The Indian arm of Xiaomi launched its first financial service in the South Asian country earlier this week, having unveiled it in the form of MiCredit, a digital platform meant to offer instant loans to contractors and other individuals which is specifically targeting young professionals. The service has been developed in collaboration with personal loan platform KreditBee and can provide loans ranging from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 100,000, i.e. $15 to $1,500. Xiaomi’s solution allows users to agree and receive loans in as little as ten minutes, the Chinese tech giant says.
The platform is launching as an exclusive feature of the company’s Android smartphones running MIUI and won’t be available on the Mi A1 and upcoming Android One products from Xiaomi for the time being. Taking advantage of MiCredit is as simple as accessing it by referring to the banner below, creating a profile, linking it with a bank account, and selecting a loan. KreditBee issues financing based on the KYC authorization procedure, with the entire process being designed to be as straightforward as possible. As is the case with the vast majority of other payday loan service providers, MiCredit offers higher interest rates than traditional banks, with that price difference being justified by the increase in the overall convenience of getting a loan.
India remains Xiaomi’s most important foreign market where the company has been enjoying unprecedented growth ever since launching its operations in the country over three years ago. The Beijing, China-based startup profiled itself into one of the top vendors for entry-level and mid-range Android handsets in India and is now also looking to diversify so as to achieve long-term sustainability, a goal that’s becoming increasingly more important as Xiaomi is moving toward an initial public offering set to take place in Hong Kong in the second half of the year. The firm is understood to be targeting a valuation of at least $70 billion as it seeks to raise approximately $10 billion in cash.
Xiaomi MiCredit