Digital SME lending company TAB Capital has roped in actor Riteish Deshmukh as its brand ambassador and plans to invest ₹10 crore this year for branding and marketing-related activities to create awareness among people about online lending.
Abhay Bhutada, Founder and Managing Director of TAB Capital, told BusinessLine that the reason behind roping in Riteish is his huge popularity across demographics and geographies, and also his vast following on social networks.
“Riteish is known to be one of the most punctual stars in the film fraternity today and TAB Capital prides itself in disbursing loans within two working days via its cutting-edge digital application process,” Bhutada added.
The Pune-based lending platform is registered as a non-deposit-taking NBFC and has branches in Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune and Hyderabad.
The platform provides quicker and hassle-free loans on the basis of customer profiling, cash-flows, business model, social behaviour and personal discussions with the promoter for credit appraisal. Its loan size ranges from ₹2 lakh to ₹1 crore with the average loan size being around ₹10 lakh.
Bhutada said that the company is focussed on creating an extensive product portfolio, well-supported by a capital base and growing its presence across digital mediums in the country. It plans to add 10 new branches and double its employee strength in the coming few months.
The company is also looking to raise equity of ₹100-150 crore over the next two years for strengthening its data science capabilities and enhancing its technology platform.
TAB Capital had ₹100 crore of assets under management (AUM) in June this year and aims to see this figure at ₹500 crore by March 2019.
Lately, several fin-tech start-ups have been trying to rope in celebrities to create awareness about digital lending, finance and investing in financial products online.
Early this year, another lending platform InCred had signed up former Indian cricket team captain Rahul Dravid as its brand ambassador. Oxigen, a wallet, has Sachin Tendulkar as its face.