Sindhuja Microcredit, a micro credit and insurance provider for rural-urban market has raised $14.5 million (Rs 120 crore) in a Series C funding round to invest in its busines expansion plans, and consolidate its existing market presence. Further, it plans to foray into new geographies, and add new product to its portfolio.
The rural-region focused microcredit lender currently manages 235 branches and boasts assets under management (AUM) exceeding Rs 1,000 crore. In its six-year journey, Sindhuja has distributed micro-loans to more than 400,000 self-employed women micro-entrepreneurs across nine states situated in the northern, eastern, and western regions of India.
The company also plans to offer other credit products like Micro Enterprise Loan and also plans to offer pension and other services through third party arrangements to its customers. Through these products it aims to reach the lives of the “Bottom of Pyramid” and the “Missing Middle” customers and contribute in financial inclusion.
Sindhuja Microcredit Financial Inclusion Strategy
“Sindhuja is focused on supporting people from rural areas and women borrowers, and our collaboration aims to empower India’s underserved farming community. We’re confident that the company is poised to meet this challenge by providing products and services of value to this segment,” Agustín Vitórica, Co-Founder, GAWA Capital said.
“The funding further strengthens our commitment to make financial service easily available to the financially excluded and MSME entrepreneurs through technology-driven solutions,” Sindhuja’s Managing Director Abhisheka Kumar and CEO Malkit Singh Didyala said in a communique.
Founded in 2018 by Kumar and Didyala, Sindhuja Microcredit is an NBFC-MFI registered with the Reserve Bank of India and based in Noida. The firm offers financial aid to skilled women entrepreneurs facing capital constraints. Additionally, it offers business loans to traders, shopkeepers, and farmers, addressing their working capital needs and facilitating business expansion.
The latest funding round was led by GAWA Capital (through its vehicle Huruma Fund) and Oikocredit. Existing investors Carpediem Capital and Abler Nordic also participated in the round.
