What's the news: Fintech startup Slice is pivoting to a new model of credit lending in order to comply with the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) guidelines on digital lending, the company informed customers by email on October 29. "Due to recent RBI guidelines, Slice card can’t be used for credit transactions from November end…To ensure a smooth transition, we will temporarily block your card during November. We will notify you in advance in the Slice app when we upgrade you to the all-new experience before November end," Slice said. What's the new model: Prepaid account: Customers can open a prepaid account with Slice and link their Slice card to the account. They can add money to the prepaid account called using UPI, debit, and credit cards. Credit: Slice allows users to borrow money but this money gets deposited directly into the users' bank account (eg. HDFC, ICICI, etc). Users can decide to use this as is or transfer the money to the Slice prepaid account and use it with Slice card or Slice UPI. "The amount you can borrow depends upon your purchase power. A flat fee will be charged for each borrowing. You can pay in 1 month with 0 interest or split up your repayment up to 12 months with interest," the company explained. Why does the matter: RBI's digital lending guidelines have forced fintech companies to get creative with their business model while offering customers the same convenience as before. But it is not clear if these…
