Is this right for my business?

First, can you use this at all?

Four questions with hard answers. A “no” to any of them means the rest does not matter yet.

1. 1.Have you finished the work and raised the invoice?

   Yes

   Good - that is the starting point. Financing is against work already delivered.

   No

   Then not yet. Nobody finances an invoice for work that is not done. Come back when it is delivered and accepted.

2. 2.Is your buyer a registered company?

   Yes

   Good. The financier is really lending against them.

   No

   This will not work. Invoices on individuals and sole proprietors are not financeable here.

3. 3.Is payment due between 15 and 120 days from now?

   Yes

   That is our range.

   No

   Under 15 days there is not enough time to be worth the cost - just wait. Over 120 days we cannot help, and an invoice already overdue is a collections problem, not a financing one.

4. 4.Do you have Udyam registration and a GST number?

   Yes

   Then you have what we need.

   No

   Get the Udyam registration first - it is free, it is online, and without it you also lose the 45-day payment protection you are entitled to.

Then, should you?

Four questions with no right answer. These are the ones worth sitting with.

1. 1.Is your buyer above ₹250 crore turnover, or a public sector enterprise?

   Yes

   Then they are required to be registered on a TReDS exchange, so financing the invoice there is a route open to you. Rates there are set by auction. Check with their accounts payable team first.

   No

   Then TReDS is probably not open to you at all, and the comparison that matters is us against waiting 60 days.

2. 2.Do you have a specific use for the money that earns more than it costs?

   Yes

   Then the arithmetic is straightforward - a discount on raw material, a machine that clears a bottleneck, or an order you could not otherwise take.

   No

   Then be careful. Financing an invoice to cover a gap you will have again next month treats a cash flow problem as a funding problem, and it gets more expensive each time.

3. 3.If this one invoice were never paid, would your business survive?

   Yes

   Then our cheaper product with recourse is probably the right one.

   No

   Then look at the without-recourse product seriously. It advances less and costs more, and that difference is what buys the protection.

4. 4.Would a bank overdraft or cash credit limit be cheaper?

   Yes

   Then use it. Secured MSME working capital from a public sector bank runs 8-10% a year, which beats us. A sanctioned limit you already have is almost always the cheaper money.

   No

   Fair enough - for most businesses without an existing limit, arranging one takes months and needs security you may not have.

The short version