Tide, the UK’s leading SME-focused business financial platform that began setting up operations in India in 2020, today announced that it has partnered with Transcorp International Limited, a 27-year-old Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulated Authorised Dealer Category II and perpetual Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) license holder, to launch co-branded prepaid cards (Tide Expense Card) as an entry product. This roll-out stems from Tide’s expansion strategy in India, its first international market outside the UK, and a pillar of its global ambitions.

Tide will offer payment services to small businesses across India, starting with a Tide Business Account, accompanied by a Tide Expense Card. These Tide Expense Cards will be offered in partnership with Transcorp powered by RuPay. Other payment and business services will follow later this year. The partnership leverages the expertise of RuPay, India's indigenous payment network, the long-standing reputation of Transcorp, and Tide’s vast experience with SMEs in the UK, to help small businesses in India save time and money.

Commenting on the partnership, Oliver Prill, CEO, Tide, said, “Launching Tide’s business financial platform in India has been our priority since we announced our international expansion. We are excited to partner with Transcorp as we embark on the next stage of Tide’s journey, to serve the 64-million and growing SMEs in the Indian market. With Transcorp, we are ready to begin our initial product offering of Tide India, in order to build the best possible service to help SME owners save time and money.”

Users will be able to activate and manage their Tide Business Account and Tide Expense Card through the Tide app, which will also be used to load money, collect payments and check spending, among other services.

Kumar Shekhar, VP, Tide (India), said, “We, at Tide, wish to support entrepreneurs in their journey and believe we’re in a strong position to do exactly that. As we scale up in India, we will expand our product offerings for small businesses who wish to take the big step of starting out in business – whether it’s as a contractor, freelancer, sole trader, or small business owner. Transcorp is a great partner for Tide, with a great reputation as an issuer for co-branded prepaid instruments. Transcorp has already demonstrated success with its partners and Tide is delighted to join this illustrious list.”

The needs of SMEs globally are largely universal, with time wasted on business and administrative tasks being a key issue. Tide exists to fix that problem. Tide has developed the right approach and a mix of services to meet the diverse needs of small businesses. In the next year, Tide plans to introduce a few more features like Business Savings/Current Account in partnership with an RBI-licensed bank, Fund Transfer, Invoicing, GST and Pay by link and Credit services, for its members.

“Transcorp is delighted to partner with Tide to enable digital payments and promote financial literacy amongst India’s largest business fraternity: SMEs. This segment is India’s economic backbone but remains financially underserved. With Tide, we aim to include them into the formal economy by delivering excellent products and exceptional service." said Ayan Agarwal, Vice President, Transcorp. “As India’s premier non-bank card issuer, Transcorp takes pride in enabling financial inclusion for Indian SMEs, and continuously strives to deliver success to its partners through the optimisation of stakeholder alignment."

Small businesses that are just starting out will find the business accounts helpful for their daily transactions and expenses. Being fully digital, Tide’s Business account is not just hassle-free, but is secure and protects user privacy.

As the India platform is built out over the course of 2022, Tide plans to partner with a range of service providers from payroll providers to credit partners.