01
Client context
The bank's MSME products were generic and struggled against specialised NBFCs and fintech lenders.
02
Business challenge
The bank needed to understand how needs varied by industry, turnover and growth stage, and how business owners choose providers.
03
Research objective & questions
Build a needs-based MSME segmentation and identify the propositions and channels to prioritise.
- What are the working-capital, credit and payment needs of different MSME segments?
- How do owners choose between banks, NBFCs and fintechs?
- What role do accountants, distributors and anchor companies play?
- Which pain points in credit and servicing matter most?
04
Methodology & approach
- MSME owner IDIs
- Owners and finance heads across industries.
- Intermediary interviews
- Chartered accountants, distributors and anchor corporates.
- B2B survey
- CATI survey sized by industry and turnover band.
- Segmentation analysis
- Needs-based clustering.
05
Sample & geography
- ~30 MSME IDIs
- ~12 intermediary interviews
- ~600 CATI interviews
- Geography — India (multi-region)
06
Key findings
- Speed of credit decisions outweighed interest rate for many growing businesses.
- Accountants strongly influenced provider choice for smaller firms.
- Supply-chain-linked businesses preferred anchor-led financing programmes.
- Digital payment and collection tools were an entry point to deeper relationships.
07
Business implications
- Prioritise fast-decision working-capital products for growth segments.
- Build an accountant partnership channel.
- Develop anchor-led supply-chain finance programmes.
08
Outcome
The bank gained a sized MSME segmentation, proposition gaps and a channel strategy for priority segments.
Example engagement — Shows how Hoog approaches this type of question. Not a specific client project. Findings are directional.