Financial Inclusion! Know how this Bengaluru-based Fintech startup aims to build sustainable livelihoods
At a time when global fintech giants are planning to make the next half billion (NHB), comes the demand to serve the unserved and underserved communities. In India, the population of unserved people is significantly higher than in most countries. Lack of financial resources pulls them down even if they want to indulge in business activities or start a new project.
Founded by Ratan Tata and Nandan Nilekani in 2016, Bengaluru-based social fintech Avanti came into existence to serve the underserved people of India. It provides timely access to credit and affordable financial services to drive sustainable livelihoods. In particular, most of the recipients of the financial services are women (75 per cent).
The vision of social fintech is to make financial services affordable and accessible on time to millions of unserved and underserved Indians. Avanti Finance uses technology for the entire life cycle of credit. It has integrated various digital initiatives built around the Aadhaar ecosystem, such as KYC, money transfers, e-mandates, UPI and E-Sign.
According to the company, it is a trust-based lending system that utilizes the deep social knowledge of the partners to drive financial inclusion. It has a mix of commercial and non-profit partners – Basix, SEWA, Davina Technologies, SEEDS, SMV Green Solutions and Mahismati, among others.
‘Each loan is an impact story
While sharing the information with The logical Indian, the company said, “Every Avanti loan is an impact story as it plays a role in building sustainable livelihoods for its borrowers.” It is currently operational in more than 120 districts in India with over 50,000 end customers. The company has made its financial services based on technology through which they carry paperless, presenceless, cashless services.
The company also shared that a woman farmer from Vizag, Andhra Pradesh, Ramani Gorla, started a cattle feed business near Nakkapalli block. In her journey to achieve milestones, Avanti helped her set up a digital payment outlet. It further helped her reach her business to value-added customers in and around a nearby city. The company claimed that she was also given a loan of Rs 2 lakh to expand her business.
The purpose-driven Bengaluru-based social fintech aims to build more similar stories by empowering millions of people to earn a sustainable livelihood. People can operate the application via mobile, where it takes 12 minutes to complete the process. Through its digital infrastructure, people can also do every transaction digitally.
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