New Delhi, Apr 11 (IANS): With the continued focus on 'Digital-first' approach to retail loans business, Home Credit India, a local arm of the international consumer finance provider, on Monday announced its partnership with the leading merchant commerce platform, Pine Labs.

This partnership will further strengthen Home Credit India's retail network and enhance access to its Ujjwal card's digital EMI-financing options to millions of Home Credit customers at Pine Labs PoS terminals across India.

Even for shoppers who are new to Home Credit, merchants will facilitate a quick digital onboarding journey of less than five minutes.

Initially, the digital Ujjwal EMI card offering will be launched across 18,000 stores across India and for purchase of electronics, home appliances and mobile phones. More stores and newer categories will be added subsequently. A special introductory offer is also being extended wherein new customers availing EMI-financing through Home Credit's Ujjwal (EMI) card will receive a flat five per cent cashback on product price.

Commenting on the partnership, Ankush Khosla, Chief Sales Officer, Home Credit India, said, "We are delighted to have a leading player like Pine Labs as our partner to support and strengthen Home Credit's drive for democratising affordable consumer credit. We have always believed in delivering trusted financial products and services, responsibly and in today's post-Covid digital world, this partnership reiterates our commitment to customers for an omnichannel connection with our products and services and meet customer needs by growing our partner network."

Partnership with Pine Labs will provide a boost to our customer loyalty, as Home Credit India Finance Private Limited customers will get a new avenue or large PoS network to avail Home Credit's paperless EMI financing, powered by Ujjwal EMI card. This partnership will also help in expanding Home Credit's customer base with new customer acquisition through Ujjwal card membership.

"Home Credit Group is a trustworthy name in consumer finance across the globe and today we are thrilled to partner Home Credit India which has a consumer base of more than 1 crore since entering the Indian market in 2012. Our joint offering will bring more customers under the growing "Buy Now Pay Later EMI" category and help merchants in India drive sales through easy to avail and quick EMI offers during checkout using Pine Labs' PoS terminals," said Mayur Mulani -- Business Leader -- Pay Later, Pine Labs.

With the Covid-led disruptions, Home Credit has embraced digital transformation well by digitising all the offering and services end-to-end, as both our customers and merchants or retail partners can do seamless onboarding at the point of sale or anywhere through an app or website.

As part of our bouquet of digital loan products introduced in last two years, the digital Ujjwal EMI card, offering instant pre-set credit limit to customers was launched in late 2020.

The paperless, no-cost EMI options are fast-emerging as an enticing selling proposition for merchants who can in just a few taps of Pine Labs' smart Android PoS terminal convert a regular purchase into 3, 6, 9, 12 months EMI options at no additional cost to the consumer.