Kinara Capital, a fintech company focused on small entrepreneurs, allocated an additional ₹400 crore for disbursement in FY24 in discounted business loans for women entrepreneurs as part of the fourth anniversary of its HerVikas program.
With the latest allocation, the total commitment to date is ₹700 crore dedicated to driving financial inclusion of women entrepreneurs in the micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) sector, said the company in a press release.
According to Kinara Capital, it exceeded the ₹300-crore target set for FY20–FY23 with 38 per cent higher disbursements (₹414 crore). During the three-year period, it provided 4,305 HerVikas business loans for women-owned MSMEs.
“HerVikas has firmly established the importance and viability of women-centric financial services in India. With approximately ₹100 crore disbursed each year, we are now doubling down. The latest allocation will lead to reaching 10,000 HerVikas discounted business loans by next year. Entrepreneurship is a powerful way to aim for gender parity. Women entrepreneurs can rapidly drive economic and social change and are critical to India’s ambition of becoming a $5 trillion economy,” said Hardika Shah, founder and CEO of Kinara Capital.
The HerVikas program is available for MSME women entrepreneurs in more than 100 cities across Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Puducherry.
Since the launch of the program in FY20, HerVikas business loans resulted in over ₹125 crore additional income for women entrepreneurs and supported over 32,680 jobs in local economies, said the company.