It is a known fact that Realme and Xiaomi have been battling it out against each other in the smartphone space in India. With both these companies operating at razor-thin margins, it became essential for them to look at revenue opportunities other than the sale of smartphones to build a sustainable business. Xiaomi took the controversial path to revenue generation by integrating ads within their MIUI skin — a move that has been widely criticized by smartphone connoisseurs and Mi fans alike. While Realme has continued to maintain that in-menu ads would never appear on their smartphones, it is a given that the company is in desperate need of an alternate source of revenue. This is where the company’s new financial services platform — Paysa comes in. Interestingly, the launch of Realme Paysa comes just days after Xiaomi came up with a similar platform called Mi Credit in the country. While both these companies operate differently, it seems both of them have hit upon a similar idea for revenue generation in a challenging market like India.
Let us now take a closer look at Realme Paysa.
What is Realme Paysa?
Realme describes Realme Paysa as India’s first full-stack financial services platform. Unlike Xiaomi’s Mi Credit platform that is targeted at the company’s existing clientele – the average smartphone buyer – Realme Paysa, right from the outset — has a broader target audience in mind. The Paysa platform will not only offer small personal loans to individuals but has small and medium enterprises (SME’s) as well in sight. Even in its current nascent form, Realme Paysa offers features like free credit reports, screen insurance for your smartphone, and personal loans. The portfolio of services will see an expansion in the not too distant future. As of filing this report, Realme Paysa is only available for users in the form of an Android app that is available for download via the Google Play Store.
Realme Paysa additional details
Realme has tied up with several partner firms to bring Realme Paysa to the masses. Primary among them include OPPO-owned fintech startup FinShell. The free credit report generation is handled by CreditMantri while the personal loans department is handled by a Pune-based company called EarlySalary. This Pune firm interestingly has also tied up with Xiaomi for Mi Pay. For insurance services, Realme Paysa has tied up with ICICI Lombard. As of today, individuals and SMEs alike can avail of personal loans between INR 50,000 AND INR 20 lakhs using the Paysa platform. Realme has also clarified that in 2020 alone, it has a target of disbursing loans to the tune of at least 1000 crores and create a customer base of more than five million customers. It would be only a matter of time until we know which among these two new services manage to become more popular.
