(Image source from: mastercard.us)

Mastercard has announced a total of 250 crore rupees which is roughly around 33 million dollars to support the Small and medium scale enterprises in India.

The global pandemic has hit the entire world differently. From laborers to millionaires everyone is crushed in this pandemic. The supply chains of the world are disrupted and their in no cash flow. Many businesses run on cash flow especially the small and medium scale businesses. The businesses which run their family and have no other source of incomes are looking to recover from the losses faced during the lockdown. Especially in India where we had a lockdown for more than 100 days and all the businesses were shut except for the essential ones.

Acknowledging the challenge faced by the business owners, Mastercard has announced its commitment of 250 corers to support these small and medium scale businesses and help them recover from the losses faced during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 250 crores is going to be divided into 3 initiatives for the growth of the small and medium scale businesses. These 3 initiatives included Digital growth for the SME’s credit solutions for small merchants and empowering women entrepreneurs.

This initiative of Mastercard is an extension of bringing 50 million micro and small businesses and digitalizing them by 2025. The Indian 33 million dollars comes as an extension of the 250 million dollars which Mastercard pledged to support small and medium businesses globally.

Mastercard also mentioned how small businesses account for 35% of the India GDP and are the heart of the Indian economy. Mastercard is mainly looking to properly digitalize these small businesses to expand the reach and consumers by making effective use of technology. The technology will help the small and medium businesses in not just customer management but also inventory management and employee management which will in turn improve the growth of the said business. The company is donating a reasonable and significant amount to India in their pledge of supporting small businesses.

In the first initiative by Mastercard it is looking at growing awareness on digital payments. Mastercard wants to help small businesses by growing digital payments awareness and providing low-cost acceptance solutions bothonline and offline which that are simple, safe and secure;. Last year, Mastercard launched the multi-city Team Cashless India campaign with a goal to equip 1 crore merchants in India with digital payments acceptance capabilities. M S Dhoni the former captain of Indian Cricket Team was the brand ambassador of this campaign by Mastercard.

The second initiative by Mastercard is to drive inclusive growth by enabling small merchants and kirana stores with access to credit, knowledge and tools that will drive operational efficiencies and help them grow. Mastercard has collaborated with many large companies including banks to introduce credit solutions and schemes that enable easy and fast availability of credit, ensure proper supply chain continuity, and increase entrepreneurs’ financial resilience. The company has partnered and provided data and AI based applications for emerging markets that catalyze merchant access to supply chain credit with key suppliers using the purchase history. Not just the credit but Mastercard has also approached local partners to help small businesses create webstores to provide them with technical support.

The final initiative in this Mastercard support campaign is to empower more women entrepreneurs by increasing their business knowledge and unlocking their economic potential

Mastercard has started working with various institutions to bring more women into fintech, and support more women business owners and cultivate more women entrepreneurship. The company has partnerships with microfinance institutions and small finance banks to digitize and tailor their products for women entrepreneurs.Mastercard has programs for education and awareness of women entrepreneurs to increase their business acumen. Under the program training and basic technology education is imparted to women kirana shopkeepers, empowering them with ease of doing business, increased access to credit and market access. In short Mastercard is looking to empower and bring more women to become entrepreneurs and support them in growing their businesses.

By Deepika Agarwal