CreditAccess Grameen Limited (formerly known Grameen Koota Financial Services Pvt. Ltd.) is Bengaluru headquartered microfinance institution offering affordable financial products and services. The lending products cater to income generation, education, medical, festival, home improvement, water and sanitation and emergency needs of customers. The Company has enhanced the capabilities beyond solving basic credit needs to cover a wide range of financial and non- financial products including, unsecured business loans, mortgage-backed business loans, two-wheeler loans, gold loans, affordable housing loans, wage loss insurance, life insurance and AEPS enabled cash withdrawal facility to the microfinance model going beyond the traditional credit delivery mechanism.
The Company is engaged primarily in providing micro finance services to women who are enrolled as members and organized as Joint Liability Groups (JLG). In addition to core business of providing micro-credit, it uses distribution channel to provide certain other financial products and services to the members. It provides other categories of loans like family welfare loans, home improvement loans and emergency loans to existing customers. As of March 31, 2023, the Company had 1,786 branches across 352 districts in the States of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Kerala, Goa, and the Union Territory of Puducherry.
CreditAccess Grameen Limited was originally incorporated as a Private Limited Company under the name 'Sanni Collection Private Limited' (SCPL) on June 12, 1991 at Calcutta, West Bengal. The Company converted into a Public Limited Company on November 27, 2017 and name of the Company was changed to Grameen Koota Financial Services Limited on December 18, 2017. Pursuant to Resolution passed by Shareholders, name of the Company was changed to CreditAccess Grameen Limited on January 12, 2018. Subsequently, RBI granted a fresh Certificate of Registration dated January 19, 2018, under the name 'CreditAccess Grameen Limited'. The Company is promoted by CreditAccess Asia N.V., a multinational company specializing in MSE (micro and small enterprise) financing.
In February 2007, the entire shareholding of SCPL was acquired by Vinatha M. Reddy, Vijitha Subbaiah and Suresh K. Krishna, in their respective individual capacity. Subsequently, in October 2007, the microfinance business being operated under T. Muniswamappa Trust (TMT), a public charitable trust engaged in the business of providing micro loans in Karnataka was transferred to SCPL. The microfinance business being operated under TMT was established as a programme under the name 'Grameen Koota' in 1999.
In 2008, Company launched Mifos software in all its branches. It commenced operations in Maharashtra. Subsequent to acquisition of SCPL and transfer of microfinance business of TMT to SCPL, SCPL was re branded under the 'Grameen' name, and pursuant to a Resolution of the Shareholders of SCPL, its name was changed from SCPL to Grameen Financial Services Private Limited ('GFSPL') on March 14, 2008, post which the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) granted a Certificate of Registration dated July 28, 2009 reflecting the change of name.
In 2010, the company raised Rs 57.60 crore through securitisation. In 2011, it commenced integration with Credit Bureau for credit decisions and also commenced multi-product strategy.
The Company granted NBFC-Microfinance Institution ('NBFC-MFI') status by the RBI with effect from September 5, 2013. Subsequently, the name of the Company was changed to Grameen Koota Financial Services Private Limited on November 13, 2014. Further, a fresh certificate of registration consequent upon change of name was issued to the company by the RBI on December 16, 2014. In 2014, CreditAccess Asia N.V. acquired a majority stake in the company.
In 2015, the company commenced operations in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. It established 7 regional processing centres across its operational geographies. It launched a core banking IT solution - T24. In 2016, it introduced business loans facilities as part of the Retail Finance division.
CreditAccess Grameen came out with an initial public offer (IPO) during the period from 8 August 2018 to 10 August 2018. The IPO was a combination of fresh issue of Rs 630 crore and an offer for sale of 1.18 crore equity shares from promoter CreditAccess Asia N.V. The IPO was priced at Rs 422 per share. The stock made its debut on the bourses on 23 August 2018.
In August 2018, Company after listing its shares on the BSE & NSE completed a securitisation transaction valued Rs. 91.22 crore on August 27, 2018.
On 31 August 2018, Company completed a securitisation transaction of Rs 248.35 crore on August 31, 2018. With this transaction, it completed five securitization transactions and one Direct Assignment transaction totalling to Rs.733.11 crore in FY19.
The Company acquired 75.64% of the shareholding of Madura Micro Finance Limited (MMFL) from its existing shareholders on March 18, 2020, which was a subsidiary of the Company from March 18, 2020 up to March 31, 2020 and additionally acquired 0.44% of the share capital of MMFL on March 31, 2020.
During financial year 2020-21, Company completed Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) of Rs. 8,000 million. It opened 35 new branches in March 2021 across Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and d Uttar Pradesh, which was in expansion line. CreditAccess India Foundation (CAIF) was incorporated on May 29, 2021, as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company.
During FY 2022, the Company opened 211 new branches.
The erstwhile Material Subsidiary, Madura Micro Finance Limited (MMFL) and CreditAccess Grameen Limited got merged through the Scheme of Amalgamation effective from February 15, 2023 and accordingly, all the undertakings of MMFL were transferred and vested in the Company on a going concern basis during the year 2022-23.
During the year 2022-23, the Company raised, by way of Public Issue, Rs 500 Crore of Secured NCDs having a face value of Rs 1000 each, allotted on November 23, 2022 and as a result, the NCDs got listed on BSE Limited (BSE) and National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE).
The Company opened 167 new branches in FY23 across Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.