Drip Capital, a US-based fintech company, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Buying Agents Association (BAA), a non-profit organization representing Buying Agents or houses and Liaison offices from all sectors including Accessories, Apparel, Carpets, Handicrafts, Jewellery, Leather, Processed Foods, Textiles & Furnishings, and other labour-intensive sectors. The two organisations will partner to provide stakeholders from India’s export ecosystem with training in technology and invoice factoring. The partnership will give small-and-medium-sized exporters exposure to fintech solutions, widely considered to be one of the biggest disruptors in cross-border trade. Small exporters, who are often overlooked by banks or are otherwise unable to access the traditional banking system, can leverage these solutions to their benefit. The Drip-BAA partnership aims to help exporters and buying agents understand these opportunities better.

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Speaking on the MoU Manoj Rana, Governing Body Member, BAA said, “As an association, BAA is committed to spreading awareness and disseminating usable insights to the export fraternity in India. Despite rapid growth seen in recent times, the export industry in India is highly unorganized & is marred by an acute knowledge gap, which adversely impacts the productivity & margins of the exporters.”

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Anchal Kansal, General Secretary, BAA added, “As an organization, BAA endeavours to take prudent steps towards bridging the existing knowledge gap and encouraging best practices in the industry. In this regard, the Knowledge Sessions with Drip Capital on collateral-free export finance are a collaborative step that will help exporters learn how they can increase their revenue and cash flow along with mitigating risk by availing a ‘factoring agency’.”

Pushkar Mukewar, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Drip Capital said, “Our idea is to create an automated platform that would address the working capital needs of SMEs, not just in India, but across the world. What we want is to level the playing field for SMEs everywhere and give them easy access to trade finance."

Helping SME exporters with simplified trade finance also feeds into a larger goal of giving the country’s overall economy and GDP growth a boost. Multilateral agencies like the World Bank have found that economies gain immensely when trade increases, especially in the MSME sector. However, trade-related challenges cannot be tackled by private companies alone. BAA is a central body that brings together Buying Agents, the exporting community, and customers on a common platform.