Company Profile:

A global conglomerate, the Aditya Birla Group is in the League of Fortune 500. Anchored by an extraordinary force of over 140,000 employees belonging to 100 nationalities, the Group is built on a strong foundation of stakeholder value creation. With over seven decades of responsible business practices, our businesses have grown into global powerhouses in a wide range of sectors – metals, pulp and fibre, chemicals, textiles, carbon black, telecom, cement, financial services, fashion retail and renewable energy. Today, over 50% of Group revenues flow from overseas operations that span 36 countries in North and South America, Africa, Asia and Europe. Aditya Birla Group’s flagship manufacturing conglomerate, Grasim has announced its foray into B2B e-commerce last year to capitalize on the large and growing opportunity in the construction procurement industry (INR 7 lakh crore procurement market in India, with only 1% digital penetration). The company has committed to investing $250 Million (INR 2000 crores) over the course of 5 years for buidling the business. The platform will enable contractors and retailers (SMEs) get access to a variety of quality construction material, access to credit, reliable delivery and tracking. For the suppliers (OEMs and distributors) the platform will enable a pan-India digital channel which would help them build a wider network and opportunities to expand their sales. This is a unique venture which operates like a startup with all the benefits of being a part of a large conglomerate and draws from the equity of the Aditya Birla brand. The platform has already witnessed rapid growth in the first few months of launch, and is building towards the next phase of growth. The transformative nature of venture means that business disruption is going to be created at scale and technology needs to be the engine to drive the same. Please join our team to be a part of this exciting journey, make a business impact and accelerate your learning and growth.

Job description:

Organizational Context

Key Aspects:

o As the debt arm of Aditya Birla Capital (ABC), Aditya Birla Finance Limited (ABFL) offers specialized lending and financing solutions in the areas of Capital Markets, Corporate/ Trade Finance, Commercial Real Estate and Mortgages. Currently ranked within the top 25 NBFCs of India, ABFL has made significant progress and the Company’s balance sheet at INR 15,000 Cr plus exceeds that of several mid-sized Banks and NBFCs.

o The company has a well-defined vision of being one of the most reputed and material financiers within the lending space – spread across Retail HNI and corporate clientele. It has made significant investments in process and system infrastructure towards preparing for the next level of growth and are one of the only financial entities certified for ISO 9001:2008 across all business processes. Spread across 18 cities, it plans on further diversifying its risk and revenue mix through expansion into new geographies and new product segments allowing customers a one-window shop for all their financing needs.

o Having focused traditionally on secured lending verticals and built a strong balance sheet on the same, ABFL has ventured into Secured Micro Loan Business segment in order to effectively capitalize on its financial base with carefully managed exposures in this higher yield and profit segment.

Job Context
Key Aspects:

o The Secured Micro Loan Business segment product line caters to funding short term and medium term working capital needs of Small Businesses and individuals, via a suite of customized short and long tenured products, with collateral.

o Offerings comprise Secured Micro Loan to self-employed individuals/ non-individual entities, with end use of funds (Working capital requirement, business expansion etc.) to be ascertained during the loan appraisal process.

o The business is highly retail in nature, characterized by high transaction volumes, smaller ticket sizes, and significantly higher spread and profit margins (up to four times that of Secured Lending products)

o Given the Secured Micro Loan nature of loans disbursed, the business also entails stringent controls and monitoring to ensure portfolio health and quality at all times o While unit of sizing up the business is its loan book size, profitability and minimized delinquency are key business objectives.

o Higher cost of funding impacts profitability as well as competitiveness of loan rates that can be offered to customers

o Understanding of product market characteristics such as connector relationship management, region specific occupations/trade, local financial preferences and practices are important to gain competitive advantage while structuring loans and identifying leads.

o The RO/RM – ABFL is responsible for achieving sales targets as agreed with the Area Head (Sales) – ABFL, in terms of targeted book size, profitability, growth & customer service objectives.

Key Challenges

o To deliver on operational plan in the assigned coverage area in a differentiated manner considering local factors, channel dynamics and consumer preferences, that can withstand competitive pressures on the ground

o To grow the business while remaining cognizant of competitive realities in the following areas:
o Market linked product
o Market average IRR & processing fee levels
o To originate and increase market share in assigned coverage area against stiff competition, overcoming competitive pressures borne out of better established networks, price undercutting, etc.
o To establish a strong local network and leverage the same to generate business leads, and also identify opportunities for cross sell with existing customers
o To constantly upgrade financial & operational know how of self and team members on efficient loan processing, effective negotiation and relationship building for maintaining credibility and profitable target achievement
o To keep abreast with the latest market trends and local market preferences and needs
o To ensure loan conversion/ sanction/ utilization percentages are high and a broad enough sourcing funnel is built to meet targets
o To ensure credit quality and effective portfolio selection / pre-screening thereby minimizing potential NPAs
o To ensure compliant sales operations despite sales pressures and market cycles

Enabling Skill Sets & Qualifications
o Critical skill sets required to meet these challenges include business and commercial acumen, team management and communication, execution skills, product-market understanding, and execution skills.
o Education & experience required to fulfil this profile are a graduate with minimum 2 - 4 yrs of total sales experience in the Banking/ NBFC space, of which at least recent 1 Year experience should be in Micro/affordable loan sales.