Tag: U GRO Capital

U GRO Capital appoints Satyananda Mishra as a Non-Executive Chairman

U GRO Capital, a listed MSME lending fintech platform, today announced the appointment of Mr. Satyananda Mishra as a Non-Executive Chairman of the company. 

The company’s Board consists of a majority of Independent Directors and given its size and growth momentum, the Board considered it appropriate to appoint a Non-Executive Board Member as its Chairman. As a result, Mr. Mishra, who is an existing Independent Director of the Company, was appointed as the Non-Executive Chairman of the Company. 

Mr. Mishra is the former Chief Information Commissioner of India (December 2010 to September 2013).  He has a diverse and exemplary career of more than 40 years in the Indian Administrative Services (batch of 1973). He was the Chairman and Non-Executive Independent Director of the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited from November 2013 till November 2016. He served as the Director of Small Industries Development Bank of India until 2018 and as a Development Commissioner of Small-Scale Industries in the Government of India. During his stint as the Chief Information Commissioner, he had set a new benchmark in transparency in politics wherein the Central Information Commission under his leadership held political parties answerable under the Right to Information Act. Additionally, he has also held the position of Former Secretary for various government departments like Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), Public Works Department (PWD) and Department of Culture (MP Government).

Speaking on the appointment, Mr. Shachindra Nath, Executive Chairman and Managing Director of U GRO Capital stated, “We are delighted to have Mr. Satyananda Mishra as the Non-Executive Chairman to U GRO Capita’s board. His strong supervisory and regulatory background and significant experience in the finance industry will help the company achieve its ambition of becoming a trusted and performance-oriented MSME lending platform for all associated stakeholders.”

Mr. Satyananda Mishra, Non-Executive Chairman of U GRO Capital stated, “I am honored to be appointed as Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of U GRO Capital Ltd which has redefined excellence as a Fintech NBFC. In a short period of just about four years, U GRO has etched a name for itself in the financial world. I look forward to a brighter future for this company.”

As of March 31, 2022, U GRO Capital’s AUM rose to INR 3,000 cr and its branch network stood at 91. The company’s disbursement stood at INR 963 cr for Q4 FY22. Its customer base has further crossed the 20,000 mark. Continuing the momentum, the company has set a vision 2025 of acquiring 1 % market share of the outstanding MSME credit, achieving an AUM of INR 20,000 crore and serving 1 million MSME customers.

About U GRO Capital Ltd.:

U GRO Capital limited is a listed (NSE, BSE), MSME lending fintech platform. U GRO Capital’s mission is ‘Solve the Unsolved’ – Small Business Credit Need with its omnichannel distribution model combining physical and digital journey of the customer. The Company envisions to spearhead India’s transition of MSME lending market to the new age of on-tap financing. It uses the emerging Data Tripod of GST, Banking and Bureau coupled with its sectoral analysis to solve the problem of credit for small businesses.

U GRO aspires to serve one million small businesses with an asset book of 1% of outstanding MSME credit of India as its first milestone.

Technology underpins every aspect of U GRO’s lending process, from API integrations, sectoral and sub-sectoral statistical scorecards, state-of-the-art AI/ML credit underwriting engine combining bank, bureau and GST statement analyzers, automated policy approvals, and machine learning OCR technology. Company’s GRO Extreme platform empowers fintech and other institutional platforms to deepen their distribution reach through a plug and play API driven seamless integration with U GRO. The company has developed full tech stack to fully automate the complete life cycle of a loan right from origination to collection during the entire customer journey.

The Company has raised 2500 crore of equity & debt capital from marquee Private Equity Investors, Family Offices, Banks and other Financial Institution over last 3 years.

U GRO Capital appoints Smita Aggarwal as an Additional Independent Director

U GRO Capital, a listed MSME lending fintech platform, today announced the appointment of Ms Smita Aggarwal as Additional Independent Director of the company. 

Smita has three decades of experience in finance as a banker, lender, regulator and an investor. She is Global Investments Advisor for Flourish Ventures, a global fintech focussed fund, and leads investments in innovative fintech start-ups that help advance financial health and inclusion in Asia. Smita is on the Fintech Advisory Board of New York University and Global Fintech Fest. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of IIFL Asset Management Company and guest faculty for “Fintech in Emerging Markets” at the Stern School of Business, New York University. 

Smita has held leadership positions with noteworthy names such as Omidyar Network, Fullerton India Credit, Reserve Bank of India and ICICI Bank with a successful track record of building businesses from scratch, introducing new products, and driving growth through innovation. She is a rank-holder chartered accountant and has attended executive programs at Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan School of Management. Listed in “Top 35 Global Women in Fintech Power list”, ‘Top Women in Finance’, “Top 30 Fintech Influencers” and “Women Who Venture” – brings together her high caliber experience and energy to U GRO Capital.

Speaking on the appointment, Mr. Shachindra Nath, Executive Chairman and Managing Director of U GRO Capital stated, “We are delighted to welcome Ms. Smita Aggarwal to U GRO Capital’s board as an independent director. U GRO have been focusing on Impact & ESG extensively, she has done extensive work around digital financial inclusion space and we are confident that her addition to the Board would sharpen U GRO’s focus in these areas”.

