan,” says Ashok. The customer can then proceed to upload the required documents such as the salary slip, bank statements and address proof. Once this procedure is complete, the user is then required to upload a picture of himself and submit the application. The Loan application is then handed over to Salarydost system for underwriting purpose, which uses proprietary algorithms and Artificial Inteligence technology which assesses application on various parameters and either approve or reject the application. “Process takes approximately minutes of time to accomplish,” says Mrityunjay. Once the application is approved, the customer has to digitally signed the agreement and the loan gets disbursed to the customer’s account instantly.
Covering all the Bases
Perfectly understanding the apprehensions customers may have towards submitting personal information online and the assurance of a just process, Salarydost uses proprietary algorithms and latest Artificial Intelligence technologies in order to minimize any risk factors that may be involved. In addition to this, Salarydost has partnered with certain key players in this domain that are equipped to oversee certain parameters that would confirm the loan application such as verifying bank statements, KYC details and other information provided by the customer. The company has even employed geo-tagging innovations in order to corroborate the address of the customer that has been provided or to locate the customer’s current address if a false one was filled out. In tandem with this, the company has also leveraged a software program specially designed for customer detail verification. “SalaryDost provides loans from 15 to 90 days with minimal
interest charges and easy repayment methods. Apart from this, we offer interest free loans. So if a customer is taking a loan for 15 to 30 days, there is no need to pay any interest to us just like a credit card where you are offered 30 days free usage. Following a similar concept, we are offering seven to 30 days personal loan where there no need to pay any interest. This is one of the major aspects that set us apart from vendors providing similar solutions in the market,” adds Mrityunjay.
(R-L)Manish Shukla, Co-Founder & Data Scientist, Mrityunjay Shahi, Founder & CEO, Ashok Choudhary, Co-Founder & CTO
Going Green, Going Digital
Mrityunjay says he personally believes in Green and Digital economy. With this initiative of going green and reducing the carbon footprint from the planet, the platform is made 100% digital and adopts sans paper approach. Our entire process is digital, we do not ask for paper documents from any of our customers. Mrityunjay explains, “In a typical loan application minimum 15 papers are utilized, considering this on a large scale, the amount of paper consumption is very high. Currently as per the above scenario, we are saving around 5 to 6 Lakhs paper on Monthly basis.”
He recounts how Salarydost began its journey a year ago. The company set out its course with three people in 2018, named Mrityunjay Shahi (Founder & CEO), Manish Shukla (Co-Founder & Data Scientist) and Ashok Choudhary (Co-Founder & CTO). It took one long year to build the entire system and infrastructure. On 22nd February, 2019, Salarydost has started its operations and disbursed their first loan. Within nine months of operations, the company has turned itself into a profitable organization and has gained lot of recognition. With the current team size of 25 professionals, company takes pride in their deep industry and domain knowledge. The team is made up of, Human Resource, Information Technology, Credit, Operations, Accounts, Collection, Risk Management, Data Science and Customer Care that have been put in place to ensure a rich customer experience. At present company is disbursing almost 2000 applications on monthly basis. The company envisions expanding its team size from 60 to 70 people by next financial year, in order to service its customers in a much better way. With this expansion, company is now targeting to disburse 8000 to 10000 applications on a month to month basis. Salarydost envisages disbursing one Lakhs applications in the next financial year. In the company’s five year plan, it aims to reach out to processing one Lakhs applications in a month with its mission to extend extra salary to Indian salaried class.
Gearing up for the Future
Commanding quite the market presence, the company envisions expanding its online lending platform and offering various kinds of loans in the market. The team has currently directed its focus on developing an offering designed to cater to an individual’s health. The present scenario in India has a majority of individuals not covered under any insurance plan. So in the event of an individual getting sick, receiving treatment can prove to be a costly affair. Even conducting various tests can burn a hole in the average Indian’s pocket. In an attempt to rectify this situation, the team at Salarydost is currently working on a health product and aim to launch it and disclose its features in the near future.
(R-L)Manish Shukla, Co-Founder & Data Scientist, Mrityunjay Shahi, Founder & CEO, Ashok Choudhary, Co-Founder & CTO
Going Green, Going Digital
Mrityunjay says he personally believes in Green and Digital economy. With this initiative of going green and reducing the carbon footprint from the planet, the platform is made 100% digital and adopts sans paper approach. Our entire process is digital, we do not ask for paper documents from any of our customers. Mrityunjay explains, “In a typical loan application minimum 15 papers are utilized, considering this on a large scale, the amount of paper consumption is very high. Currently as per the above scenario, we are saving around 5 to 6 Lakhs paper on Monthly basis.”
The Journey So Far
We have a calculator in the loan application. Customers can calculate the loan amount and also select the loan payoff. The customer is his own boss, he can select his loan amount and apply for the loan
He recounts how Salarydost began its journey a year ago. The company set out its course with three people in 2018, named Mrityunjay Shahi (Founder & CEO), Manish Shukla (Co-Founder & Data Scientist) and Ashok Choudhary (Co-Founder & CTO). It took one long year to build the entire system and infrastructure. On 22nd February, 2019, Salarydost has started its operations and disbursed their first loan. Within nine months of operations, the company has turned itself into a profitable organization and has gained lot of recognition. With the current team size of 25 professionals, company takes pride in their deep industry and domain knowledge. The team is made up of, Human Resource, Information Technology, Credit, Operations, Accounts, Collection, Risk Management, Data Science and Customer Care that have been put in place to ensure a rich customer experience. At present company is disbursing almost 2000 applications on monthly basis. The company envisions expanding its team size from 60 to 70 people by next financial year, in order to service its customers in a much better way. With this expansion, company is now targeting to disburse 8000 to 10000 applications on a month to month basis. Salarydost envisages disbursing one Lakhs applications in the next financial year. In the company’s five year plan, it aims to reach out to processing one Lakhs applications in a month with its mission to extend extra salary to Indian salaried class.
Gearing up for the Future
Commanding quite the market presence, the company envisions expanding its online lending platform and offering various kinds of loans in the market. The team has currently directed its focus on developing an offering designed to cater to an individual’s health. The present scenario in India has a majority of individuals not covered under any insurance plan. So in the event of an individual getting sick, receiving treatment can prove to be a costly affair. Even conducting various tests can burn a hole in the average Indian’s pocket. In an attempt to rectify this situation, the team at Salarydost is currently working on a health product and aim to launch it and disclose its features in the near future.