MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: India’s Altum Credo Raises $10m from Aavishkaar, PS Pai, Others for Housing Finance

Altum Credo, a housing lender serving low- and moderate-income Indians, recently raised a total of INR 640 million (USD 9.8 million) from investors including Aavishkaar Venture Management Services, an India-based investor seeking to “enhance livelihoods and reduce vulnerabilities for the low-income population,” and PS Pai, who is known for his tenure at the Murugappa Group, an Indian conglomerate. The amounts they invested and the names of the other investors – identified only as high-net-worth individuals – have not been released.

Altum Credo, which is based in Pune, Maharashtra, and was licensed by India’s National Housing Bank in 2017. The company offers loans for home improvement, purchasing homes and “self-construction.” These loans have terms of up to 15 years and range in size from INR 200,000 (USD 3,000) to INR 2.5 million (USD 38,000). In addition, Altum Credo offers loans for refinancing debt as well as loans for micro-, small and medium-sized enterprise. It has 15 branches and is expanding in several states in Western and Southern India. Financial details on the firm are not available.

From 2002 to 2017, Aavishkaar reports having raised USD 200 million for five funds. In addition to India, they are active in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Their 52 investments have resulted in 25 exits and reached 70 million beneficiaries with services such as financial products, technology, agriculture, energy and water.

Sources and Additional Resources:

Economic Times Article
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/altum-credo-to-expand-loan-book-with-rs-64-crore-funding/articleshow/63575062.cms

Altum Credo loan terms
https://www.altumcredo.com/products.html

Aavishkaar reports
http://www.aavishkaar.in/reports.php

Do you know that MicroCapital publishes the MicroCapital Monitor newspaper each month? Find out more at http://www.microcapital.org/products-page/.