Financial Inclusion! Know How This Bengaluru-Based Fintech Startup Aims To Build Sustainable Livelihoods

At a time when global fintech giants are planning to serve the Next Half Billion (NHB), there comes the requirement to serve the unserved and underserved communities. In India, the population of unserved people is significantly higher than in most countries. A lack of financial resources brings 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, the Bengaluru-based social fintech Avanti came into existence to serve the unserved people of India. It provides access to credit and affordable financial services on time to drive sustainable livelihoods. Notably, most of the beneficiaries of its financial services are women (90 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 complete life cycle of credit. It has integrated various digital initiatives built around the Aadhaar ecosystem, like KYC, fund transfers, e-mandates, UPI, and E-Sign.

According to the company, It is a trust-based lending system that leverages the deep community knowledge of the partners to drive financial inclusion. It has a mix of commercial and non-profit partners- AEG Foundation, ASA, SEWA, Samhita, Stellapps, LEAF, and Ninjacart among others.

'Every Loan Is An Impact Story

While sharing the information with The Logical Indian, the company said, "Every loan of Avanti is an impact story as it plays a part in building sustainable livelihoods of its borrowers." It's currently operational in more than 120 districts of India with over 50,000 end customers. The company has made its financial services based on technology through which they carry paperless, presence-less, 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 to set up a digital payment outlet. It further helped her outreach her business to value-added customers in and around a nearby town. The company claimed she was also given a loan of Rs 2 lakh to expand her business.

The purpose-driven Bengaluru-based social fintech aims to build several similar stories by empowering millions of people to make a sustainable livelihood. People can operate the application through mobile, where it takes 12 mins to complete the process. Through its digital infrastructure, people can also make every transaction digitally.

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