Bridgestone unlocks 7 million euros in 9 months, helped by Freepay

 As the government had been emphasizing extending the credit term to dealers and small vendors, the company took it in the right stride

Pune-based tyre maker Bridgestone India has unlocked around 7 million euros in cash flows in nine months with the shifting of its payment collection process on a digital platform, a senior company executive has said.

As many as 80 percent of Bridgestone India's around 7,000 dealers have already migrated to the digital payment platform since its introduction last year, said Jyotsna Sharma, Chief Financial Officer.

Bridgestone India is the domestic arm of Japan's Bridgestone Corporation.

The application Freepay, an electronic invoice presentation and processing and reconciliation solution from JP-Morgan-backed fintech, Global PayEx Freepay solution, allows Bridgestone dealers to make payments directly through the self-service, using their smartphones or desktops.

It adds incentives of cash discounts and credit notes against outstanding invoices besides offering other facilities such as automated cheque facility among others.

In January-February last year, prior to the pandemic, there was already fear in the market due to the slowdown. The payment collection process also had slowed down and the company saw a lot of money accumulating in the market, Sharma said in an interaction with PTI.

As the government had been emphasizing extending the credit term to dealers and small vendors, the company took it in the right stride, she said.