Smita Aggarwal

Said, “I am delighted to join U GRO Capital as an Independent Director and be a part of the company’s rapid growth journey. This is an exciting time for U GRO Capital, as it is rapidly approaching its Vision 2025 growth targets and surpassing significant milestones in doing so, which also becomes a source of excitement to me.”

As of 31 December 2021, U GRO Capital’s AUM had risen to Rs. 2,589 crore and its branch network stood at 82. Further it recorded the highest monthly disbursements at Rs. 414 crore in December 2021. Its customer base recently crossed the 16,500 mark. Continuing the momentum, the company has set a vision 2025 of acquiring 1 % market share of the outstanding MSME credit, achieving an AUM of Rs. 20,000 crore and serving 1 million MSME customers.

About U GRO Capital Ltd.:

U GRO Capital limited is a listed (NSE, BSE), MSME lending fintech platform. U GRO Capital’s mission is ‘Solve the Unsolved’ – Small Business Credit Need with its omnichannel distribution model combining physical and digital journey of the customer. The Company envisions to spearhead India’s transition of MSME lending market to the new age of on-tap financing. It uses the emerging Data Tripod of GST, Banking and Bureau coupled with its sectoral analysis to solve the problem of credit for small businesses.

U GRO aspires to serve one million small businesses with an asset book of 1% of outstanding MSME credit of India as its first milestone.

Technology underpins every aspect of U GRO’s lending process, from API integrations, sectoral and sub-sectoral statistical scorecards, state-of-the-art AI/ML credit underwriting engine combining bank, bureau and GST statement analyzers, automated policy approvals, and machine learning OCR technology. Company’s GRO Extreme platform empowers fintech and other institutional platforms to deepen their distribution reach through a plug and play API driven seamless integration with U GRO. The company has developed full tech stack to fully automate the complete life cycle of a loan right from origination to collection during the entire customer journey.

The Company has raised 2500 crore of equity & debt capital from marquee Private Equity Investors, Family Offices, Banks and other Financial Institution over last 3 years.

U GRO Capital receives a rating upgrade to A+ (stable) for Long Term and A1+ for short term instruments

U GRO Capital, a listed MSME lending fintech platform, today announced that Acuite Ratings and Research has upgraded its Long Term rating to A+ (stable) and Short Term rating to A1+. 

The ratings upgrade reflects improvement in U GRO Capital’s business and financial risk profile on the back of strong equity support by institutional investors, experienced management team, growth in AUM, good asset quality and improved operating metrics. 

The upgrade in rating takes into consideration sustained and calibrated growth in AUM with diversified (product and geography) asset mix and continued focus to expand across all channels viz. branch-led, ecosystem and partnership & alliances, demonstrated resource raising ability with granular liability franchise to cushion finance cost.  

The rating also factors in the high capitalization levels and low gearing levels. 

The company’s AUM has shown strong growth during FY2019-22YTD despite the challenging environment and the company is expected to maintain the growth momentum going further as the economy picks up. The company has been at the forefront in entering into co-lending partnerships with multiple public sector banks like State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Central Bank of India, IDBI Bank, which will further improve liquidity and support the growth. 

The ratings continue to take into account U GRO Capital’s stable senior management team having deep understanding of the industry and execution expertise of setting up large institutions. Acuite also draws comfort from the governance and experience of the promoter who have provided guidance and direction to the company over the last three years. 

On the rating upgrade, Mr. Shachindra Nath, Executive Chairman and Managing Director, said “It gives us immense pleasure to have received a rating upgrade from Acuite. Our efforts have been streamlined towards building a distinctive MSME financing institution, effective in bridging unsolved SME credit gap. Previous quarter has been particularly successful for us as we recorded the highest ever monthly disbursal figures. Further our business and operational growth are following an upward trajectory, despite the existence of pandemic circumstances. The rating upgrade is a reiteration of the same. Also, we have adopted a collaborative approach in our bid to reach out to more and more MSMEs by co-lending with large public sector banks and financial institutions. This demonstrates their trust in our operations and larger financial inclusion imperative. This only motivates us to continue our momentum in our bid to build the country’s leading lending as a service (LaaS) platform, thus providing immense value to all our stakeholders.” 

U GRO Capital has been inching towards its growth targets. As of 31 December 2021, its AUM had risen to Rs. 2,589 crore growing 130% in the previous 12 months. Further it recorded the highest monthly disbursements at Rs. 414 crore in December 2021. It has been leveraging its sectoral focus to extend effective credit to MSME customers, while also adopting distinctive approaches like co-lending, having partnered with over 50 Lenders including larger public sector banks, NBFCs and fintechs. Its customer base recently crossed a mark of 16,500. Continuing the momentum, the company has set a vision 2025 of acquiring 1 % market share of the outstanding MSME credit, achieving an AUM of Rs. 20,000 crore and serving 1 million MSME customers  

About U GRO Capital Ltd: 

U GRO Capital limited is a listed (NSE, BSE), MSME lending fintech platform. U GRO Capital’s mission is ‘Solve the Unsolved’ – Small Business Credit Need with its omnichannel distribution model combining physical and digital journey of the customer. The Company envisions to spearhead India’s transition of MSME lending market to the new age of on-tap financing. It uses the emerging Data Tripod of GST, Banking and Bureau coupled with its sectoral analysis to solve the problem of credit for small businesses.  

