Tide, the UK’s premier SME-focused business financial platform, launched the Tide app in India today. The Tide Business Account and its RuPay-powered Tide Expense Card have been introduced by the business finance platform. Tide intends to onboard 500,000 SMEs in India over the next 24 months. Tide believes that the Indian market has the potential to generate £100 million in revenue and plans to establish a substantial presence there shortly.
In collaboration with Transcorp (an RBI-regulated PPI issuer), the Tide Company Account and Tide Expense Card will manage spending and business expenditures, enable transactions at all merchants who accept RuPay and assist small businesses save time and money.
SMEs who sign up for the Tide Business Account will have access to contactless services, as well as the free Tide Expense Card, which can be used to withdraw cash, make in-store purchases (including contactless tap and pay), make e-commerce purchases, and make other payments.
Dr Oliver Prill, CEO, Tide said, “We are delighted to be launching this product in India, Tide’s first international market. India’s 64 million SMEs are the backbone of its economy, providing vital services, jobs and growth. We believe there is a vast untapped segment of small businesses in India that hasn’t been formally accounted for. We, at Tide, are committed to introducing and including a large segment of this market into the formal economy.”
To reduce the cost of due diligence, and prevent illegal activities such as money laundering and financial fraud, Tide will onboard small businesses only based on a full Know Your Customer (KYC) process. This is at par with traditional banking practices. This means that SMEs can reap all the benefits of the business account from day one.
Gurjodhpal Singh, CEO, Tide (India) said, “We, at Tide, are working hard to support entrepreneurs in their growth journey and believe we are in a strong position to do exactly that. As Tide scales in India, we will expand our product offering for entrepreneurs to both manage their finances seamlessly, and to take the big step of starting out – whether as a freelancer, sole trader, contractor or small business owner. We are building a product that will not just offer business accounts and related banking services, but a comprehensive set of highly usable administrative solutions.”
The company is working on a slew of other services that will be available to small enterprises across India. A Business Savings/ Current Account in collaboration with a bank, QR code for payments, bank transfers, invoicing, GST, pay by link, and credit services are among them. Tide will eventually deliver the full breadth of the UK platform customised to the needs of Indian SMEs.
