How a 30 year old company is using technology to transform itself and be future ready!

1991 was a watershed year for the Indian business ecosystem. An acute balance of payments crisis ushered in a slew of reforms which was to change the economy forever.

It was in this environment that Andromeda started off in 1991. At that time, the loan distribution business was small. A few foreign banks had started off with the credit cards business.  But Indians were still conservative about credit and would save to finance their consumption needs. The millennials were about to change all of this. The next 30 years would lead to a credit boom in the retail segment enabling Andromeda to become India’s largest retail loan distributor. Over this period, Andromeda has built an extensive brick and mortar network spanning 100+ locations, 200+ branches, 1500+ employees and 3000+ partners.

The next 30 years are going to be transformative for the Indian lending industry. Retail lending lending as a percentage of GDP is expected to treble from its current levels driven consumerism and favourable demographics. According to a report by ICICI Bank, the country’s second-largest private sector lender and ratings agency CRISIL, the retail loan book of financiers in India will double to Rs 96 lakh crore by March 2024 compared to Rs 48 lakh crore in March 2019.The growth in retail loans will be driven by a strong demand for housing loans, unsecured loans (personal loans and credit cards) and loans to micro, small and medium enterprises. Mortgage loans, including normal and low-cost housing loans as well as loans against properties are expected to double to Rs 46.1 lakh crore in the next five years. Similarly, unsecured loans are likely to more than double to Rs 13.8 lakh crore. The report also sees a two-fold rise in MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) loans touching Rs 13.2 lakh crore. Vehicle loans could also nearly double to Rs 17.5 lakh crore, by the financial year 2024.

Such massive growth can be managed only by leveraging smart technology and distribution muscle. As the lending industry rapidly digitizes, Andromeda has learned to move with the times and align with the latest trends in technology. Indeed, Andromeda prides itself on its ability to keep learning and tramsforming itself to meet the needs of its customers while playing on its key strengths of having a massive physical distribution network. The elements of Andromeda’s digital transformation journey comprise a re-branding exercise, building a central technology platform from scratch, using data and analytics extensively, developing a robust web-based front-end where partners and customers can interact seamlessly and also creating a strong communication strategy to convey these transformative elements to our stakeholders. This journey will enable Andromeda to become more scalable, process oriented, data rich, efficient and make the company future ready!