Arjun Ahluwalia, Co-Founder and CEO of Jai Kisan is a non-executive director of Kushal Finnovation Capital.
With this new NBFC LicenseJai Kisan can now offer customized financial products, including loans from its own portfolio. The company will also be able to enter Co-loan partnerships with financial institutions including public sector banks in India.
Previously, Jai Kisan’s offering was limited to products provided by its partner banks and NBFCs through its platform. The new license allows Jai Kisan to directly create and offer customized financial solutions to farmers and rural businesses, according to Ahluwalia.
“There are nearly one billion people living in rural India. Positive government reforms and the availability of affordable data and smartphones have transformed rural India into an equally connected community. The NBFC license enables us to offer our rural agricultural and commercial customers the credit products they want, how they want them, when they want them and where they want them – which is what they deserve,” Ahluwalia said.
Founded in 2017 by Ahluwalia and Adriel Maniego, Jai Kisan is a technology-based financial services platform catering to rural businesses, individuals and farmers. The company has developed a digital ecosystem that connects businesses, rural intermediaries (distributors, retailers and suppliers) and financial institutions (banks and NBFCs) to facilitate supply chain financing and buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) options for products such as agricultural inputs and equipment.
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Since its inception, Jai Kisan claims to have partnered with over 350 companies, served over one lakh rural businesses, assisted over eight hundred farmers and facilitated disbursement of over Rs 6,000 crore. The company has also expanded its advisory board, bringing in senior bankers like Arvind Kathpalia, former group chairman and chief risk officer of Kotak Mahindra Bankas Senior Credit Risk Advisor and Ravi Duvvuru, former President and Chief Compliance Officer of Jana Small Finance Bankas a senior advisor on governance and regulatory compliance.
In 2022, Jai Kisan raised $50 million in equity and debt as part of the first tranche of its Series B round, with new investors including GMO Venture Partners, Yara Growth Ventures and DG Daiwa Ventures, alongside existing investors Blume Ventures, Arkam Ventures, Mirae Asset and Snow Leopard Ventures.
Additionally, Ahluwalia said the company is planning a fresh fundraise in the next two to three quarters, primarily to support the start-up of the NBFC, though he did not disclose the amount the company intends to raise.
“Jai Kisan can now scale faster within the regulatory framework that the license provides. It can operate as a player that can access more credit directly and disburse faster to its rural customers. As early investors in Jai Kisan, we see this as a significant step towards building a financial institution focused on rural India,” said Rahul Chandra, CEO, Arkam Ventures.
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