U GRO Capital aspires to serve one million small businesses with an asset book of 1% of outstanding MSME credit of India as its first milestone.  

Technology underpins every aspect of U GRO Capital’s lending process, from API integrations, sectoral and sub-sectoral statistical scorecards, state-of-the-art AI/ML credit underwriting engine combining bank, bureau and GST statement analyzers, automated policy approvals, and machine learning OCR technology. Company’s GRO Extreme platform empowers fintech and other institutional platforms to deepen their distribution reach through a plug and play API driven seamless integration with U GRO Capital. The company has developed full tech stack to fully automate the complete life cycle of a loan right from origination to collection during the entire customer journey. 

The Company has raised ~₹ 2500 crore of equity & debt capital from marquee Private Equity Investors, Family Offices, Banks and other Financial Institution over last 3 years. 

State Bank of India and U GRO Capital enters into co-lending partnership; aims to offer MSME loans upto 500 crores by March 2022

U GRO Capital, a listed MSME lending fintech platform, today announced that it has entered into a co-lending partnership with State Bank of India (SBI), India’s largest bank, to provide credit to the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME). Through this collaboration, SBI and U GRO aim to disburse upto 500 crores by March 2022.

The agreement has been signed in accordance with the alternative option of Reserve Bank of India’s revised co-lending guidelines, which involves post disbursal takeover of bank’s share in the loan on a back-to-back basis. This arrangement will leverage SBI’s prowess on the liability side and U GRO Capital’s origination and distinctive underwriting engine capabilities on the assets side.

The arrangement will extend credit products under U GRO’s Sanjeevani program, offering loans upto 3 crore, at competitive rate of interest. U GRO Capital had launched ‘Sanjeevani’ as a solution to provide credit to pandemic impacted MSME sector as an end-to-end digital lending program in June 2020 and has disbursed over 750 crores, as of October 31, 2021.

The partnership has been hosted on U GRO Capital’s GRO–xStream platform, which through APIs integrates with Banks on one side and with multiple FinTechs, Payments Platforms, NBFCs, NeoBanks, Market places and other digital platforms on the other. U GRO has on-boarded more than 15 FinTech / NBFC partners on asset side and Banks on liability side, via this GRO–xStream.

With this partnership, U GRO has established its distinguished position in the fast-evolving co-lending ecosystem where it is the first NBFC which have been accepted as Co-Lending partner with Bank of Baroda, IDBI Bank and now SBI.

Speaking on this occasion, Shri Dinesh Khara, Chairman, State Bank of India said, “We are glad to have joined hands with U GRO Capital under the co-lending program. This collaboration will further enhance our distribution network, as we aim to extend our credit reach to more MSMEs. Such partnerships align with our commitment to accelerate effective and affordable credit to MSMEs in India and contribute to the country’s financial inclusion imperative towards building an Atmanirbhar Bharat.”

Mr. Shachindra Nath, Executive Chairman and Managing Director, U GRO Capital said, “India’s lending landscape for NBFCs is transitioning, we believe that next decade is all about collaboration between large banks and niche NBFCs / FinTech wherein Lending as a Service would become the prominent force. Today marks a significant day in U GRO Capital’s business journey, and we are elated to sign a co-lending agreement with the country’s largest lender, State Bank of India. This partnership reiterates SBI’s faith and value, in our ability to leverage sectoral expertise and technology capabilities to address the critical MSME credit needs.

The GRO–xStream platform is a reflection of our belief that collaboration, as opposed to competition, is the way forward to solve the unsolved credit gap of MSMEs. We look forward to nurturing this significant relationship, to jointly support more MSMEs in their revival and growth.”

U GRO Capital, currently has 55 branches across 9 states. It aims to expand the branch network to 100 by FY2022. By 2025, U GRO envisions to achieve 1% market share of outstanding MSME credit in India and serve 1 Million customers

About U GRO Capital Ltd

U GRO Capital limited is a listed (NSE, BSE), MSME lending fintech platform. U GRO Capital’s mission is ‘Solve the Unsolved’ – Small Business Credit Need with its omnichannel distribution model combining physical and digital journey of the customer. The Company envisions to spearhead India’s transition of MSME lending market to the new age of on-tap financing. It uses the emerging Data Tripod of GST, Banking and Bureau coupled with its sectoral analysis to solve the problem of credit for small businesses.

U GRO aspires to serve one million small businesses with an asset book of 1% of outstanding MSME credit of India as its first milestone.

