The payments fintech EnKash has recently released data that strongly suggests that the level of corporate card adoption amongst India’s SMEs is on an upward trajectory; whilst Trading, IT Solutions, and Business Services remain strong.
Over the span of a single year, the aforementioned sectors have accumulated corporate spending worth $500 million (Trading), $375 million (IT Solutions), and $250 million (Business Services). These three sectors alone contributed to 45% of the total spending witnessed by EnKash between 2020 and 2021.
When considering the data, it appears that the remaining 55% of spending was cultivated by a wide variety of other sectors, such as eCommerce, Retail Business, Fashion and Clothing, Financial Services, Food and Beverages, Manufacturing, Import/Export, Insurance, Lifestyle, Healthcare, and Education.
What’s more, many businesses who once saw themselves as beyond the scope of corporate cards are now acquiring such. In the most likely scenario, this newfound revelation could be due to an increase in their acceptability and accessibility. Interestingly, many businesses are now coming on board after being attracted by the Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) capabilities associated with corporate cards.
Speaking of this industry-wide increasing adoption of corporate cards, EnKash co-founder, Hemant Vishnoi said: “Partnerships between banks and Fintech companies are paramount to bring about this long-due technological advancement in the Corporate Card space.
“While cards truly have been one of the finest payment instruments, constant innovations are necessary to maintain their relevance in both consumer and corporate ecosystems. Traditionally, corporate cards were instrumental only for travel-related expenses, however, through Fintech-bank collaborations, corporate cards are now useful and acceptable for payments across use cases.”
Following a $3 million Series A funding round from Mayfield India and Alixor Ventures, EnKash launched its corporate card programme in early 2020, with the specific intention of serving the needs of startups and small and medium-sized enterprises.
After 1 and a half years in operation, EnKash has distributed over 200,000 corporate cards and digitised spending for over 70,000 businesses in India. In partnership with both national and global banks, EnKash is providing corporate cards for multiple use cases; including Working Capital, Marketing, Payroll, E-procurement, Subscription and Services, Cloud, and Supplier/Vendor Payments.
