Samsung digital lending platform has brought financial inclusion in India: JB Park

Seoul, July 25 (IANS) The ‘Make in India’ digital lending platform called Samsung Finance+ has made it easy for millions of Indian consumers afford their favourite smartphones and empower themselves amid the digital transformation the country is going through, according to JB Park, President and CEO of Samsung Southwest Asia (India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka).

Launched in 2019, Samsung Finance+ has driven smartphone business worth over $1 billion (by the end of 2022).Park’s vision in India was to democratise technology, which is not possible without providing affordability to the consumers.

“India is fast moving on digitally empowering its citizens and affordability is a very important part in driving the adoption of technology. Every consumer has a different income level but if you spread your payment over say 24 months, and you don't need to pay anything upfront, then the game changes,” Park told IANS here.

To serve the Indian market better, Samsung has several affordability options and one of the key offers is that customers can get a 5G smartphone for just Rs 44 per day or Rs 1,320 a month.

Samsung led the India market in 5G smartphone shipments last year and the company aims to do about 75 per cent of its smartphone business through 5G devices this year.

“I set foot in India for the first time some 13 years ago and since then, I have seen so many changes. I am amazed at how fast India has changed digitally through smartphones,” Park added.

Samsung Finance+ was launched as the world's first digital lending platform with instant offers for Galaxy smartphone buyers.

The platform was developed in India at the Samsung R&D Institute Bangalore (SRI-B), where engineers worked closely with the Samsung India team to assess consumer requirements and design the features of the platform.

The entire engineering, design and development of this platform was done out of SRI-B. With Samsung Finance+, consumers with no credit history can also avail loans to buy Galaxy smartphones.

In its fifth year now, Samsung Finance+ has reached 70,000 stores, driving a smartphone business worth over $1 billion.

Samsung's 'Galaxy Unpacked' event is set to take place on July 26 in South Korea, during which it will unveil new foldables along with other devices.