ACCION invests $500,000 for 49.5% stake in Saija microfinance

Microfinance Focus, Nov. 13, 2009: ACCION International, a pioneer in global microfinance, has announced that it had invested $500,000 for a 49.5 percent equity stake in Saija Finance Private Limited, a microfinance start-up that provides financial services to micro entrepreneurs and low- and middle-income families in Bihar, one of India’s most underserved regions.
The investment was made through ACCION’s equity investment arm, the ACCION Gateway Fund, and represents the fund’s fourth investment in India. Other Gateway investments in India include Swadhaar FinServe, Lok Capital and United Villages, said a statement.

Based in Patna, Saija was founded by the husband and wife team of S.R. Sinha and Rashmi Sinha. It currently operates two branches in Patna. Registered as an NBFC with RBI, it is the only Bihar-based microfinance institution. Saija aims to reach out to households in states such as Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Saija in the next five years, to serve 400,000 customers by 2014 with group and individual loans, micro-insurance and remittances.
It also has plans to roll out financial literacy training, as well as consumer protection assessment work through ACCION’s Centre for Financial Inclusion, the release added.

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