About 45 per cent of fintech and digital lenders did not witness any significant impact on business during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a new survey.

In fact, they continued to disburse loans at the same or higher levels as they did in the fourth quarter of 2021, it revealed.

The survey by Fintech Association for Consumer Empowerment (FACE) of over 100 members revealed that 56.3 per cent of respondents continued to disburse loans in the second wave of the pandemic but did so cautiously and selectively.

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About 31.3 per cent of the respondents disbursed loans at the same rate as that of pre- Covid levels while 12.5 per cent were disbursing loans at higher levels that the January-to-March 2021 quarter.

“Members with large customer-base have observed lesser impact on disbursement business continued to provide support,” the survey revealed, adding that members involved in lending to self-employed customers have seen some impact on lending linked to business closures for significant period.

Loan restructuring

“The study was conducted to understand the impact of Covid-19 second wave on digital lending business and fintech industry. The report highlights that how the Covid-19 outbreak and moratorium announcement by RBI has led to uncertainties in the lending business; however, the impact of pandemic on the digital lending business was less severe than compared to the last wave,” said a statement on Friday.

The survey also revealed that about 56 per cent of the members expect to provide loan restructuring to 10 per cent or less of the customers.

In terms of collections, about 69 per cent of the respondents said they see 10 per cent to 20 per cent less collections in the 31-60 day overdue bucket and 61-90 day overdue bucket.

The respondents had retrained their underwriting models after the initial wave of Covid-19 since these models continued to perform well during the second wave. The survey claims that 57.1 per cent of the respondents prefer using the underwriting model that was used during the first wave.