Following in the footsteps of Xiaomi which recently launched the Mi Credit app in India, Chinese smartphone brand, Oppo, is reportedly looking to launch its financial services platform in India. To be called Oppo Kash, the upcoming platform has apparently been under testing for a while, and will debut in the first half of 2020. That’s according to 91Mobiles, which claims the app will operate similarly to many other financial services platforms in the country insofar as it will offer hassle-free microloans with flexible repayment schemes.
It will also be available on both Android and iPhones, and will come pre-loaded on all upcoming Oppo devices. Sources quoted by the report further claimed that the app will come with UPI integration and have an option to purchase smartphones on EMIs. It is apparently being developed by FinShell, the company behind the recently-announced PaySa app from Oppo’s sister company, Realme. Meanwhile, Oppo is also said to be training a dedicated team of customer care reps to help educate users on how to use the app.
In addition to expanding their hardware and software ecosystems in India, Chinese tech firms are increasingly eyeing the emerging financial service sector in the country of late. While digital transactions still have a ways to go in the country, the growing economy and the government’s push for digital transactions is making the nation an increasingly lucrative market that global tech firms, including Google, Facebook and others, are looking to capture with services like Google Pay, WhatsApp Pay etc.
Right on cue, Xiaomi last year also forayed into the country’s financial services sector with its digital lending platform, Mi Credit, that claims to provide personal loans up to Rs. 1 lakh to users aged 18 and above. Originally launched as a pilot project back in 2018, the platform has reportedly disbursed loans worth Rs. 125 crore in India until now. As for Oppo’s rumored service, details about it are still sketchy at this point, but we’ll hopefully get more information soon.
