The fourth edition of the BusinessLine Changemaker Awards is back. It celebrates people and organisations that have brought about positive change in the society and made our world a better place to live in.
Here are the shortlisted nominees under the category Changemaker — Financial Transformation. This category of award is given to a changemaker who has transformed the society through his/her work in the areas of financial inclusion, micro-finance, banking and so on by adopting modern technologies or otherwise.
Lendingkart
Founded in 2014, Lendingkart enables micro, small and medium businesses with access to hassle-free credit to expand their business and meet their working capital requirements. From business loans, MSME loans and working capital loans, Lendingkart has disbursed over 1.40-lakh loans worth more than $1 billion to 1.2 lakh small and medium businesses in over 4,000 cities.
Samunnati
True to its name which translates as ‘collective growth’, Samunnati forges alliances among all the stakeholders in the agri value chain including farmers, farmer producer organisations (FPOs) and agritech start-ups, besides addressing the unmet credit demand of farmers. An unique open agri network, the platform has facilitated infusion over ₹10,000 crore in agri commerce empowering 300 start-ups in its eight years’ journey.
Zerodha
A pioneer in discount brokerage and mobile trading in India, Zerodha disrupted the Indian stock broking space through its zero broking and flat brokerage models, forcing traditional brokers to cut down their brokerage and enabling higher retail participation through easy trading options. One of the top brokerages in India, Zerodha clocks 10-12 million orders everyday commanding a market share of about 20 per cent in the stock broking industry.
Kinara Capital
With financial inclusion as its core objective, Kinara Capital provides flexible collateral-free loans to small businesses, who are often neglected by banks and financial institutions. Founded in 2011, the Bengaluru-based company offers MSME loans from ₹1-30 lakh for working capital and asset purchase. It has disbursed over ₹2,000 crore loans to small businesses, which led to the creation of 2,50,000 jobs including for first time earners and women.
PFRDA (Atal Pension)
Providing old-age income security to the most vulnerable sections of the society, Atal Pension Yojana provides pension coverage to crores of poor and unorganised sector workers. Launched in 2015 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the scheme provides ₹1,000-5,000 per month to its subscribers at the age of 60. In the last seven years, the scheme saw enrollment from 4.01 crore managing ₹21,142 crore in assets as of May 2022.
The winner will be announced at a glittering ceremony in New Delhi on September 9.