Agricultureis a critical sector for India’s economy, with over half of the population relying on it for livelihood. However, smallholder farmers face significant challenges in accessing financial resources, with about 50% unable to borrow from official sources due to factors like lack of collateral, complicated procedures, and inadequate credit history. This led to the creation of WhatsLoan, a neo-lending platform founded by Timmana Gouda D and Vidya TG in 2019.
WhatsLoan was born out of the founders’ deep understanding of the banking sector’s shortcomings. Timmana, a former banker with Axis Bank, and Vidya, a former HDFC Bank senior manager, realized that legacy banking systems were not designed to cater to consumers’ needs efficiently, leading to long delays and high rejection rates in loan applications. By utilizing their banking expertise, they bootstrapped WhatsLoan to provide farmers with fast, affordable, and accessible loans.
The platform allows borrowers to access agricultural, consumer, and MSME loans digitally, reducing the loan processing cost by over 90% and cutting disbursement time from weeks to minutes. WhatsLoan’s mobile-first platform operates in multiple languages and uses AI for document verification and integration with banking channels.
WhatsLoan has already served nearly a million borrowers and has been recognized for its innovative approach, winning awards such as the AgriEnterprise of the Year Award in 2021. With the digital lending market expected to grow exponentially, WhatsLoan is poised to continue transforming lending for India’s underserved communities.