India is poised to become a central force in global trade as a preferred manufacturing hub for electronics, pharmaceuticals, automotive and green technology and a leader in digital trade and services. Driven by structural reforms, digital infrastructure, and trade agreements, there is growing recognition that India will be instrumental in shaping the next phase of international trade. With the world’s most advanced digital public infrastructure (DPI) and a thriving fintech ecosystem, India is already at the heart of reimagining working capital. Through digital trade and embedding finance into trade flows, India is enabling real-time payments, digital customs, and access to liquidity deep into supply chains.

Supply chain finance (SCF) has developed progressively over the years and is now primed for transformation. The global growth in payables, receivables, and now increasingly inventory finance has meant that SCF has evolved into a mainstream lever for working capital optimisation for large enterprises, providing liquidity for thousands of suppliers around the globe. Banks and fintechs are actively engaged beyond traditional payables financing to elaborate SCF ecosystems, venturing into deep-tier finance (DTF), which involves small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) further upstream in the supply chain. These SMEs are often invisible to anchor corporate buyers and financiers but critical to supply chain continuity. There is also growing engagement in the use of cargo data to facilitate access to trade finance as part of the wider ecosystem. 

After years of expansion – most notably after the pandemic – the momentum in payables financing has been showing signs of strain. Relatively modest gains in 2023-24 can be attributed to rising interest rates, geopolitical and supply chain disruptions, and, in some cases, greater disclosure requirements. Adding to this complexity, increasing geopolitical tensions and renewed protectionist sentiments are creating significant headwinds, with tariffs emerging as a crucial factor influencing global trade flows and liquidity.

As global working capital management and technology advancements continue to evolve, embedded finance solutions are emerging at the core of this change, redefining financial intermediation by embedding credit and liquidity solutions directly into non-financial platforms where most everyday trade happens.

Rethinking inventory and financing in the new era of global trade

The global economic engine is shifting gear. In a landscape marked by supply chain fragmentation, rising tariffs, and increasing volatility, businesses today are increasingly focused on how to address their fluctuating working capital requirements for cross-border trade. With inventory forecasting becoming more difficult and shifts from just-in-time to the more costly just-in-case inventory model, there has been a recent surge in interest in TradeCo setups for inventory management and financing. 

Bilateral goods trade between India and the United States crossed £94 billion in 2024, cementing the US as India’s largest trading partner. Meanwhile, the EU continues to account for over £103 billion in goods trade and £51 billion in services with India annually. India and the U.S. are currently negotiating a new tariff framework to avoid duties as high as 27%; the recently signed India-UK Free Trade Agreement marks a pivotal moment in bilateral relations, forecasted to double bilateral trade from £42.6 billion in 2024 to £74 billion by 2030.  With the 90-day US tariff pause ending in July, negotiations are intensifying to prevent the re-establishment of up to 26% duties on Indian exports. In the meantime, India has proactively lowered tariffs on key US imports such as bourbon whiskey, Harley-Davidson motorcycles, and ethernet switches to ease access and boost bilateral flows.

Alongside these tariff adjustments, both sides are working to reduce non-tariff barriers and streamline regulatory alignment in key sectors like medical devices and pharmaceuticals. These reforms are already reshaping liquidity dynamics across this important trade corridor.  Lower duties on both sides such as the US easing tariffs on Indian steel and India slashing rates on US medical devices are reducing landed costs and improving profit margins. For large enterprises, this unlocks headroom to invest more confidently in inventory and supply-side resilience, paving the way for inventory-linked financing and more agile working capital strategies. 

Tariffs and tensions: the hidden cost and liquidity challenge

Rising tariffs are no longer just a policy risk, they’re creating real working capital pressure points. Recent surveys show that 67% of corporates have faced higher costs or reduced revenues due to tariff hikes, and over 80% anticipate continued trade disruptions. This results in longer cash conversion cycles and increased cost of goods sold, especially for exporters and importers moving between India, the US, and the EU.

In response to this, corporates are pivoting their strategies. Nearshoring, supplier diversification, and dual-sourcing strategies are becoming the norm. India, Vietnam, and Mexico are emerging as beneficiaries in the global realignment of trade flows.  But this fragmentation has consequences: suppliers are now more distributed, risk visibility is lower, and liquidity needs are becoming more complex. 

COVID-19, tariff wars, and the China+1 diversification strategy have exposed how vulnerable supply chains and financing can be when stressed by external factors. Today’s supply chains demand liquidity that is faster, more flexible, and increasingly more integrated into operational platforms than ever before.  

The new age of supply chain finance

The evolution of SCF has mirrored shifts in global trade. From its initial paper-based documentary credit and bank-led models, global trade moved into open-account, and is now poised to enter more systematic ecosystem-led financing: real-time liquidity, embedded into non-financial platforms leveraging digital public infrastructure. The providers of global working capital – banks and alternative lenders – are adapting by digitising payables and receivables financing, investing in new platforms, and engaging fintech to create solutions that offer speed, transparency, and scalability.

