India's Small Industries Development Bank has rolled out MonetaGo's Secure Financing system across its GST-Sahay platform, aiming to reduce invoice fraud and improve credit access for micro, small, and medium-sized businesses
The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has taken a significant step to strengthen invoice-based lending by deploying MonetaGo's Secure Financing solution across its GST-Sahay platform. This move follows a three-month pilot that began in March and is designed to address persistent risks of duplicate financing and invoice fraud in India's trade finance sector. By integrating MonetaGo's trade finance registry, SIDBI aims to streamline the validation of invoices and enhance the management of the entire credit lifecycle, from loan origination to repayment.
Secure Financing is now operational on GST-Sahay, SIDBI's digital platform that facilitates invoice-backed credit for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). The system enables real-time validation of invoices not only for transactions processed through TReDS (Trade Receivables Electronic Discounting System) but also across other participating factoring platforms and lenders, including SBI Global Factors and India Factoring. This cross-platform approach is intended to reduce the risk of the same invoice being financed multiple times, a challenge that has historically undermined trust and efficiency in India's trade finance ecosystem.
Reducing Duplicate Financing Risks
SIDBI's adoption of MonetaGo's Secure Financing builds on earlier collaboration between the two organizations. In November 2025, SIDBI began implementing MonetaGo's Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) technology, with the stated goal of "de-risking trade" and safeguarding MSMEs' access to credit. The latest deployment extends these protections by providing a unified registry that can be accessed by multiple lenders and platforms, making it more difficult for fraudulent or duplicate invoices to slip through the system.
According to SIDBI, the GST-Sahay platform now covers the full credit lifecycle, offering MSMEs a more secure and transparent process for obtaining working capital. The bank, established in 1990 to support MSMEs' integration into domestic and global value chains, operates 141 branches across India and manages total assets of approximately $66.4 billion (INR 6,32,378 crore). The enhanced invoice validation process is expected to improve lender confidence and potentially lower the cost of credit for eligible businesses.
Industry Context and Data
India's MSME sector, which contributes nearly 30% to the country's GDP and employs over 110 million people, has long faced challenges in accessing affordable credit. According to Reserve Bank of India data, the total outstanding bank credit to MSMEs stood at INR 22.6 trillion (about $237 billion) as of March 2026. However, concerns about invoice fraud and duplicate financing have limited the willingness of lenders to extend unsecured working capital, especially through digital channels. By introducing a shared registry for invoice validation, SIDBI and MonetaGo aim to address these barriers and support more reliable credit flows to the sector.
Efforts to modernize digital banking infrastructure are not unique to India. For example, Belize Bank recently overhauled its digital services by integrating a new AI-native banking platform, as described in this report on digital banking modernization in Belize. Such initiatives reflect a broader trend among financial institutions to leverage technology for improved risk management, customer onboarding, and fraud prevention.
How Invoice Validation Registries Work
Invoice validation registries like MonetaGo's Secure Financing operate by assigning a unique digital fingerprint to each invoice submitted for financing. When a lender receives an invoice, the system checks the registry to determine whether the same invoice has already been financed elsewhere. If a match is found, the lender is alerted to the potential risk of duplicate financing. This mechanism is particularly important in markets where multiple lenders and platforms may be competing to finance the same pool of invoices, and where paper-based or siloed digital systems have historically made it difficult to detect fraud in real time.
By centralizing invoice validation, registries can help reduce credit losses, improve transparency, and build trust among lenders, borrowers, and regulators. However, the effectiveness of such systems depends on broad industry participation, robust data privacy protections, and ongoing updates to reflect new types of fraud or changes in business practices. As more financial institutions adopt shared registries, the potential for systemic improvements in trade finance security and efficiency increases, but so do the challenges of governance and interoperability across platforms.
