Facebook continues to diversify with the launch of a business loan service, for the time being reserved for India. Called the "Small Business Loans Initiative", this program will grant loans ranging from 500,000 to 5 million rupees, equivalent to a range between 6,700 and 67,000 dollars.
A test phase reserved for 200 Indian localities
Mark Zuckerberg's Small Business Loans Initiative will provide loans to Indian SMEs, provided they have already paid for a Facebook advertising campaign within 180 days of applying for a loan.
These loans will range from 500,000 to 5 million rupees, equivalent to between $6720 and $67,200. Interest rates will vary from 17% to 20%.
The loans, accessible via the Indifi group, Facebook's local partner, will be available online, with no application fees and no collateral required. Funds will be made available very quickly, in just 5 working days once the application has been validated.
Mark Zuckerberg's group intends to support female entrepreneurship: the loan program includes a 0.2% interest rebate for female entrepreneurs.
The Indian market coveted by GAFA
Even if, according to Jit Mohan, the social network's vice-president in India, the stated aim is not to make a profit but to further develop the ecosystem associated with Facebook, the compulsory use of advertising services will help attract new users.
The Indian market is particularly important for Facebook. In fact, it boasts 410 million users of the social network, and 530 million for Whatsapp, the messaging app acquired in 2014 by Mark Zuckerberg's group.
In addition, it serves as a testing ground for the financial services the firm is setting up to diversify its revenues. In 2017, Facebook began testing its Whatsapp Pay payment app there, which was only finally able to be launched on a large scale in Brazil in 2020 due to strict Indian government regulations.
India, the second most connected country in the world behind China, with 333 million Internet users, serves as a laboratory for the GAFAs. A few days ago, Amazon invested 40 million euros in the fintech Smallcase Technologies Pvt, thus launching into wealth management in India, and Google plans to invest $10 billion in India over the next 5 to 7 years, starting with a $4 billion stake in the Reliance conglomerate's new technology subsidiary, Jio.