Mcapital, the lending arm of Mswipe Technologies Pvt Ltd, has roped in Kotak Mahindra Bank’s National Head, Rohit Agrawal as its Chief Executive Officer in a bid to expand the total assets under management (AUM) of the company to Rs 1,000 crore by 2024, Mswipe said in a statement on Monday.
Agrawal, who was with Kotak Mahindra Bank for more than 15 years in the bank’s financial services and lending services departments, will spearhead Mcapital’s goal of achieving the Rs 1,000-crore AUM mark by 2024, the company said.
Agrawal will expand Mswipe’s core payments business by building a merchant financing and small loans vertical through Mcapital, Mswipe said. Agrawal will also oversee the adaptation of new technology in creating new credit products for SMEs (small and medium enterprises). Agrawal’s appointment will also strengthen the core leadership at Mswipe, the statement said.
“Agrawal’s vast experience in the lending business will accelerate our ongoing efforts to provide small merchants with quick and easy access to formal credit. Rohit’s understanding of the industry will be invaluable for the growth of our company and its vision of transforming into a digital SME bank,” said Ketan Patel, Chief Executive Officer, Mswipe.
Agrawal, a chartered accountant by profession, had joined Kotak Mahindra Bank in 2006 and worked for the bank’s mid-market business. He also headed the bank’s e-commerce and new-age business, Mswipe said.
“I am excited on my appointment as CEO of Mcapital, and I look forward to building a sizeable, profitable and risk-efficient lending business. Together, we are committed to strengthening the merchant ecosystem in India and making SMEs our preferred partners,” Agrawal said.
Mswipe is India’s largest independent point of sale (POS) acquirer, and has 6.75 lakh POS systems and 11 lakh quick response (QR) code merchants, the statement said. The company said it is targeting provide the underserved SME segment access to formal credit via Mcapital.
Mswipe, backed by B Capital Group, the venture capital firm started by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, was founded in March 2011 by Manish Patel, who has a degree in medicine from Mumbai University. He earlier co-founded Milestone Merchandise, an alcohol-beverages distribution company.
Mswipe offers point-of-sale solutions to small- and medium-sized businesses, enabling plastic card payments via mobile phones. It also provides a card reader that can be attached to any mobile handset with a 3.5mm headphone jack. The card reader converts the mobile phone into a card acceptance device.
Besides card payments, the company also enables merchants to accept digital payments from platforms like UPI, Google Tez, PhonePe, Bharat QR, and BHIM.
The annualised value of total transactions enabled by Mswipe across its network is over Rs 9,560 crore, the company had said earlier in June this year.
In May this year, Mswipe acquired the offline merchant PoS division of digital payments firm PayU India, as part of its offline push.
The company in May had roped in Ketan Patel, a fintech and BFSI industry veteran with over two decades of experience, as its chief executive officer. Patel, too, had worked with Kotak Mahindra Bank for 18 years.