SBI, HUL join hands to support small retailers

Hyderabad: The country's largest bank SBI and FMCG major HUL on Thursday announced a partnership to enable easy access to credit to small retailers and also help them join the digitisation bandwagon in order to 'survive in the new world'.

Under the partnership, HUL's retailers who use the company's Shikhar app will be able to avail of credit facility for payments to distributors through an integration with State Bank of India's (SBI) Yono app.

Hindustan Unilever (HUL) Chairman and Managing Director Sanjiv Mehta said while there are around ten million retailers in India, they have faced constraints in access to credit as they have always operated in an informal environment, while they have also been reluctant to adopt digital technology.

"What our partnership does today is try to solve some of the very important constraints that the retailers and small shopkeepers face in the country today," Mehta said while addressing a virtual press conference. SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar said with the kind of developments which are happening in the country and the digitisation of economy, "this is not only about partnership between the two giants SBI and HUL. This is the shift which is happening in the country in the way we do business and the impact which it will have on the overall productivity." He said availing of credit has always been a painful process and the partnership aims to address the issue.

"Today when we are integrating the system, HUL's Shikhar app and SBI's Yono, we are entering into some sort of new age relationship, which is nothing to do with lending money to HUL, (but) is catering to their supply chain," Kumar added.