Tide launches new app in India, plans to on-board 5 lakh SMEs by end of 2024

By Leandra Monteiro

Tide, the UK-based SME-focused business financial platform announced the launch of the Tide app in India. The business financial platform has introduced two business banking solutions – the Tide Business Account and its RuPay-powered Tide Expense Card.

Tide aims to onboard half a million SMEs in India over the next 24 months. Tide believes that the India market is potentially a £100 million revenue opportunity and aims at creating a sizable business in India in due course.

The Tide Business Account and Tide Expense Card in partnership with Transcorp will track spending and business expenses, enable transactions at all merchants that accept RuPay, and together help small businesses save time and money.

SMEs who sign up for the Tide Business Account will have access to contactless services and can use the free-of-cost Tide Expense Card to withdraw cash, for in-store purchases (including contactless tap and pay), e-commerce purchases and other payments.

Dr. Oliver Prill, CEO, of Tide said, “We are delighted to be launching this product in India, Tide’s first international market. India’s 64 million SMEs are the backbone of its economy, providing vital services, jobs and growth. We believe there is a vast untapped segment of small businesses in India that hasn’t been formally accounted for. We, at Tide, are committed to introducing and including a large segment of this market into the formal economy.”

To reduce the cost of due diligence, and prevent illegal activities such as money laundering and financial fraud, Tide will onboard small businesses only on the basis of a full Know Your Customer (KYC) process. This is at par with traditional banking practices. This means that SMEs can reap all the benefits of the business account from day one.

Gurjodhpal Singh, CEO, Tide (India) said, “We, at Tide, are working hard to support entrepreneurs in their growth journey and believe we are in a strong position to do exactly that. As Tide scales in India, we will expand our product offering for entrepreneurs to both manage their finances seamlessly, and to take the big step of starting out – whether as a freelancer, sole trader, contractor or small business owner. We are building a product that will not just offer business accounts and related banking services, but a comprehensive set of highly usable administrative solutions.”

The company is working to introduce a host of other features that it will offer to small businesses across India. These include a Business Savings/ Current Account in partnership with a bank, QR code for payments, bank transfers, invoicing, GST, pay by link and credit services. Tide will ultimately bring the full richness of the UK platform tailored to the needs of SMEs in India.