Technology underpins every aspect of U GRO’s lending process, from API integrations, sectoral and sub-sectoral statistical scorecards, state-of-the-art AI/ML credit underwriting engine combining bank, bureau and GST statement analyzers, automated policy approvals, and machine learning OCR technology. Company’s GRO Extreme platform empowers fintech and other institutional platforms to deepen their distribution reach through a plug and play API driven seamless integration with U GRO. The company has developed full tech stack to fully automate the complete life cycle of a loan right from origination to collection during the entire customer journey.

The Company has raised 2500 crore of equity & debt capital from marquee Private Equity Investors, Family Offices, Banks and other Financial Institution over last 3 years.

U GRO Capital and Kinara Capital Announce Co-Origination Partnership

U GRO Capital, a listed, small business lending MSME focused fintech platform, and Kinara Capital, a fast-growing fintech, today announced a strategic co-origination partnership to offer collateral-free business loans to small business entrepreneurs in India. Together, both companies plan to disburse INR 100 crores by the end of FY2022 to MSMEs in Manufacturing, Trading and Services sectors.  

The co-origination arrangement will leverage U GRO’s analytical data driven decisioning and integration through APIs with the smart technology platform of Kinara Capital. With years of AI/ML based decisioning and underwriting experience, Kinara Capital can take an MSME entrepreneur from loan application to loan disbursement within 24-hours. MSMEs across 300+ pin codes in Tier 1-3 cities will benefit from this partnership where Kinara is presently operating in the urban, semi-urban and peri-urban areas of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and UT Puducherry.  

The collaboration is being made possible by U GRO Capital’s Gro X-stream platform, which is an API-driven and highly customizable technology platform for FinTechs, Payment Platforms, NBFCs, NeoBanks, Market places and other digital platforms. Through this platform, U GRO coordinates MSME loans and also does Co-lending with large Banks & Financial Institutions. The company has signed 15+ co-origination partnerships with multiple partners.  

Together, U GRO Capital and Kinara Capital aim to ease access to formal credit for hundreds of small business entrepreneurs who need financing for business growth.  

Mr. Shachindra Nath, Executive Chairman and Managing Director, U GRO Capital said, “We are excited to enter into a partnership with Kinara Capital, towards our vision of solving the unsolved MSME credit gap. It is our belief that co-origination with FinTech  is one of the most effective routes to achieve the financial inclusion of MSMEs, which has prompted us to design our technology platform ‘Gro X-stream’, allowing essential collaborations like this to fructify. We look forward to a long term relationship with Kinara Capital and work towards our common aim to support more MSMEs in their bid to grow.” 

Hardika Shah, Founder and CEO, Kinara Capital said, “We are delighted to work with U GRO Capital as they resonate our focus on supporting India’s small business entrepreneurs. As a partner, U GRO has demonstrated equal parts commitment with its financing and technology to join us in easing credit flow to the MSME sector. This instantly impacts both local and national economies, and the job creation is essential as businesses continue to rebuild and grow this year.” 

The co-origination partnership is aimed at keeping the process seamless for the entrepreneurs. MSMEs will need to apply only once directly with Kinara Capital and can start the process online, by phone or in-person with a Kinara representative. Once approved, the loan sanction documents will include the names of both U GRO Capital and Kinara Capital. The customer experience will continue to be managed by Kinara Capital which provides complete support in vernacular and offers additional support such as a free digital workshop series with business tips for growth.  

Available financing for MSMEs will range from INR 1 lakh to INR 30 lakhs with tenure ranging from 12-60 months. Financing can be availed for Working Capital, Asset Purchase directly from Kinara Capital and women-led businesses receive an automatic, upfront discount with the HerVikas program.   

Kinara has 110 branches across 6 states and has provided over 60,000 collateral-free loans to small business entrepreneurs. The social impact of Kinara’s financial inclusion commitment has generated over INR 700 crores in incremental income for the entrepreneurs and supported over 250,000 jobs across local economies in India.  

U GRO Capital currently has 34 branches across 9 states. It aims to expand the branch network to 100 by FY2022 and intends to reach 250,000 MSMEs in the coming 4 financial years.  

About U GRO Capital Ltd. 

U GRO Capital limited is a listed (NSE, BSE), MSME lending fintech platform. U GRO Capital’s mission is ‘Solve the Unsolved’ – Small Business Credit Need with its omnichannel distribution model combining physical and digital journey of the customer. The Company envisions to spearhead India’s transition of MSME lending market to the new age of on-tap financing. It uses the emerging Data Tripod of GST, Banking and Bureau coupled with its sectoral analysis to solve the problem of credit for small businesses.  

U GRO aspires to serve one million small businesses with an asset book of 1% of outstanding MSME credit of India as its first milestone.  

Technology underpins every aspect of U GRO’s lending process, from API integrations, sectoral and sub-sectoral statistical scorecards, state-of-the-art AI/ML credit underwriting engine combining bank, bureau and GST statement analysers, automated policy approvals, and machine learning OCR technology. Company’s GRO Extreme platform empowers fintech and other institutional platforms to deepen their distribution reach through a plug and play API driven seamless integration with U GRO. The company has developed full tech stack to fully automate the complete life cycle of a loan right from origination to collection during the entire customer journey. 

