Rang De is India's first peer-to-peer online micro-lending platform founded in 2008. It is based in

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

History

Smita Ramakrishna and Ramakrishna NK founded Rang De in 2008 as a not-for-profit organisation to serve the credit needs of the under-served communities and low income households. It connects individual social

investors An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital the investor usually purchases some species of property. Types of in ...

to a community of curated entrepreneurs and

students A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution, or more generally, a person who takes a special interest in a subject. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school ...

from low-income households across the country, enabling them to invest in the livelihoods and education needs of this

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

. In 2013, Rang De opened the platform for foreign social investors. In 2015, Rang De collaborated with OnePlus for the '' Joy of Giving Week.'' Rang De is supported by ICICI Foundation, CSO Partners, Center for Bharatiya Management Development, Association for Sustainable Community Development, and Tata Trusts. Over 93% of the borrowers are women. Rang De works with around 16 field partners across the country. On 8 March 2017, at the

Yeswanthpur Yashavantapura (formerly Yeshwanthpur), also known as Yeshvantpur, is a locality in the northwestern part of Bangalore in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located to the north of Malleshwara and west of Hebbala. The biggest wholesale mark ...

village in

Kolar district Kolar district () is a district in the state of Karnataka, India. Kolar, Karnataka, Kolar (ಕೋಲಾರ) is the district headquarters. Located in southern Karnataka, it is the state's easternmost district. The district is surrounded by the ...

, the ''Swabhimaan'' initiative was launched to impart financial literacy to village women, give customised credit, and enable them to make informed financial decisions. Self serviced kiosks called ''Bioscope'' are created to impart financial education. Bank accounts created under the

Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana () is a financial inclusion program of the Government of India open to Indian citizens (minors of age 10 and older can also open an account with a guardian to manage it), that aims to expand affordable access to f ...

, eKYC,

Aadhaar Aadhaar (Hindi: आधार, ) is a twelve-digit unique identity number that can be obtained voluntarily by all residents of India, based on their biometrics and demography, demographic data. The data is collected by the Unique Identification ...

, and

Unified Payment Interface Unified Payments Interface, commonly known as UPI is an Indian instant payment system as well as protocol developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in 2016. The interface facilitates inter-bank peer-to-peer (P2P) and perso ...

(UPI) is used to disburse credit.

Concept

Rang De connect social investors with under-served communities of borrowers, enabling the low income households to get financial help. Social investors can begin by lending as low as INR 100 through the Rang De platform. It partners with non-governmental organisations and micro-lending institutions to screen borrowers at the grassroots level. The platform keeps track of disbursements and returns, which the investor can withdraw or reinvest.

Recognition

* 2011 - ''Manthan South Asia Award'' *2012 - ''Ashoka Fellowship'' * 2013 - ''Bangalore Heroes Award'' * 2013 - ''Millennium Alliance Award'' *2014 - ''Bihar Innovation Forum Award'' The Development Marketplace (DM) of the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

supports Rang De.

References

External links

*{{Official website, https://rangde.in Financial services companies of India Indian companies established in 2008 Peer-to-peer lending companies Financial services companies established in 2008 2008 establishments in Karnataka Companies based in Bengaluru