Aye Finance has launched Shakti Loan, a lending product developed to ease the credit challenges of women in India.
The company has developed this product in collaboration with CGAP, which is a global partnership of more than 30 leading development organizations, including the World Bank, UNDP, and Mastercard Foundation, that works to advance the lives of poor people, especially women, through financial inclusion.
To curb the challenges that women entrepreneurs face while building their businesses, Aye Finance has allocated Rs 100 crore for Shakti Loan in the current financial year. The company is eying to reach 10,000 women by providing them with affordable credit as per their requirements.
Commenting on the launch of this women-only product Niraj Kaushik, Deputy CEO, of Aye Finance said “Aye is regarded as the lender of choice by the micro-enterprise sector in India and through the launch of the Shakti Loan we are committed to becoming the lender of choice for women-led businesses as well. We are very optimistic about Shakti Loan being the game changer for women micro-enterprises and have allocated INR 100 crores to this product in the current financial year. We are grateful to the CGAP team for their support in developing Shakti Loan. We benefitted immensely from their extensive experience of working with grassroots businesses in India, Africa and other emerging markets.”
“By providing affordable credit, we hope the tailored nature of the Shakti Loan will help unlock the growth potential of women micro-entrepreneurs and contribute to the advancement of women’s economic empowerment in India," said Xavier Faz, CGAP’s Lead, Financial Services for Equality and Growth.
“We are delighted to have collaborated with Aye Finance in launching this product – their approach to Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) finance and their use of Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) models to reach underserved segments is very exciting and holds a lot of potential to improve financial inclusion,” he added.
