A Startup Is Cashing In on India’s $1 Trillion Gold Stash

When Vijay Mhatre needed cash to make up a shortfall for his son’s engineering school tuition, he pledged his wife’s necklace and bangles. Instead of going to the nearest pawnbroker or bank, the 55-year-old called Rupeek Fintech Pvt Ltd., summoning a representative of the online gold lender to his 650-square-foot Mumbai apartment and sidestepping the ignominy of being seen pawning the family jewelry.

A motorcycle-borne loan agent from the startup arrived within the hour. He used a computer vision-aided testing kit to appraise the metal’s purity. A team 600 miles away crunched data to complete the background check and process the loan electronically. About 30 minutes later, 200,000 rupees ($2,800) had been deposited in Mhatre’s bank account by one of Rupeek’s partners, an Indian private lender called Federal Bank. The startup’s 24/7 control room turned on the risk-monitoring system to track the agent, ensuring he securely deposited the jewelry at the bank’s nearest vault.