The Company has raised ~INR 2500 crore of equity & debt capital from marquee Private Equity Investors, Family Offices, Banks and other Financial Institutions over the last 3 years. 

About Kinara Capital 

Kinara Capital is a fast-growing fintech propelling financial inclusion of small business entrepreneurs. Kinara boasts a women-majority management team and is globally recognized for its innovative approach to financial inclusion. Kinara Capital is ranked among the ‘Top 100 High-Growth Companies in Asia-Pacific’ by the Financial Times and named among the leading companies as ‘India’s Growth Champions’ by the Economic Times. Recognized as a Systemically Important Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) by the Reserve Bank of India, Kinara Capital is a debt listed entity on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Headquartered in Bangalore, Kinara Capital has 110 branches serving MSMEs in 300+ pincodes in India. Click here for more information kinaracapital.com and follow us on Twitter @KinaraCapital

IDBI Bank and U GRO Capital ink a co-lending agreement

U GRO Capital, an NSE & BSE listed, MSME lending fintech platform, today announced that it has signed a co-lending agreement with IDBI Bank, on the occasion of the bank’s 58thFoundation Day.

The co-lending arrangement will work towards providing formal credit to underserved MSMEs, at affordable rates. For the same, it will leverage U GRO Capital’s digital technology platform driven by a Data Tripod, which comprises of GST, Banking & Bureau, in addition to the company’s deepsectoral understanding, and multi-channel distribution reach.

U GRO Capital has been building its GRO – Xstream platform, which through APIs integrates with Banks on one side and with multiple FinTechs, Payments Platforms, NBFCs, NeoBanks, Market places and other digital platforms on the other. At the initial stage, Banks would be co-lending through this platform with the loans originated by U GRO Capital’s distribution network, however in future other participants on the platform would also get access to capital through this platform.

Once fully operational, the GRO – Xstream platform would have the power to unleash and democratize MSME credit in India by leveraging Bank’s prowess on the liability side and U GRO Capital along with its origination partners as well as its underwriting engine on the assets side.

Speaking on the development of this partnership, Shri Suresh Khatanhar, Deputy Managing Director, IDBI Bank, jointly with Shri Rajeev Kumar, Executive Director Agriculture, MSME & Retail Banking, IDBI Bank, stated, “Co-lending as a concept would change the lending landscape of credit dissemination for MSMEs in India, U GRO’s platform has the capability of not only originating loans through its own distribution engine but also give access to multiple other FinTechs and NBFCs who through this integration can get access to capital. IDBI Bank is committed to accelerate the credit to MSMEs in India and contribute towards the mission of Atmanirbhar Bharat by making credit available to MSMEs at an affordable cost.”

Speaking on this alliance, Mr. Shachindra Nath, Executive Chairman and Managing Director, U GRO Capital said, “We are delighted to sign the MoU for a co-lending arrangement with IDBI Bank. We are witnessing an inflection point in MSME lending with the enhanced utility of the Data Tripod -i.e. GST, Banking and Bureau. Collaborations as this, will further catalyze the financial inclusion efforts for Indian MSMEs. This arrangement is a reaffirmation of the belief that the bank bestows in our vision of solving the unsolved credit needs of the MSMEs, using sectoral expertise and technology. This partnership would not only benefit U GRO but eventually benefit all the other FinTechs and NBFCs which are integrated with our GRO -Xstream platform. We look forward to nurturing this relationship towards supporting more MSMEs to enable their revival and growth.”

About U GRO Capital Ltd.:

U GRO Capital limited is a listed (NSE, BSE), MSME lending fintech platform. U GRO Capital’s mission is ‘Solve the Unsolved’ – Small Business Credit Need with its omnichannel distribution model combining physical and digital journey of the customer. The Company envisions to spearhead India’s transition of MSME lending market to the new age of on-tap financing. It uses the emerging Data Tripod of GST, Banking and Bureau coupled with its sectoral analysis to solve the problem of credit for small businesses.

U GRO aspires to serve one million small businesses with an asset book of 1% of outstanding MSME credit of India as its first milestone.

Technology underpins every aspect of U GRO’s lending process, from API integrations, sectoral and sub-sectoral statistical scorecards, state-of-the-art AI/ML credit underwriting engine combining bank, bureau and GST statement analysers, automated policy approvals, and machine learning OCR technology. Company’s GRO Extreme platform empowers fintech and other institutional platforms to deepen their distribution reach through a plug and play API driven seamless integration with U GRO. The company has developed full tech stack to fully automate the complete life cycle of a loan right from origination to collection during the entire customer journey. The Company has raised ~₹ 2500 crore of equity & debt capital from marquee Private Equity Investors, Family Offices, Banks and other Financial Institution over last 3 years.

U GRO Capital set to more than double its employee strength to 1000

U GRO Capital, a listed, small business lending fintech platform has embarked on its aspirational expansion in the tier 3-4 regions in the sates of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Karnataka. The company aims to expand its network of 34 branches to 100 by the end of FY 2022. It will be adding 50 ‘micro’ branches in the mentioned locations, to extend formal credit to the micro businesses.

