Sachin Bansal Pumps In USD 104 Million Into Indian Microfinance Startup CRIDS – Named CEO

CRIDS- Chaitanya Rural Intermediation Development Services is an Indian microfinance startup that aims to help the low and middle-income families in the country who do not use traditional banking services for their funding needs. CRIDS reaches out to population across the country as a multi-region and multi-product financial service provider.

CRIDS has received colossal funding from technology entrepreneur and Flipkart co-founder, Mr. Sachin Bansal. He has acquired a majority stake in CRIDS with a total infusion of $104 million (INR 739 crores.) He will now be taking charge as the CEO of the company, however, the founders will continue in their respective roles and will retain a minority stake in the company. It has also been reported that most of the business units will continue to operate as it is and there will be no significant change in the management.

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Mr. Bansal has been an active investor in the Indian startup ecosystem. CRIDS is now looking forward to benefiting from Mr. Bansal’s insights and experience with technology and how they can leverage it to make their business more sustainable and customer-centric. 

Shaping The Future Of Rural Finance

The company was founded in 2012 by Anand Rao and Samit Shetty to provide financial access to people who do not have access to formal banking services. Being in the industry for almost a decade now, CRIDS focuses on designing products that address the needs of the rural population. The company provides loans for housing, two-wheelers, small business and education across Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, and UP.

The housing loans are provided for repairs, reconstruction, improvements, and even for new construction. CRIDS offers short term loans to improve the working capital of small businesses in the rural areas of the country including livestock purchase. 

Most of the rural population prefers two-wheelers and CRIDS makes finance available at the doorstep of the sub-dealer or dealer who is in the proximity of the village. Besides that, for the welfare of rural families, CRIDS offers educational loans to pay college fees and other necessary expenses for children’s education.

CRIDS – Improving Lives

The company focuses on improving the lives of low-income families by providing them financial services along with innovative ideas and technologies to manage their small businesses. Besides that, to increase community awareness, CRIDS runs skill development programs in association with RUDSETI-Dharwad, Chitradurga and RSETI Haliyal, Raichur. The program covers information about all residential training. Post the program, training applications are distributed in the local language so that the villagers can select the training which they want to undertake.

“This acquisition is our entry into financial services. Samit and Anand have built a great company that provides much needed financial access to people who don’t have access to other formal finance. I look forward to working closely with Samit and Anand and building further on the solid work they have done,” Bansal said.

“Sachin brings with him the ability of building huge scale grounds up to CRIDS… We are looking forward to benefiting from his insights and experience with technology, and how that can be leveraged for improving access to financial services, financial inclusion and making our business better, more sustainable and customer centric,” Shetty said.

Get in touch with the team today.

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