New Delhi
Kissandhan, India’s leading multi-asset agri-finance NBFC and a subsidiary of the Sohan Lal Commodity Management (SLCM) Group, has on-boarded more than 9,600 women loan beneficiaries through its Business Correspondent (BC) Partnership Lending Programme and disbursed more than Rs 413.40mn of loans to them.
Sandeep Sabharwal, CEO, SLCM Group, said, “Throughout our journey, we have always felt the scarcity and need for women in agriculture. Kissandhan aims to impact the livelihood of small farm holders and their families. The loan benefits to women is our next step in the process. We feel delighted and proud that our programme has crossed the mark of 9,600 women loan beneficiaries, and we wish to double this number in the coming year.”
“Available data shows that women in agriculture in India lack access to credit to establish stability. We have also come across instances where despite ownership of land in their name, the women lack decision-making power. Even in the agriculture sector in India, there exists gender disparity with women earning only 70 per cent of men’s wages,” he said.
“Kissandhan is an initiative that intends to minimize this disparity and recognize women and their significant role in livelihood generation and thus give them the desired access to capital to improve their social and economic standing,” he added.
BCs are representatives appointed by banks/financial institutions who act as their agents and provide financial services in remote locations where banks are not present. The average ticket size of such loans is Rs 39,000 per borrower. Till now, Kissandhan has managed to disburse an amount of Rs 413.40mn to help the women beneficiaries.
To date, Kissandhan has disbursed loans of Rs 25bn and impacted about half a million farmers, agri traders, agri processors, etc.