IIT Kharagpur, RevFin Partner to Create Advanced Loan Underwriting Process

RevFin, a digital lending start-up has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indian Institute Technology (IIT) Kharagpur for the development of a psychometric assessment in the Loan underwriting process which was signed under the aegis of Prof Pallab Dasgupta, Dean, SRIC, IIT Kharagpur.

This is going to be an avant-garde project, which will have a positive and dominant impact on the fintech industry by solving the problem of financial underwriting in Tier II and Tier III cities.

The purpose of the project is to provide the fintech industry with the contemporary method of underwriting a loan application by using holistic human behavior as it will complement the traditional way of looking at credit history. The innovation will calculate the borrower's intention to repay a loan by measuring their mental capabilities and behavioral style through psychometrics.

Speaking about the ambitious project, Sameer Aggarwal, Founder & CEO, RevFin opined, “We are thrilled to join hands with IIT Kharagpur, one of the best technology institutes in the world. We are aiming to develop a modern technology tool that will revolutionize the process of loan underwriting and will accelerate financial inclusion PAN India."

As our country strives towards financial inclusion, a lot of needy and genuine people are left out simply because they do not have the past credit history or credit scores. While many of those left out have a genuine capacity to pay back, the traditional methods mar their prospects. Our to-be-developed tool will help financial institutions easily underwrite loans for first-time borrowers. This will go a long way in achieving the noble objective of financial inclusion in the country,” he further added.

Prof Priyadarshi Patnaik, Coordinator of the Rekhi Centre of Excellence for the Science of Happiness at IIT Kharagpur said, “Despite widespread awareness, availability of data and subsequent efforts to measure and aid financial inclusion, we still see a huge gap in it in our country. I think there is a greater need for scientific intervention to this problem. We need newer metrics to gauge creditworthiness of people which more scientific and contemporary methods that capture human intent. This is where the need for social metrics and psychometrics of borrowers emerge. When we looked at the proposition brought forth by RevFin, we could foresee a new future for the fintech industry that is working towards financial inclusion. It will bring a new perspective to lenders and will facilitate easier and faster disbursal of loans. On the other side, a lot of needy and genuine people will benefit, when otherwise they are denied credit.   IIT KGP is very happy to work along with RevFin on this ambitious project. Our Engineers and researchers will be able to develop something which is also going to be beneficial for the entire ecosystem." he further added.

The tool will be available for deployment within two years and will be spearheaded by Prof. Manas K. Mandal, distinguished behavioral scientist, IIT Kharagpur. RevFin is also looking at making this technology as a go-to tool globally for loan underwriting processes.