Do watch the video before you read on. There are millions of such small businesses across India. They get little credit support from India’s formal financial institutions. Our banks and NBFCs, whose core expertise is to lend, haven’t been able to close the funding gap of small businesses. This is in spite of decades of persistent efforts by them and policy interventions by the Government.
On the other hand, the suppliers to small businesses — wholesalers, manufacturers, distributors and importers, whose core expertise lies in anything but lending — have been able to sustainably sell goods to them on…
In December 2018, around 1.2 million shipments were dispatched to around 200k buyers (mostly retailers) across more than 700 cities/towns in India. Some were placing their first order, tentative but hopeful — having heard about a platform exclusively for them. On the other extreme, a few others placing their 300th order for the month, with close to 100% of their inventory being purchased through Udaan.
Who are these retailers? And why have they flocked to this platform? To understand this, let’s take a peek inside the commerce backbone of India.
Behind the retailers
Across India, exist these wholesale markets, e.g., Sadar Bazaar or…
