India has always been an important market for Meta. Now, in a bid to strengthen advertiser relations in the country, Meta has launched a no-cost EMI scheme.
Advertisers will now be able to pay the platform over a period of three months through participating banks. Meta will bear the applicable interest payable to the bank, and give it as an upfront discount to the business on its ad spends.
Working capital access is a concern for many new and growing businesses in the country. With No Cost EMI billing, they can choose any amount between Rs 3,200 and Rs 5,00,000 to convert to EMIs.
Interestingly, India is the first market where Meta has launched the No Cost EMI scheme.
Over the last three years, the Internet giant has been working to enable easier access to timely credit. It started in 2020, where as a part of their USD 100 million global grant for small businesses, grants were announced for small businesses across five cities in India.
The following year a Small Business Loans Initiative was also launched to enable business loans for Meta’s small business advertisers through third-party lending platforms. This too was an India-first initiative within Meta.
This program has now expanded to 19000+ pin codes across India, which is almost the entire length and breadth of the country. This means that Meta advertisers from even the smallest towns and villages can now apply for collateral-free business loans from as little as Rs 30,000 to as much as Rs 1 crore.
The last few years have seen the boom of small businesses that have taken to digital platforms for all their marketing communication activities.
At the annual Grow Your Business Summit where Meta announced the no cost EMI scheme, they also announced a 24 x 7 chat support for all their advertisers in India. This service can be accessed through the ‘support’ option on the Meta Business Help Center.
According to Ajit Mohan, VP and MD (Facebook India) Meta, with these initiatives, every advertiser on Meta in India, irrespective of their ad spends, will have access to financial and service support, at the click of a button to unlock new growth opportunities.
“We know that each business is on a distinct journey, and we are committed to building India-focused solutions keeping in mind their unique needs. We hope that the initiatives that we have announced during Grow Your Business Summit will help small businesses achieve their business goals with greater flexibility and ease,” he said.