Complementing the geographical expansion, the company plans to more than double its employee strength. With the count increasing rapidly, U GRO Capital recently crossed the 550 employee mark, and plans to augment it to ~1000 employees. The hiring, which also includes a significant portion of campus recruitment, will help create employment opportunities for the homegrown workforce in these tier 3-4 regions. The entire hiring process will be executed virtually right from recruitment to onboarding and induction.

To enhance its capabilities across all the key business and operational facets, U GRO Capital is extensively investing in disciplines including but not limited to product, technology, infrastructure, innovation and human resource. The hires, hence, will be made across multiple departments such as strategy, treasury, operations, finance, technology, human resources, sales, credit, staffing, and marketing, amongst others. The guiding imperative is to build a robust organizational structure with the right mix of human and technological capabilities, to resonate with the growing business.

On the diversity and inclusion front, U GRO Capital aims to achieve a gender ratio of 20% by FY 2022 doubling the rate from 10% currently. The work has already started as the company is recruiting women at key leadership positions.

Pia Shome, Chief People Officer, U GRO Capital said, “We, at U GRO Capital, envision to solve the unsolved MSME credit gap and have laid a strong foundation towards the same. We have now set on our aspirational growth journey and scaling up of our current ~550 members’ strong team to 1000 is a critical aspect. In fact another 250 People from diverse background across various work profiles & levels are set to join us in the next two months. As we take significant strides towards our mission, U GRO Capital’s programs are designed to enable fast tracked growth for the employees as well, while keeping their well-being at the forefront”.

As of August 31, 2021, U GRO Capital’s cumulative disbursement had crossed INR 3,300 crore and its assets under management (AUM) stood at INR 1,729 crore. In the next five years, U GRO Capital aspires to build an INR 20,000 crore of AUM while acquiring approximately 1% market share of the outstanding MSME credit in India by opening around 270 branches. This will help in its bid to serve over lacs of small business customers.

About U GRO Capital Ltd.:

U GRO Capital limited is a listed (NSE, BSE), MSME lending fintech platform. U GRO Capital’s mission is ‘Solve the Unsolved’ – Small Business Credit Need with its omnichannel distribution model combining physical and digital journey of the customer. The Company envisions to spearhead India’s transition of MSME lending market to the new age of on-tap financing. It uses the emerging Data Tripod of GST, Banking and Bureau coupled with its sectoral analysis to solve the problem of credit for small businesses.

U GRO aspires to serve one million small businesses with an asset book of 1% of outstanding MSME credit of India as its first milestone.

Technology underpins every aspect of U GRO’s lending process, from API integrations, sectoral and sub-sectoral statistical scorecards, state-of-the-art AI/ML credit underwriting engine combining bank, bureau and GST statement analysers, automated policy approvals, and machine learning OCR technology. Company’s GRO Extreme platform empowers fintech and other institutional platforms to deepen their distribution reach through a plug and play API driven seamless integration with U GRO. The company has developed full tech stack to fully automate the complete life cycle of a loan right from origination to collection during the entire customer journey. The Company has raised ~₹ 2500 crore of equity & debt capital from marquee Private Equity Investors, Family Offices, Banks and other Financial Institution over last 3 years.

U GRO Capital appoints Amit Mande as Chief Revenue Officer

U GRO Capital, a NSE & BSE listed, small business lending fintech platform, today, announced the appointment of Mr. Amit Mande as Chief Revenue Officer. In this role, he will handle the asset side of U GRO Capital and primarily focus on deepening the existing distribution channels, creating newer partnership and continue to scale UGRO’s business to achieve its mission of serving 1 Million MSME customers and take 1% market share of outstanding credit to MSMEs in India by 2025.

Amit brings 20 plus years of cross-functional banking experience with significant expertise in secured as well as unsecured retail assets. Prior to joining U GRO, he was CEO of M Capital, which is the lending arm of Mswipe where he launched the lending business which has been operational since January 2021.

Previously, he has managed a variety of retail asset products throughout his career – ranging from Personal Loans, Business Loans, LAP, Mortgages, Consumer Durables, CV/CE Finance and Two-Wheeler Finance, Auto and MSME. 

He has been instrumental in setting up the SME lending business of Rattan India Finance, he was Business Head for Unsecured SME loans for Capital First and has worked with Barclays Bank, ABN AMRO Bank and Standard Chartered Bank. He is management graduate from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies and an engineering graduate from V.J.T.I, Mumbai.

Announcing the appointment, Mr. Shachindra Nath, Executive Chairman and Managing Director of U GRO Capital stated, “We are glad to welcome Amit in our team, as the Chief Revenue Officer. With this addition we have completed the reset of our management team and we now have strong layers of business leaders which would help me to achieve the vision of capturing 1% market share and serving 1 million small business customers in India. India’s SME financing market is at its inflection point wherein the Data Tripod of GST, Banking and Bureau would bring it to the levels of consumer financing in next few years. We have been resetting the management team which is nimble and agile, understands conventional underwriting but simultaneously has the ability to adopt to these changes which are happening in lending industry – we would be one of the largest FinTech driven by its own balance sheet and collaboration with large banks and financial institution.”

