MUMBAI: ICICI Bank Ltd will partner with Alibaba.com to provide a single window facility for easier trade finance to small and medium enterprises in India, called as the Trade Facilitation Centre.
SMEs that are members of Alibaba.com will get better access to integrated services from ICICI Bank such as loans, bank guarantees, cross border remittances, cash management solutions and foreign exchange transactions. Small businesses can sell their products to companies in other parts of the world
through Alibaba’s platform for global wholesale trade that brings together millions of buyers and sellers across the globe. Sellers on Alibaba.com are typically manufacturers and distributors based in China and other manufacturing countries such as India, Pakistan, the US and Thailand.
“This access to quick and integrated banking will enable Indian entrepreneurs to propel their business on the global platform,’’ said Rajiv Sabharwal, an executive director at ICICI Bank.
“We will offer members of Alibaba.com special propositions ranging from accounts, letters of credit, bank guarantees, remittances, foreign exchange, loans and cash management solutions.’’
Indian banks are beginning to better utilise platforms of global e-commerce companies to further their businesses.
With Amazon, SBI plans to develop a payments commerce solution for bank customers and other small businesses. SBI and Amazon plan to benefit from exponential growth in Internet penetration.