The emergence of private credit to step up and fill the gap in trade finance and working capital is gaining traction. In India, non-bank financial institutions (NBFI) lending to MSMEs is growing at over 30% annually, while private credit funds globally are increasingly eyeing trade receivables as a reliable, short-duration asset class. Receivable financing, asset distribution, and receivables securitisation are unlocking entirely new pools of liquidity, particularly when backed by data-driven credit analytics. This is evident in India as well as a range of markets around the world.

There is also a rising focus on sustainability in supply chains. ESG-linked SCF has been growing in recent years, especially in the EU, where corporates and financiers are incentivising suppliers to meet sustainability benchmarks in exchange for better financing terms. This moderate expansion is set to continue and introduces a layer of purpose-led capital across supply chains.

As overall supply chain complexity heightens, the most transformative shift of all is the role of embedded finance, where liquidity is built directly into eCommerce, procurement, and logistics platforms.  Globally, embedded finance is expected to generate £235 billion in revenue by 2030, with the SME segment alone accounting for nearly £110 billion. According to Ernst & Young, embedded finance in Asia is growing at an annual rate of nearly 60%, more than anywhere else in the world. India is at the forefront of this transformation, driven by its fintech ecosystem, strong DPI, and growing demand for seamless financial access from large enterprises to SMEs.

India’s potential to lead embedded financing     

India is home to over 74 million MSMEs and faces a staggering $360 billion credit gap, one of the largest in the world. It’s a paradox: millions of businesses have potential for growth, but can’t expand because of their limited access to working capital. This persistent shortfall has driven Indian fintech to rethink how credit is originated and delivered, ushering in this new era of embedded finance.  India’s leading eCommerce, CRM, and logistics platforms are now more than service providers; they’re financial ecosystems. By integrating lending, invoice discounting, and insurance into the very heart of commercial activity, these players are unlocking new avenues of growth. 

India’s regulatory and digital public infrastructure has become a global benchmark for this transformation. In just six years, the country achieved over 80% financial inclusion: a milestone that, by the World Bank’s estimate, would have otherwise taken as long as 50 years without tools like UPI, Account Aggregator, OCEN, and ONDC.  These frameworks have not only lowered transaction costs but also enabled real-time, interoperable data-sharing between financial institutions, fintechs, and businesses.

At the centre of this shift is data and the ability to use it meaningfully. AI-led credit decision-making is replacing balance-sheet lending with cash-flow-based underwriting. By tapping into GST filings, bank transactions, and behavioural data, fintech has reduced loan origination costs by up to 75%, while widening access to credit for first-time borrowers.

Building future-proof working capital infrastructure

What’s happening today is not just the digitisation of financial services; it’s a complete rewiring of how liquidity is accessed, embedded, and scaled globally. For the India–US–UK–EU corridors to thrive, financing will become less visible but still omnipresent and deeply embedded into procurement flows, e-invoices, and trade ecosystems. It will no longer be enough for participants to offer capital: they will increasingly need to be engaged with fintech as part of the overarching infrastructure – digital, regulatory, and advisory. In a world where 81% of C-suite leaders expect their financial partners to help them scenario-plan for trade and tariff risks, the role of banks and fintech collaboration is becoming indispensable. 

CredAble – a global fintech in scaleup internationally from its established base in India – is doing more than just helping financial institutions and corporate clients automate payables and optimise receivables; Credable is helping them turn the supply chain complexity of the moment into future-proof ways to meet the new era of global trade.

The CredAble working capital infrastructure is built around two complementary models: anchor-led supply chain financing and direct-to-SME embedded lending. Both are designed to deliver liquidity precisely at the point of transaction. The open account technology stack today globally powers working capital solutions for over 135 corporates and more than 350,000 MSMEs, underwriting credit using real-time data from bank feeds, GST records, and invoices. Whether through embedded financing widgets, digital underwriting, or trade asset securitisation, the goal is simple: deliver working capital where and when it’s most needed.

For cross-border operations, especially in the India-US-UK-EU corridor, there is a distinctly localised approach. Europe’s PEPPOL network and India’s GSTN-integrated e-invoicing are enabling seamless cross-border data exchanges, yet they operate under very different regulatory regimes.   Meanwhile, regulatory mandates such as GDPR in the EU and India’s evolving data-localisation rules necessitate  modular, API-first platforms that can adapt to each market’s compliance landscape.

That’s why, rather than deploying a monolithic global solution, the key is to design market-specific microservice-based architecture and forge partnerships with local players in each geography.  Whether this means adapting to Europe’s e-invoice standards, connecting to India’s Account Aggregator ecosystem, or integrating with the EU-standard e-invoicing for pan-European trade, the end game is clear: create seamless, compliant, and data-rich financing experiences that mirror the way businesses operate locally, while offering global scale.

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The India–US–UK–EU corridors are not just trade routes; they have the potential to be a proving ground for the future of working capital finance. As traditional financing models become less effective, geopolitical strains impact trade flows, and digital expectations continue to rise, variations of embedded finance will come to the fore and offer a more resilient, scalable, and inclusive path forward. The next frontier in working capital finance will be defined by how intelligently capital moves across ecosystems, across platforms, and across borders – a future that is already underway.