Ola Financial Services has ceased lending to customers, largely blue-collar workers, through the app of a recently acquired entity Avail Finance, ET reported.
Ola is shutting down its recently acquired Avail Finance App and integrating it into Ola Money. Further, going ahead with its integration plan with Ola Money, Ola Financial Services has stopped lending to customers via Avail Finance, the report added.
The move is said to be taken as Ola has been shutting down verticals which a losing the cash flow in its consolidation. The company stopped the operation of its infotainment service Ola Play, the platform of the used car, Ola Cars and the quick commerce vertical Ola Dash in 2022.
Avail Finance stopped disbursing loans in December 2022. Only the collection of loans will take place throughout the year, as the lending vertical only offered one-year loans which will be completed in December 2023, the report cited.
“Avail’s services have been integrated with Ola Financial Services. We are now offering products and services to drivers and customers through Ola Financial Services,” the company said in a statement.
Founded by Tushar Mehndiratta and Ankush Aggarwal, the brother of Ola’s founder Bhavish Aggarwal, Avail Finance was acquired by Ola in March 2022 for about $50 million.
Avail Finance offers short-term loans to the blue-collar workforce including gig workers in India. The start-up reportedly offered loans starting from Rs 5,000 and an advance salary of up to Rs 10,000.
Ola Financial Services provides fintech services to Ola entities, including Ola Money, an e-wallet service available for mobility customers.
It also offers a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) service called Ola Money Postpaid. There is also Ola Money Postpaid Plus, which can be used with external merchants while the regular version is only available for ride-hailing with the company.