<article>Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of the Tata group, Vijay Kelkar, former finance secretary, and Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys Ltd and Aadhaar architect, are joining hands to start a microfinance company.</article>

Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of the Tata group, Vijay Kelkar, former finance secretary, and Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys Ltd and Aadhaar architect, are joining hands to start a microfinance company.
Named Avanti Finance, the company will focus on “delivering affordable and timely credit to under-served and un-served segments in India,” said a statement from Tata Trusts. Avanti will apply to the Reserve Bank of India for registration and is expected to start operations before the end of the financial year, it added.
Tata and Nilekani are investing in setting up this microfinancier from their respective philanthropic capital. R Venkataramanan, managing trustee of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust will be the fourth founding director. A senior leadership is already in place, the release said without providing any details.
Avanti would be a tech-enabled service provider.
“The aim is to leverage on the social sector presence of Tata Trusts and other like-minded partners and the rapidly evolving India Stack (Jan Dhan – Aadhar – Mobile), UPI and payments bank ecosystem. Avanti would use this ecosystem and will innovate on product design in consonance with the indigenous needs, to deliver seamlessly for the end consumer,” the statement said.
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As part of Startup India Action Plan, government set up ₹10,000 crore fund of funds within Sidbi in 2016, to be deployed over 14th & 15th Finance Commission cycles.

India: Ratan Tata, Nandan Nilekani to start microfinance company

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