Svatantra microfinance to expand operations across the country

MUMBAI: Mumbai based microfinance company Svatantra Microfinance is planning to expand across the country and build up a balance sheet of Rs 500 crore over the next two years. The medium scale MFI which currently operates out of 85 branches plans to expand its footprint to around 190 branches spread across 10 to 12 states.

“We have seen a compound annual growth rate of 220% since inception, and have already touched five states,” said Ananya Birla, founder of Svatantra Microfinance. “We plan to expand in scale and make the business more sustainable through the use of technology.”

The company also launched a smartphone based completely digitised solution named ‘Saathi’ which will digitise the process starting from loan origination, loan management to disbursals and collection.

Elaborating on the company’s growth plans, its director Vineet Chattree said that they were open to both organic as well as inorganic expansion options. It currently serves 2 lakh beneficiaries and works with 11000 villages.

“We are evaluating products like individual lending, affordable home finance and even small and medium enterprise lending products,” said Chattree.

Svatantra is currently funded by 9 financial institutions including public and private sector banks and NBFCs. The company has around Rs 250 crore of unavailed credit sanction limit.

Svatantra Microfinance, founded by Ananya Birla, the daughter of Aditya Birla group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, has disbursed more than Rs 450 crore of loans already since its launch in 2014 and has a current portfolio of Rs 260 crore.