MFI Report

Swadhaar FinServe Pvt. Ltd. (‘Swadhaar’) is among the earliest initiatives aimed at providing financial services to the urban poor in India. It is registered as a Non-banking Finance Company (NBFC), and is headquartered in Mumbai. In Hindi, the word “Swadhaar” means self-support, and is a reflection of the Company’s mission to make available regular, reliable and efficient financial services to the economically vulnerable urban poor, enabling them to become self reliant and meet their aspirations for a better and more secure future. The microfinance initiative started with the establishment of a non-profit entity, Swadhaar FinAccess (SFA), which was incorporated in March 2005. In May 2008, the promoters received an NBFC registration for Swadhaar FinServe, which launched microfinance operations in July 2008. SFA has since ceased to provide micro credit and instead, focuses solely on credit plus activities including financial education and savings facilitation as a Business Correspondent. Swadhaar’s target clients are both men and women, who have limited or no access to services from the formal financial sector. As at March 31st 2010, the organisation had a total of 27,391 active clients spread across 26 branches with a gross loan portfolio of Rs. 195 million Hide