E-loans in India: The path to paperless contracts

Technology and development go hand in hand, which in turn leads to evolution. However, despite significant technological developments over the past few decades, in certain arenas the approach remains conservative, or at least wary.

For example, taking any kind of loan brings to mind the extensive paperwork involved, the personal visits to complete the documentation and the hurried signatures on contracts. The question to be asked is “Why?” Hasn’t technology developed enough to make such transactions paperless or is the “wary” approach defeating the purpose of technology?

In the world of technology, especially in the e-commerce arena, where human interaction is kept to a minimum and most transactions are done on a “shrink wrap” basis, there is a need to explore whether retail loans (which are pretty much streamlined) can also be encased in a fully digitized environment. While some banks, non-banking financial companies and other financial institutions have adopted technology for the initial scrutiny process, we have yet to come across a scenario where the end-to-end process is all facilitated through an online platform.