Xiaomi offers a wide range of services in China, and the company is now looking to do the same in India, its second-largest global market. After rolling out Mi Music and Mi Video earlier this year, Xiaomi is now wading into financial services with Mi Credit, a lending platform that makes it easier for MIUI users to get a line of credit.
Xiaomi says it is partnering with India's KreditBee to offer instant loans — from ₹1,000 ($15) to ₹1,00,000 ($1,500) — with the service aimed at young professionals. KreditBee relies on KYC authorization to disburse the loan, and you'll have to link your bank account with the service to receive the funds. Once you link your bank account, the loan amount will be disbursed within 10 minutes.
Xiaomi mentions that Mi Credit is exclusive to MIUI devices — meaning it won't work on the Android One-based Mi A1. From Xiaomi India head Manu Kumar Jain:
Xiaomi provides internet services to give our users a complete mobile internet experience, and MIUI functions as an open platform for us to deliver our wide range of internet services, such as content, entertainment, financial services and productivity tools. The connectivity between our devices and the seamless integration between hardware and internet services enable us to provide our users with better user experience.Mi Credit is another big step in bringing an important internet service to India and we trust that our users would be able to truly benefit as the service becomes more sophisticated.
Currently, KreditBee is the only loan provider on Mi Credit, but that may change in the coming months as the service gets more momentum.
Before you get started with the service, a note of caution: payday loan providers tend to charge a higher rate of interest than banks, so make sure you read the details of the loan clearly before you avail a line of credit.
