Amid COVID-19 pandemic, the Indian government recently announced its decision to scrutinise Chinese investments closely over fears of possible hostile takeovers. India has made prior government clearance mandatory for all forms investments, even indirect ones, from all countries sharing land border with the country.

The new rules could cause trouble for the fin-tech plans of Xiaomi and OPPO. In December last year, Xiaomi launched its Mi Credit service in India to offer online lending to its customers. On the other hand, OPPO had launched the OPPO Kash fin-tech service in March, days before the company went under lockdown due to COVID-19.

Both the companies have partnered with Indian financial companies to provide the funds for services offered on their platforms as they cannot directly lend to consumers without a shadow banking licence in India.

To improve the margins, the companies are keen to establish their own non-banking financial company (NBFC). But the license may be very difficult to come by given that the Indian government has made changes in the FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) rule adding an extra layer in the already slow and difficult approval process.

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As per the report, Xiaomi and OPPO have been waiting for around a year to get an NBFC approval from the Reserve Bank of India. Even if the RBI were to grant an NBFC permit to Xiaomi and Oppo because they applied prior to rule change, they may face delay in getting approval for the fund raise.

Xiaomi is currently the leading smartphone brand in the Indian market, having around 30 percent market share. OPPO, on the other hand, has captured around 12 percent of the Indian smartphone market share. Combined, both the companies have more than 100 million users in India.

Since the profit margin for the smartphones are thin, an NBFC would give Xiaomi and Oppo access to user data and spending patterns which can be used to boost revenue for other services. But given the current situation, it’s unlikely for the Chinese companies to get NBFC license anytime soon.

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Xiaomi, the Chinese electronics company, has officially launched its Mi Credit app on 3rd December 2019. The app is currently available on Google’s Play Store app and provides a credit lending service with a spending limit of 1,00,000 INR (or roughly 9,800 CNY).

The Mi Credit app marks the expansion of the tech giant’s financial services portfolio within the Indian subcontinent. It is an online marketplace for lenders and has support from five non-banking financial companies (NBFC) and FinTech firms that includes Aditya Birla Finance Limited, Money View, EarlySalary, Zestmoney, and CreditVidya. Additionally, Xiaomi has also partnered with Experian to provide a credit score report free of cost on the Mi Credit app.

Currently, the Mi Credit App is available in 10 states and supports up to 1500 pin codes. Xiaomi plans on the rolling out of the service to all pin codes by the end of this financial year, March 2020. For those interested, the app is available in Google Play Store, Xiaomi App Store and GetApps platforms for Android smartphones. Furthermore, the app will now arrive preloaded on the company’s MIUI OS powered smartphones.

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Xiaomi’s Mi Credit app is the company’s first financial service app since the Mi Pay which debuted in March 2019. According to the company, the app-based financial platform enable the firm and its lending partners to provide users with a complete digital experience with no paper involved in the process. This also extends to the process of uploading user documents (for KYC) for linking to the bank account.

The Chinese company sees a huge opportunity in consumer lending services in India. According to Hong Feng (Senior Vice President/co-founder of Xiaomi), the financial lending services sector could grow up to 1 trillion USD by 2023 and its Mi Pay and Mi Credit App can revolutionize the Indian FinTech industry. Lastly, to add a sense of security, Xiaomi’s India Managing Director, Manu Kumar Jain, stated that all user data on Mi Credit app was stored securely in an encrypted format in India. This was achieved by Amazon’s Web Services cloud infrastructure.

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Xiaomi will re-launching its Mi Credit platform for personal loans in India on December 3, the company has confirmed. Given that the Chinese smartphone maker had originally launched Mi Credit in May last year, it seems that the company will now unveil a revamped version in the country.

While nothing is known about the revamped version of this service, a newer version of the Mi Credit app has been uploaded to Google Play Store earlier this month which suggests that the company is planning to announce a new feature and revamped user interface.

The company has also sent out invites for the upcoming launch on Thursday. Initially launched in May 2018, Mi Credit is the company’s service that acts as a platform for users to initiate instant financial lending in India.

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The service, which is aimed at young professionals, can be initiated in less than 10 minutes with a simple KYC verification and offers tenure between 15 days to 90 days with interest rate of 3 percent per month. However, the service is currently available to MIUI users only and will not be available for stock Android phones like Xiaomi Mi A1.

The company says that Mi Credit acts as a platform for users to “initiate financial lending.” Xiaomi has also listed the financial loan providers on Mi Credit where users can log onto the platform and apply for quick loans.

The launch of Mi Credit marks the company’s third value-added internet service in India after the company launched Mi Music and Mi Video earlier this month. As said, it remains to be seen how the service will be different from the earlier one.

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Xiaomi has today announced Mi Credit service in India, in partnership with KreditBee which will be offering personal loans from Rs. 1,000 (approximately $15) up to Rs. 100,000, which roughly converts to $1,500.

The service, which is aimed at young professionals, can be initiated in less than 10 minutes with a simple KYC verification and offers tenure between 15 days to 90 days with interest rate of 3 percent per month. However, the service is currently available to MIUI users only and will not be available for stock Android phones like Xiaomi Mi A1.

The company says that Mi Credit acts as a platform for users to “initiate financial lending.” Xiaomi has also listed the financial loan providers on Mi Credit where users can log onto the platform and apply for quick loans.

The launch of Mi Credit marks the company’s third value-added internet service in India after the company launched Mi Music and Mi Video earlier this month. Commenting on this development, Manu Jain, Vice President, Xiaomi and Managing Director of Xiaomi India said, “Mi Credit is another big step in bringing an important internet service to India and we trust that our users would be able to truly benefit as the service becomes more sophisticated.”

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Xiaomi is also gearing up to launch a new smartphone in India. The company has started sending out media invites to announce a new smartphone in India on 7th June. The invite hints at a camera-centric device. Xiaomi is believed to be launching Redmi S2 in India but is expected to be rebranded as Redmi Y2 in India.

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