
Financial Structure
Kinara Capital offers collateral-free business loans to MSMEs in the range of Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 30 lakhs that can be used for asset purchase or working capital needs by small business owners. The unique aspect of Kinara’s lending model is its use of AI/ML-based decisioning models, which leverage proprietary data to evaluate the creditworthiness of the borrower, eliminating the need for collateral. This is a significant benefit for MSMEs, as they often lack the assets to offer as collateral for traditional bank loans. By offering collateral-free loans, Kinara Capital empowers small business owners to access the funds they need to grow and expand their businesses.
Through the unique HerVikas program, Kinara partners with the Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) to extend financing to women entrepreneurs. The loan proceeds from IIX’s Women Livelihood Bond are lent to finance and support women-owned small businesses and enable income generation via Kinara Capital’s established HerVikas discounted loan program. The HerVikas program by Kinara Capital enables ‘her progress’ with an automatic upfront discount of 1 per cent on interest costs on fast, collateral-free business loans in the range of INR 1 lakh to 30 lakh.
Key Insights/Learnings
Our key learnings have been around understanding the unique challenges faced by women entrepreneurs. Through our interactions with women entrepreneurs, we identified that many of them faced difficulties accessing formal financing due to lack of access to collateral. To remedy this, we developed a mission to support women-led businesses by offering collateral-free loans through our HerVikas scheme. We also saw the significance of improved accessibility for women, who often had socio-economic barriers keeping them from stepping out of homes to approach financial services providers in person. We offer doorstep customer service, combined with digital access through our myKinara app and a customer care helpline, all made available in local languages to make the process smooth and easy to navigate for women entrepreneurs.
We have also come to understand that gender discrimination can often influence the loan decisioning process and impede access to credit. To address this, we developed proprietary tech-led decisioning models that leverage data and use AI/ML to remove biases from the loan approval process and ensure that women entrepreneurs receive equal access to financing.
Impact to Date
So far, Kinara has pledged Rs. 700 crores to be disbursed to women entrepreneurs under the HerVikas program. Since its launch, the HerVikas program has disbursed 4,305 business loans to women-owned MSMEs, generating an incremental income of INR 125+ crores for the women entrepreneurs, and supporting 32,680+ jobs in local economies.
The impact of supporting women entrepreneurs is manifold, as women-owned businesses tend to hire more women, opening the doors for them to enter the workforce. Not only is this beneficial from a financial standpoint, and a boost to the economy as a whole, it also ensures that the lives of families and communities are uplifted. This is because earning women tend to spend on vital factors like education, health and nutrition. As a result, empowering women entrepreneurs causes a positive generational shift, driving impact across the board.