P2P lender i2iFunding has raised 2 crore (about $300,000 USD) from unnamed angel investors to expand their operations. Several weeks back, the Reserve Bank of India released a consultation paper on peer to peer lending indicating potential capital requirements. The additional funding should help i2iFunding qualify if necessary. Speaking to the Economic Times, Vaibhav Pandey, CEO of i2iFunding stated;
“This round of funding gets us to a comfortable position in terms of the capital requirement that has been set out by the RBI,” said Pandey. “To expand into the MSME portfolio, we need to hire fresh talents in the field of technology and get consultants to ensure that our credit evaluation methodology for the self-employed and businessmen is robust and full proof.”
The RBI is accepting comments on their proposals now with a deadline of May 31st for feedback. Currently, the industry is largely unregulated.
In a blog post earlier this month, i2iFunding indicated it foresees a 30,000 crore P2P lending industry in India by 2020.