Tide, the leading SME-focused business finance platform in the UK, will this year expand its offering for its member retailers in India, offering solutions such as accepting QR code-based payments; billing solutions and credit through partnerships with other fintechs, visiting Global CEO Oliver Prill said on Tuesday.
“We have all this in our global platform. We will release it for India. We will this year take logical steps to make it happen,” Prill said business line here.
Pril said this fintech startup is well on its way to achieving its announced June 2021 target of investing 1,000 crore in the Indian market and hiring 1,000 people for its Indian unit, which now largely consists of a global product engineering team that operates from its Hyderabad centre. As of today, Tide in India has over 550 employees on its roll.
India CEO Gurjodhpal Singh said Tide has brought 50,000 Indian members (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) to its platform as of date and aims to take this number to one million members (MSME merchants) by December 2024. This year, Tide will add as many as 2 lakh members, he added.
“India epitomizes entrepreneurship and we estimate that 10 per cent of global MSMEs are in India. Since January this year (just when we started) we now have 50,000 members in India. One in ten Tidian members is Indian, and we are looking for significant growth, says Prill.
MSME exchange program
Prill announced that in June Tide will launch an MSME Exchange Program (MEP) – an initiative designed to localize entrepreneurship and foster ties between small business owners from India and the UK.
This exchange program will encourage connectivity between SMEs in India and the UK, said Anna Shotbolt, Assistant Trade Commissioner, South Asia at the British High Commission.
Asked about the status of India-UK FTA talks, Shotbolt said Indian government officials are visiting London this week for the ninth round of FTA negotiations. As already conveyed by the leaders of two countries, both the UK and India are committed to deepening their bilateral relationship, she noted.
Industry first
MEP is an industry-first initiative by a fintech company working in India’s MSME ecosystem, according to Tide. The MEP will enable smaller entrepreneurs to expand and sharpen their business knowledge, and ultimately to grow their businesses.
MEP targets new-to-business and new-to-digital micro-entrepreneurs in both countries.
Tide will select two entrepreneurs/small business owners every quarter from India and the UK and sponsor them during the MEP to visit the UK and India. A total of 16 small businesses, 8 from each country will benefit from the programme. The program starts on 1 June 2023 and ends on 30 May 2024.
