‘BillMart’s Goal Is To Bridge The Financial Gap For MSMEs In The Textile Value Chain’

BillMart empowers textile MSMEs to unlock cash tied up in receivables and payables, manage working capital efficiently, and grow confidently without liquidity concerns, says Ashok Mittal in this exclusive tete-a-tete with Textile Insights

What are the key challenges faced by textile and apparel MSMEs in securing working capital and trade finance?
The textile and apparel sector, especially MSMEs, is a crucial part of India’s manufacturing and export economy but faces significant challenges in securing timely and affordable working capital. The sector’s seasonal nature, fluctuating demand, delayed payments and long production cycles create liquidity gaps that traditional lenders hesitate to fund due to limited collateral and weak balance sheets. Fragmented supply chains and lack of credit histories further restrict access to trade finance, while rising raw material price volatility and tightening bank credit add to the burden. As a result, many MSMEs rely on costly informal financing.

At BillMart, we tackle these issues by offering supply chain finance solutions that leverage the ecosystem’s collective strength. Our platform connects MSMEs, buyers and financial institutions, ensuring transparent transactions and easier access to working capital at competitive rates for sustainable growth.

How does BillMart’s AI-powered platform address the liquidity needs of textile and garment manufacturers? What are its advantages over traditional financing?
Textile and garment manufacturers frequently struggle with liquidity due to prolonged payment cycles and seasonal demand fluctuations. Many MSMEs supply to large brands or exporters, but are often left waiting for months for payments, making it challenging to manage day-to-day expenses such as raw material purchases, worker salaries and new orders.

Our AI-powered platform is designed to solve this by offering Supply Chain Finance (SCF) solutions. Using advanced technology and data analytics, we connect manufacturers to a wide network of banks and NBFCs, enabling them to raise funds quickly against invoices or confirmed purchase orders—without requiring heavy collateral.

What truly differentiates BillMart from traditional financing options is:

• Faster Processing – AI-driven credit assessment significantly reduces processing time. MSMEs can get matched with the right lenders faster, ensuring swift approval and disbursal.
  • No Hard Collateral – Since financing is backed by trade transactions, MSMEs don’t need to mortgage property or assets.
  • Competitive Rates – With multiple lenders on our platform, MSMEs get access to better rates, reducing their borrowing costs.
  • Flexible Financing – Manufacturers can avail funds as per their production cycles and order flows, making it highly adaptable to business needs.

Overall, BillMart empowers textile MSMEs to unlock cash tied up in receivables and payables, manage working capital efficiently, and grow confidently without liquidity concerns.

Can you elaborate on the range of products BillMart offers specifically for the textile sector?
The textile and apparel industry operates on tight working capital cycles. Long production periods, large orders and delayed payments put constant pressure on cash flows.

At BillMart, we’ve identified these challenges and designed a suite of digital supply chain finance solutions tailored for textile MSMEs. Our key offerings include:

Vendor Finance – Enabling MSMEs acting as vendors to receive early payments on invoices raised to large buyers and improving the liquidity of MSMEs.
Purchase Bill Discounting – Facilitates financing of raw materials purchased by discounting the invoice raised by their suppliers, ensuring a seamless production cycle.
Sales Bill Discounting – Allows MSMEs to unlock cash tied up in sales invoices by getting early payments, thereby reducing dependence on informal lending.
Dealer Financing – Empowers MSMEs to offer credit to their dealers, ensuring smooth operations without straining their own working capital.

Our goal is simple—bridge the financial gap for MSMEs in the textile value chain and create a resilient and sustainable ecosystem.

Can you shed light on the strategic MoU with CMAI and its impact on improving trade finance access for garment manufacturers?
The MoU with The Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI) stemmed from a shared understanding of the financial hurdles faced by garment manufacturers, particularly MSMEs. Despite immense potential, most of these players struggle to access timely and affordable trade finance due to delayed payments, long production cycles and limited collateral.

CMAI, as a leading industry body, was the ideal partner to help us reach these businesses directly. Through this MoU, we aimed to create awareness about structured financing and offer tailored solutions to improve their cash flows.

The impact has been promising. Many CMAI members are now exploring our platform to secure funding against invoices and receivables. This not only enhances liquidity but also gives them the confidence to accept larger orders, invest in better materials and scale their operations.

We believe this partnership is a crucial step toward making trade finance more accessible, efficient and transparent for the garment manufacturing sector.

How is BillMart supporting the textile industry’s supply chain through vendor financing and trade finance solutions? How does this benefit supplier relationships and operational efficiency?
A strong, seamless supply chain is critical for the textile industry’s success. However, delayed payments continue to disrupt this chain, especially affecting MSME vendors who face severe working capital shortages.

Our trade finance solutions address this problem head-on. By connecting MSMEs and their suppliers/buyers to our network of banks and NBFCs, we help them access early payments against invoices. This reduces the waiting time for payments, enabling vendors to manage raw material purchases, labour costs and production cycles without disruption.

For buyers, the benefit is twofold:
Stronger Supplier Relationships – Timely payments build trust, ensuring vendors are motivated and capable of fulfilling future orders.

Improved Operational Efficiency – Eliminating cash flow bottlenecks helps avoid production delays caused by financial constraints.

Our digital platform ensures the process is transparent, paperless and efficient, enabling textile businesses to better manage working capital and focus on growth. Ultimately, solutions like vendor finance help create a more resilient and competitive supply chain.

How does BillMart’s AI-based credit assessment enhance credit availability and reduce risk for textile MSMEs?
Traditional lenders often struggle to assess the creditworthiness of textile MSMEs due to lack of collateral or formal credit history. This is where our AI-based credit assessment process becomes a game-changer.

Instead of relying solely on conventional documents, our system analyzes real-time business data such as:

1. GST returns
2. Bank transactions
3. Trade history
4. Payment patterns
5. Buyer-seller relationships
6. Many others data points

For example, if a MSME regularly supplies to a reputed buyer and maintains steady transactions, our AI identifies this as a sign of business stability. These alternative data points give lenders greater confidence, even if the MSME lacks traditional collateral.

This AI-driven approach:

• Speeds up loan approvals
• Minimizes manual errors and risks
• Makes finance accessible based on actual business performance, not just paperwork

What advice would you give to MSME textile manufacturers looking to strengthen their financial position and improve liquidity in a competitive market?
MSME textile manufacturers operate in a highly competitive and fast-changing market. Strengthening their financial position and improving liquidity is crucial, not just for survival but for sustainable growth. My advice would be:

1. Focus on Cash Flow Management:
   Often, businesses concentrate only on profits but forget that cash flow is equally important. Timely collections from buyers and keeping a close watch on expenses helps avoid liquidity crunch.
2. Leverage Supply Chain Finance Solutions:
   Instead of relying only on traditional loans, textile MSMEs should explore financing option like supply chain finance. At BillMart, we help MSMEs get access to working capital by financing their receivables or payables.
3. Build Strong Banking and Financial Relationships:
   Strong ties with banks, NBFCs and financial platforms improve MSMEs’ credit access. Proper documentation and GST compliance further build lender trust.
4. Invest in Technology and Digital Platforms:
   Technology is no longer optional. Adopting digital tools for inventory management, invoicing and accounting improves operational efficiency and makes it easier to access digital finance.

Overall, textile MSMEs need a balanced approach—boosting efficiency, ensuring timely finance and planned growth. Financial discipline and smart use of new-age solutions strengthen their competitive edge.