On the appointment, Mr. Amit Mande said, “I am delighted to join U GRO Capital which is closely working on a mission of solving the unsolved credit needs of small businesses through its unique initiatives. The building blocks of digitisation, strong analytics, robust risk platform and a large, diversified distribution which have been put in place in short span of two years is a matter of inspiration for every other FinTech and I am privileged to be given the opportunity to scale this to next level. My continuous engagement with Mr. Nath and the Board of U GRO gives me confidence that U GRO is the long term home for achieving my professional goals.”

About U GRO Capital Ltd.:

U GRO Capital limited is a listed (NSE, BSE), MSME lending fintech platform. U GRO Capital’s mission is ‘Solve the Unsolved’ – Small Business Credit Need with its omnichannel distribution model combining physical and digital journey of the customer. The Company envisions to spearhead India’s transition of MSME lending market to the new age of on-tap financing. It uses the emerging Data Tripod of GST, Banking and Bureau coupled with its sectoral analysis to solve the problem of credit for small businesses.

U GRO aspires to serve one million small businesses with an asset book of 1% of outstanding MSME credit of India as its first milestone.

Technology underpins every aspect of U GRO’s lending process, from API integrations, sectoral and sub-sectoral statistical scorecards, state-of-the-art AI/ML credit underwriting engine combining bank, bureau and GST statement analysers, automated policy approvals, and machine learning OCR technology. Company’s GRO Extreme platform empowers fintech and other institutional platforms to deepen their distribution reach through a plug and play API driven seamless integration with U GRO. The company has developed full tech stack to fully automate the complete life cycle of a loan right from origination to collection during the entire customer journey.

The Company has raised ~₹ 2500 crore of equity & debt capital from marquee Private Equity Investors, Family Offices, Banks and other Financial Institution over last 3 years.

U GRO Capital to become the first FinTech Lending platform to be listed on both stock exchanges starting August 11

U GRO Capital, a technology enabled small business lending NBFC, today announced that it will get listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on August 11. The company is listed on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and with the NSE listing, the company aims to expand access to a larger set of investors and broker network. U GRO Capital’s fully paid-up 70,528,550 shares with face value of Rs. 10 each, symbol UGROCAP and series EQ, will be admitted to dealings on NSE.

U GRO Capital was instituted in 2017 by Mr. Shachindra Nath, with the buyout of Chokhani Securities Limited. This followed its re-capitalization and rebranding with a Tech-enabled MSME Lending Business model and diverse management team amassing 250 years of combined experience across the financial spectrum. The company has raised approximately INR 920 crore of capital from a diversified set of institutional investors like private equity funds and well-known family offices. 

This model of acquiring a small, listed company and raising significant capital to build a FinTech platform was an industry first conceptualization. In most cases, the benefit of value creation through early-stage formation is only available to private investors. This distinctive model was adopted by U GRO Capital to provide the similar benefit to millions of retail investors in public markets.

The company is focused on addressing capital needs of small businesses operating in select eight sectors & Microenterprises by providing customized loan solutions. Towards the realization of the same, the company has built a distinctive technology architecture, a robust and highly efficient distribution channel. This has allowed the company to scale up to 34 branches across 9 states and serve over 9,000 MSME customers, within just three years of operations.

U GRO aspires to build an INR 20,000 Crores of asset under management in next five years and take approximately 1% market share of the outstanding MSME Credit in India by opening around 270 branches with an aim to serve over lacs of small business customers.

Mr. Shachindra Nath, Executive Chairman and Managing Director, U GRO Capital said, “We, at U GRO Capital, are delighted and consider getting listed on National Stock Exchange as a significant milestone. With this development, we aim to expand access to a larger set of investors and broker community. Our progress in three years has resonated well with our mission of solving the unsolved MSME credit gap. Continuing the momentum of achieving significant milestones as this, we plan to acquire 1% market share of the MSME lending business in India in the next five years, thereby creating value for our growing investor community.”

About U GRO Capital Ltd.:

U GRO Capital limited is a BSE listed, small business lending fintech platform. The Company is focused on addressing capital needs of small businesses operating in select eight sectors and Microenterprises by providing customized loan solutions.

U GRO Capital’s mission is ‘Solve the Unsolved’ – Small Business Credit Need. U GRO Capital believes that the problem of small businesses can be solved by building deep expertise around core sectors of SMEs in India coupled with a data centric, technology-enabled approach.

The Company has raised ~₹ 920 crore of capital from a diversified set of institutional investors like private equity funds and well-known family offices. The Company strives to build a strong SME financing platform based on sectoral understanding supplemented by a fully integrated technology and analytics platform

U GRO Capital crosses INR 1,500 Cr of AUM & a monthly disbursement of INR 250 Cr in July 2021.

