After putting his stamp on the Indian start-up space, industrialist Ratan Tata is now setting up a micro-finance company to provide credit to the unserved segments. Former Finance Commission Chairman Vijay Kelkar and Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani have also joined him in the new venture, Avanti Finance.

The venture will apply for Reserve Bank of India registration in the “coming days”. The company will start operations before the financial year-end. Both Tata and Nilekani are bringing investments from capital they earmarked for philanthropy, and any gains will be reinvested for philanthropic causes. “Avanti will be a platform to impact the poor through credit at individual and community levels to create a lasting improvement in their livelihoods and standard of living, ushering prosperity,” Tata said. However, the investment details were not disclosed.

The firm has also put in place a senior leadership team that has experience in technology, micro-finance, enterprise risk management, credit operations and customer service, among other things.

R Venkataramanan, a Managing Trustee of Tata Trusts, has also joined as founding-director of the firm. “My participation in Avanti is more driven by social motivation rather than anything else – with a view to serving the underserved and unserved and make the Tata Trusts and other like-minded partners’ philanthropy more effective. Technology is an important differentiator and allows us to make a difference in many ways,” Nilekani said.

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