Commodities tycoon Kumar Mangalam Birla’s 29-year-old daughter, Ananya Birla, who began microfinance firm Svatantra Microfin when she was simply 17, accomplished the acquisition of rival Chaitanya India Fin Credit (owned by Indian billionaire Sachin Bansal) final week.

The Chaitanya deal made Svatantra the second-largest participant amongst microfinance establishments underneath the non-banking finance firm (NBFC) banner when it comes to property underneath administration, which can now contact 130 billion rupees ($1.6 billion).

“We are gunning for the No. 1 position now,” she famous in a tweet proper after the acquisition. Ananya appeared on the Forbes Asia Women to Watch list in 2016.

Publicly-traded, Bangalore-based CreditEntry Grameen is the No. 1 participant with $2.7 billion in property underneath administration as of September 30, 2023 – within the $43 billion (whole mortgage portfolio as of May 31, 2023) Indian microfinance business, which serves 70 million debtors throughout India.

“Svatantra Microfin acquiring Sachin Bansal’s Chaitanya is a positive news both for the microfinance sector and Svatantra,” says Alok Misra, CEO of microfinance business physique MFIN India. “The acquisition is synergistic as it gives Svatantra strategic outreach in South India. While Svatantra is known for its efficient operations and responsible lending, higher size will further strengthen it as also contribute to higher efficiency through economies of scale.”

Ananya integrated Svatantra (which suggests “freedom” in Sanskrit) in 2012 and began operations in 2013 providing small loans to rural girls entrepreneurs.

It went from 280 branches in April 2019 to 500 branches in November 2020 to greater than 800 by May 2023. After the 14.8 billion rupees acquisition, it would have greater than 1,500 branches throughout 20 states and 124 billion rupees in property underneath administration serving 3.6 million clients.

The major differentiator for Svatantra is its 100% cashless disbursements.

“It’s surreal to look back over the last decade,” she mentioned within the tweet. “Svatantra was the very first company that I founded with a vision to provide financial services to every woman in every corner of Bharat, to bank the unbanked.”

In 2018, she took over Micro Housing Finance Corp. (MHFC) for 3 billion rupees to offer housing finance providers to underserved low-income city clients. It operates on a branchless mannequin.

The fifth era scion of the Birla clan is the eldest of Kumar Birla’s three youngsters. Ananya, who has an undergraduate diploma in economics and administration from Oxford University, additionally cofounded psychological well being initiative Mpower, alongside along with her mom Neerja Birla.

Ananya – who additionally composes and sings pop music (she launched her first song, “Livin’ the Life,” in November 2017) — joined the boards of Aditya Birla Group’s flagship Grasim Industries and Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail earlier this yr.

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