Kolkata: Cr
"The microfinance industry is in up-cycle momentum and CreditAccess India has been working on planning a fair market valued exit to some of its patient investors, provided that such transactions contribute to our global positioning and protects the long-term stakeholder value creation," CreditAccess India deputy chairman Udaya Kumar Hebbar said in an interview with ET.
The new investor could be a strategic partner or a financial investor, he said. "We are always open to join hands with strategic and/or financial partners who share our vision and unwavering aspiration to build a consistently growing business engine over the coming decade," Hebbar said.
US-based private equity firm Olympus Capital Asia holds 15.5% in the parent company of CreditAccess Grameen, while Asian Development Bank has an 8.8% stake. Asia Impact, promoted by CreditAccess India founder Paolo Brichetti, holds another 11.4%. The balance 64.3% is distributed among 240-odd large family offices and high-net-worth individuals.Also Read |CreditAccess India eyes new investors, says Deputy Chairman
CreditAccess India owns a 66.28% stake in CreditAccess Grameen.
Of the existing investors, about 40% are looking for an exit option. Some of them have remained invested since 2007 and therefore there is a need to create liquidity for them, Hebbar said.
"The liquidity creation may happen overtime and always with appropriate value creation, protecting the interests of all stakeholders, including the minority investors in CreditAccess Grameen," he said.
Axis Bank is among those learnt to be showing interest in buying a stake as the non-state lender looks to get a hand on the country's microfinance market, which has shown signs of revival after reeling under asset quality stress for almost two years. This would help the bank in priority sector lending.
Both Axis Bank and CreditAccess Grameen have denied news reports of the bank showing interest in the micro lender. Hebbar termed reports of a possible takeover of CreditAccess Grameen at a discounted valuation as "speculative news".
"We would like to reiterate that while we work on creating liquidity for some of our patient investors, we are happy to wait for strategic partners who appreciate the business we have built and believe in further value creation through participating in our next phase of growth journey considering that we are at a juncture of strong upcycle & proven capabilities of encashing the opportunities," Hebbar said, stressing on giving the opportunity of a fair market valued exit to patient investors.
He added that in the process, the new investor may also get a share in the operating company while CreditAccess India would remain the promoter. This would depend on the structure of the negotiation. "We want to remain committed to growing Grameen and our subsidiaries," he said.
CreditAccess India holds 74% in CreditAccess Life Insurance. The entity in October last year also applied for a general insurance licence.
CreditAcces Grameen targets to grow its gross loan portfolio to ₹50,000 crore by 2028, including a retail book of ₹10,000 crore. It had a gross portfolio of ₹26,600 crore at the end of December 2025, built through 2,000 branches in 16 large states. It had about 4.5 million customers and over 21000 employees. Its capital adequacy ratio was 26.4%. "We don't need capital because we have over 26% capital and our internal accrual is more than sufficient for our growth. So we don't need growth capital from anybody. It's only building and supporting, supporting the management, supporting the entire business model to run," Hebbar said.
"The microfinance industry is in up-cycle momentum and CreditAccess India has been working on planning a fair market valued exit to some of its patient investors, provided that such transactions contribute to our global positioning and protects the long-term stakeholder value creation," CreditAccess India deputy chairman Udaya Kumar Hebbar said in an interview with ET.
The new investor could be a strategic partner or a financial investor, he said. "We are always open to join hands with strategic and/or financial partners who share our vision and unwavering aspiration to build a consistently growing business engine over the coming decade," Hebbar said.
US-based private equity firm Olympus Capital Asia holds 15.5% in the parent company of CreditAccess Grameen, while Asian Development Bank has an 8.8% stake. Asia Impact, promoted by CreditAccess India founder Paolo Brichetti, holds another 11.4%. The balance 64.3% is distributed among 240-odd large family offices and high-net-worth individuals.Also Read |CreditAccess India eyes new investors, says Deputy Chairman
CreditAccess India owns a 66.28% stake in CreditAccess Grameen.
Of the existing investors, about 40% are looking for an exit option. Some of them have remained invested since 2007 and therefore there is a need to create liquidity for them, Hebbar said.
"The liquidity creation may happen overtime and always with appropriate value creation, protecting the interests of all stakeholders, including the minority investors in CreditAccess Grameen," he said.
Axis Bank is among those learnt to be showing interest in buying a stake as the non-state lender looks to get a hand on the country's microfinance market, which has shown signs of revival after reeling under asset quality stress for almost two years. This would help the bank in priority sector lending.
Both Axis Bank and CreditAccess Grameen have denied news reports of the bank showing interest in the micro lender. Hebbar termed reports of a possible takeover of CreditAccess Grameen at a discounted valuation as "speculative news".
"We would like to reiterate that while we work on creating liquidity for some of our patient investors, we are happy to wait for strategic partners who appreciate the business we have built and believe in further value creation through participating in our next phase of growth journey considering that we are at a juncture of strong upcycle & proven capabilities of encashing the opportunities," Hebbar said, stressing on giving the opportunity of a fair market valued exit to patient investors.
He added that in the process, the new investor may also get a share in the operating company while CreditAccess India would remain the promoter. This would depend on the structure of the negotiation. "We want to remain committed to growing Grameen and our subsidiaries," he said.
Axis Bank said to be interested in buying into co
CreditAccess India holds 74% in CreditAccess Life Insurance. The entity in October last year also applied for a general insurance licence.
CreditAcces Grameen targets to grow its gross loan portfolio to ₹50,000 crore by 2028, including a retail book of ₹10,000 crore. It had a gross portfolio of ₹26,600 crore at the end of December 2025, built through 2,000 branches in 16 large states. It had about 4.5 million customers and over 21000 employees. Its capital adequacy ratio was 26.4%. "We don't need capital because we have over 26% capital and our internal accrual is more than sufficient for our growth. So we don't need growth capital from anybody. It's only building and supporting, supporting the management, supporting the entire business model to run," Hebbar said.