Microfinance Focus, November 30, 2012: Accion, a private, nonprofit organization working in bringing financial services to the underserved, announced that its Frontier Investments Group along with Saama Capital, an India venture focused investment firm, has invested US$4 million in Shubham Housing Development Finance Company. With operations in 17 locations across seven Indian states, Shubham provides mortgages and home-improvement loans for quality housing, to individuals typically excluded from formal financial systems. 

As the Indian economy expands, more people are migrating to urban areas; 350 million Indians live in cities today, a figure predicted to double by 2030.  Housing is particularly affected by the urban explosion as nearly 50 percent of India's city-dwellers are forced into sub-standard housing accommodations as real estate prices increase and affordability declines. 

Headquartered in Gurgaon, India, Shubham was created in 2010 by two experienced lending professionals, Sanjay Chaturvedi and Ajay Oak, who saw a massive gap in the availability of formal credit to low-income households.  Having obtained registration from India's National Housing Bank in February 2011, Shubham has steadily expanded its reach, starting with branches in the National Capital Region [NCR] and Gujarat and subsequently to customers in Rajasthan, Haryana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.  Its primary products are mortgages and home-improvement loans.