  • U GRO Capital got listed on National Stock Exchange on 11th August, 2021
  • AUM stood at INR 1,561 Cr as of Jul-21 & INR 1,375 Cr as of Jun-21 and cumulative disbursement crossed over INR 3,000 Cr in Jul-21
  • Total lender base expanded to 32 during the quarter

U GRO Capital, a listed, technology focused platform, announced its financial results for quarter ended June 30, 2021.

The key highlights for Q1 FY22:
Loan Portfolio:
  • The Company’s AUM as of the end of July 31, 2021 stood at INR 1,561 Cr & INR 1,375 Cr as of June 30, 2021 compared to INR 847 Cr as of June 30, 2020 registering a 62% increase on a Y-o-Y basis
  • The cumulative disbursement crossed INR 3,000 Cr & the monthly disbursal crossed 250 Cr in July 2021
  • The loan book is 74% secured and the largest sectoral concentration is light engineering (29%) and the largest geographical concentration is Delhi NCR (20%)
  • Portfolio GNPA and NNPA stand at 2.29% and 1.88% respectively as of June 30, 2021
Liability and Liquidity Position
  • The Company further widened its lender base to 32 lenders testifying the strength of U GRO’s business model
  • The Company’s overall liability book rose to INR 816 Cr in Q1 FY22, with overall debt equity ratio still at 0.86x indicating a long runway for growth
  • The Company maintains a strong liquidity profile with nearly INR 300 Cr of cash and equivalents
  • The Company maintains a CRAR of 62%, indicating a healthy capitalisation
Financial Performance
  • The Company’s total income increased to INR 51.3 Cr in Q1 FY22, as compared to INR 30.8 Cr in Q1 FY21 an increase of 67% on a Y-o-Y basis
  • The Net Interest Income (NII) for Q1FY22 stood at ₹27.4 Cr compared to ₹23.8 Cr in Q1FY21. ~15% increase on Y-o-Y basis
  • The total provisioning as of Jun-21 stood at INR 20.6 Cr, 89% above the provision mandated as per RBI guideline
  • The Company declared a PBT of INR 2.4 Cr, as compared to INR 4.1 Cr in Q1 FY21
  • The net worth of the Company stands at INR 955 Cr as on June 30, 2021
Operational Parameters
  • The Company commenced disbursement under the co-lending partnership signed under the revised framework with Bank of Baroda from June 2021
  • In the Branch Channel, the company continues to increase its base of GRO Partner network to 724 in the quarter ended June 30, 2021 from 393 a year ago. Its products continue to see a strong traction among the small businesses
  • In the ecosystem channel, the company added 7 new anchors further bolstering its base for rapid growth. In machinery finance, while there was some disruption due to the COVID 2nd wave the company saw good traction in June & July
  • In the Partnership & Alliances channel, the company continued to operationalise more co-lending partnerships. In a first of its kind, company signed a BC Partnership with Prest Loans, that is expected to give a boost to its Micro Loan penetration
  • The Company continued to hire additional manpower on the business side in line with its growth plans

The Company is, at this juncture, focused on achieving robust growth while protecting its balance sheet and maintaining its strong liquidity position. Given its healthy capital adequacy, low gross NPA and net NPA, diversified portfolio mix, granular geographical distribution and strong risk metrics, the Company is confident in achieving its growth goals while maintaining its conservative approach.

Commenting on the results, Mr. Shachindra Nath, Executive Chairman and Managing Director of U GRO Capital stated, “Q1 FY22 has been a difficult quarter for the entire spectrum of lending firms due to the massive disruption caused by COVID 2nd wave. We followed a focussed approach towards lending and capitalised on opportunities available in the states that were moderately affected. With the receding impact of COVID in June, we rebounded strongly. I’m happy to inform you that in July, we clocked our highest ever monthly disbursement. We will carry on the momentum and traction that we saw in July and remain committed to achieve our 5-year goals. Even on the liability slide, our presence continued to expand, and we now have 32 active lenders on our book right now. I’m delighted to share with you the progress that we’ve been making on all fronts.”

About U GRO Capital Ltd.:

U GRO Capital limited is a listed, small business lending fintech platform. The Company is focused on addressing capital needs of small businesses operating in select eight sectors and Microenterprises by providing customized loan solutions.

U GRO Capital’s mission is ‘Solve the Unsolved’ – Small Business Credit Need. U GRO Capital believes that the problem of small businesses can be solved by building deep expertise around core sectors of SMEs in India coupled with a data centric, technology-enabled approach.

The Company has raised ~₹ 920 crore of capital from a diversified set of institutional investors like private equity funds and well-known family offices.

U GRO capital has shortlisted the 8 sectors basis an 18-month process involving extensive study of macro and micro economic parameters carried out in conjunction with market experts like CRISIL. The eight sectors shortlisted are Healthcare, Education, Chemicals, Food Processing / FMCG, Hospitality, Electrical Equipment and Components, Auto Components, Light Engineering. The Company additionally lends to microenterprises, which behave as a monolith and act a pseudo ninth sector. The Company strives to build a strong MSME financing platform based on sectoral understanding supplemented by a fully integrated technology and analytics platform.

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