Alibaba is doing everything that it can for increasing its global presence. And the Chinese giant certainly cannot ignore the Indian market if its wants true global presence. Keeping that in mind, the company had acquired 25% stake in an Indian online marketplace- Paytm and later announced that over 100,000 AliExpress sellers would be able to list products on Paytm.
Alibaba didn’t just stop its efforts there for dominating the Indian market. It later announced its partnership with MYPACCO– a Mumbai based logistics solution provider as a part of TFC (Trade Facilitation Centre) initiative. The aim for its Indian TFC is to improve the trade ecosystem in the country by offering SMEs solutions like freight, finance, and credit.
It was also revealed that it had inked deals with India’s leading private sector bank- ICICI Bank for providing the SMEs with facilities such as finance, credit checks, etc. No further details were revealed back then until now.
ICICI Bank has now revealed more details about its partnership with Alibaba and has also explained how it will benefit small and medium-scale industries via Alibaba’s TFC.
What Will ICICI Bank Offer?
The Bank will offer an array of services to Indian entrepreneurs who are members of Alibaba’s online marketplace. It will include business loans, cash management solutions, foreign exchange transactions, bank guarantees, cross-border remittances, and other special privileges and discounts.
“With this, we will offer to the members of Alibaba.com special propositions across our entire spectrum of business services ranging from accounts, letter of credit, bank guarantees, remittances, forex, loans and cash management solutions,” said Rajiv Sabharwal, Executive Director at ICICI Bank.
Alibaba’s members will also get better rates on loans and discounts offered by ICICI Bank.
“Alibaba.com expects to offer access to various financing, credit and logistics services provided by ICICI Bank for our Indian customers. We have also worked to sweeten this proposition by enabling Alibaba.com’s members in India to enjoy better rates and discounts on ICICI Bank’s products and services,” said Bhushan Patil, Alibaba.com’s Channel Director at India.
With these integrated solutions like logistics, finance, and credits Alibaba.com will attract a whole lot of Indians to become its members. As of now, Alibaba.com has a lot of sellers from China but this move will help it gain a lot more members from various other countries like India, U.S. Pakistan, and Thailand.
You can find more information on Alibaba’s Trade Facilitation Center here.
