A balmy Kolkata afternoon was destined to bring a moment of epiphany to Sanchita Basu’s mundane life. As she sat sewing brand labels on her newest Kantha work collection, Sanchita pondered over her decision to pursue a small business loan to rejuvenate her apparel brand. The echoes of the first lockdown still reverberated, leaving countless women like her unemployed—a staggering statistic of 47%, according to UN Women. If she harboured any hopes of keeping her business afloat, she understood seeking assistance was imperative. A night fraught with restlessness ensued.
The next morning, consumed by a newly found determination, Sanchita called her son-in-law explaining her purpose and requesting him to fix an appointment with the local bank manager. In a matter of days, in what seemed like weeks to her, Sanchita found herself facing a portly man in his 50s, Mr Chatterjee, across an old desk. Familiar yet faint aroma of fish and rice permeated the air as Sanchita described to the manager about her business and her ask. Mr Chatterjee, well-versed in the realities of entrepreneurship, understood the landscape all too well. In India, the majority of women-owned businesses resemble Sanchita's—a testament to individual resilience and ingenuity, often operating as single-person microenterprises. Shockingly, only 17% of women-owned enterprises have managed to employ workers, and of those, a staggering 95% function with less than six employees.
Since the loan appears to be a high risk loan, Mr. Chatterjee asked Mrs. Basu for her consent to offer her few insurance products which can safeguard her in case of any turbulence in the market and makes it easy for Mr. Chatterjee also to process the loan. Products such as EMI protect which can help Mrs Basu skip few EMIs if something happens to her health and Credit Life Insurance which can protect the loan amount in case of borrower's demise were added through a single click and insurance certificates were issued instantly.
About the product:
Credit Life Plan: A Credit Life scheme or plan helps in safeguarding loans given by financial institutions to people who are vulnerable or is a high risk lending. The borrowers are small business owners where both partners are breadwinner of the family. Here the chances of loan repayment is always dicey, if something happens to the borrower. Hence a Credit Life Plan secures the loan in case of any unforeseen unfortunate events. In such a scenario, the insurer pays back the pending loan amount to the financial institution and rest to nominee of the borrower.
Note: Sanchita Basu's is a story inspired by true events and any resemblance to anyone dead or alive is a sheer coincidence.
