CredGenics: How this debt resolution platform is combining power of AI with data science to help banks, NBFCs

At a time when the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown has led to huge disruption in economic activity and rendered many people jobless, lenders, both in the private and public sector, are bracing for a surge in loan defaults. In such a situation, these lenders are looking at strengthening their loan recovery and collections mechanism. Delhi-based startup CredGenics is offering its debt resolution platform which combines the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) with data science to optimise and standardise the debt collection activities of such lenders. An end-to-end SaaS based collection management tool, it delivers customised strategies and recommends optimal legal routes to facilitate faster resolution of stressed assets which helps creditors efficiently improve their non-performing assets (NPA), geographic reach and customer on-boarding.

“There’s a huge scope for innovation and redefining how collections are done basis previous default data and the CredGenics platform is empowering the strategising part of debt recovery via use of this data along with creating new ways of communicating with defaulters, tracking all the communications and expediting the whole collection process,” says Rishabh Goel, co-founder and CEO, CredGenics. “We work with financial institutions including banks, NBFCs and digital lending firms to improve their collections efficiency using technology, automation intelligence and optimal legal routes in order to expedite the resolution of bad loans. We provide full transparency on the processes and procedure followed to help our clients increase their overall resolution rate and reduce their collection costs.”
CredGenics was founded in 2018 by Rishabh Goel, Anand Agrawal and Mayank Khera. Goel had earlier worked as an investment banker with Deutsche Bank and Blackrock, with focus on pricing of distressed asset portfolios in the US and UK markets and strategising their recovery.

With credit demand of $600-billion-plus being met through informal sources in India, digital lending is set to cross the $100-billion-mark by end of 2023. Rise in credit disbursement has also led to a spike in NPAs for NBFCs and banks, and this is expected to rise further in the aftermath of the pandemic. As of now, the startup is working with more than 30 marquee NBFCs and lending institutions which include Loantap, Loansimple, Rupeeredee, Cashkumar and Drip Capital. It has recently tied up with Kotak Mahindra Bank and is eyeing deals with other banks and asset reconstruction companies.

Says Amit Vegad, general counsel, Rupeeredee, “The CredGenics team has assisted us in streamlining entire collections and legal workflow process. We have seen a significant improvement in resolution rates at an optimised cost.”

With more than 2200 lawyers and collection partners on-board, CredGenics assists in execution of finalised strategies. “On the collections front, machine learning helps us predict recovery chances based on multiple parameters including defaulters personality information, demographics, language, EMI payments and communication follow-up trends,” says Goel. “Our proprietary model reduces debt collection cost making unit economics more valuable for lenders by redefining the buckets basis recovery chance, delinquency days and different communication channels, increasing overall collection and reducing expected time to resolution.”

CredGenics charges a resolution based success fee on the amount collected via its efforts and a subscription charge for using the SaaS platform. “Since our launch we are growing at 50% month-on-month (MoM) and are expecting to grow at nearly 70-80% MoM after the moratorium ends and restrictions are lifted,” he adds.

The startup recently raised seed funding of $300,000 from investors led by Titan Capital, a fund backed by Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal. Other investors include Rajesh Razdan, founder and CEO, mCarbon (acquired by Nuance), Ajay Garg, MD, Equirus Capital, Mitesh Damania, founder and director, Kwench and Sunder Nookala, founder and CEO, Kwench.