MAM
SIDBI, MonetaGo team up to secure MSME lending
MUMBAI: When it comes to lending, trust is the best collateral. In a major move to fortify India’s MSME financing ecosystem, SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India) has teamed up with MonetaGo to roll out a cutting-edge fraud prevention and digital infrastructure solution.
The partnership aims to make credit safer and smarter for India’s small businesses, ensuring they get the funds they deserve without the risk of duplicate or fraudulent financing. This marks the first time a development financial institution has adopted MonetaGo’s technology, setting a new benchmark for secure and transparent MSME lending.
SIDBI chief general manager Y. M. Kumari said the collaboration would strengthen trust in MSME credit systems, especially in initiatives like GST-Sahay invoice-based financing. “By adding transparency and resilience, we aim to boost confidence in the lending ecosystem and help unlock the sector’s full potential,” she noted.
SIDBI deputy managing director Sudatta Mandal highlighted that de-risking credit flows is key to expanding MSME access and competitiveness.
For MonetaGo, the partnership is another milestone in its mission to secure digital finance. “SIDBI’s adoption of our Secure Financing system is a turning point for fraud prevention in MSME lending,” said MonetaGo India managing director Kalyan Basu.
Since 2018, MonetaGo’s technology has underpinned India’s digital trade finance framework. Backed by the Reserve Bank of India, it has already helped MSME financing grow by over 216 per cent since 2023, proving that when finance gets smarter, small businesses grow stronger.
Digital
Authbridge finds 5.61 per cent discrepancy rate in on-demand hiring
White-collar roles show 4.33 per cent overall as employment history leads at 11.15 per cent in H1 FY26.
MUMBAI: India’s hiring scene is pulling a classic bait-and-switch, candidates promise the world on paper, but the background check reveals the plot twist nobody saw coming. Authbridge, the country’s top trust and authentication tech firm, released its Workforce Fraud Files – H1 FY26 report (covering July–December 2025) around 16–17 February 2026, crunching data from millions of verifications across identity, address, employment history, education, criminal records, and CV validation.
The headline numbers paint a sobering picture: white-collar hires clocked an overall discrepancy rate of 4.33 per cent, while the on-demand ecosystem (gig and flexible roles) fared worse at 5.61 per cent showing that the faster, looser world of app-based work comes with extra red flags.
For white-collar folks, employment verification topped the trouble list at 11.15 per cent, followed by address checks at 7.68 per cent, education at 4.49 per cent, and references at 4.17 per cent. Drug screening (1.87 per cent) and criminal records (0.50 per cent) stayed relatively tame, but still popped up enough to matter.
The gig side showed even sharper vulnerabilities, address discrepancies hit 9.70 per cent, identity (NID) issues 2.53 per cent, and criminal record mismatches 2.23 per cent particularly worrying for roles with direct customer contact or field duties.
Industry breakdowns add colour, address problems plagued Telecom (15.42 per cent), IT (12.02 per cent), Pharma (11.21 per cent), Retail (10.64 per cent), and Banking & BFSI (10.23 per cent). Employment verification headaches were biggest in Retail (16.37 per cent), Telecom (14.32 per cent), Banking & BFSI (13.00 per cent), and Pharma (12.10 per cent). Education slips stood out in Retail (9.16 per cent) and Telecom (7.80 per cent), while CV validation mismatches appeared in IT (12.80 per cent) and Banking & BFSI (2.91 per cent).
Authbridge CEO and founder Ajay Trehan didn’t mince words, “The H1 FY26 Workforce Fraud Files clearly show that hiring-related discrepancies remain a persistent and structural challenge. Despite faster and more digitised hiring workflows, we continue to see gaps in fundamental checks such as employment history, address, and education. These are not minor inconsistencies; they have direct implications for organisational risk, compliance, and trust.”
The report stresses ditching one-and-done checks, start screening pre-offer to avoid nasty surprises post-joining, and layer in periodic reviews like drug tests, court records, and lifestyle assessments for ongoing risk management. Tools like Authbridge’s Authnumber (consent-based digital credentials) and Authlead (deep-dive leadership vetting) get a nod for cutting friction and blind spots.
Bottom line? In a job market racing for speed and scale, skimping on trust verification is like building a house on sand, one solid background check away from watching the whole thing crumble.
