THE FASTEST GROWING ALTERNATIVE FINANCE ACTING AS A MAKESHIFT: THE P2P LENDING

Money circulation forms the widespread market of the world today. Where financial institutions are certainly the
spine of present economic system, there still is a gap between the loan seekers and the loan providers. Sometimes
banks are unable to reach each corner of the country and the other times, the extensively lengthy process of loan
application becomes lethargic. Evidences of financial illiteracy and financial inclusion are visible, where a large
portion of India’s population are unbanked or underbanked. Molding into the vacant space, Peer to Peer (P2P)
lending concept emerged. P2P Websites or platforms were constructed offering public an open space to negotiate
and lend their money to fellow Indians. These websites act as mediators in the loan process. In a way P2P lending
could also be named as ‘public to public’ because it originates as a replica of banking system among the people.
In this paper, the researcher aspires to acknowledge the need and role of P2P lending and narrate this current
concept in greater detail. The study is exploratory in nature and based on secondary data. The study derives the
good creditability of P2P lending system as it has received green signal from the regulating authorities. It’s
success ladder is constructing exponentially as we see that P2P lending has struck it’s claws in Mumbai and is
rapidly spreading it wings in India.