Quality education forms the bedrock of sustainable development of any country. As India gears to become the workforce powerhouse of the world, enabling structures need to be put in place that ensures world class education for all in the country. Every Indian youth has a right to the best in education. And lack of funds must be the last hindrance to this dream. Avanse Financial Services, a Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC), regulated by the Reserve Bank of India and envisioned with the aim to fulfill the need for education finance at reasonable terms.
Avanse is an extract of the French word for advance. And that’s what Avanse, a new age education finance company. Avanse is a sensitive, advanced private finance company specializing in the niche space of education. Our mother company DHFL is one of India’s largest housing finance companies in the private sector, having helped hundreds of thousands of Indians to fulfill their dreams of owning a home. Avanse is from that pedigree. Avanse provides financial assistance through Avanse standalone offices and also through the DHFL network offices. The Company funds students travelling to all key international advanced education destinations including US, UK, Australia etc. The endeavor always has been to bring the best in financing flexibilities to the Indian student market. Avanse started of small and their intention is not to compete in the existing market but create new curves of evolution. Their brand complements the education sector and engages with students and educators to metamorphose financial solutions that are new age and tailored for specific needs.
The Forerunner
Amit Gainda, CEO of Avanse Financial Services is an accomplished leader with over two decades of experience in the banking and financial services industry. Amit deep experience in building businesses from an inception stage, sharp insights in managing complexities of scale and expertise in steering business strategies across various lending portfolios with a focus on ensuring sustained financial performance. Led by his strategic guidance and supported by an able team, Avanse is well poised to further strengthen its position in the education finance segment.
In his earlier role at DHFL, Amit was responsible for managing the SME & Mortgage Loans Assets with comprehensive responsibility across various functional domains of Sales, Product, Credit, and Risk & Collections.
Prior to DHFL, he has worked with Bajaj Finance, GE Money and Citigroup. He is also a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt in the DMAIC methodology.
He has been part of several programs and capability building projects which have enabled him to contribute and won accolades “Certified Global Mortgage Leader” -GE Stamford, “Certified Black Belt Project ‘Project Write Rate’ – Improved operating efficiencies for Mortgages” and “Certified Black Belt Project – ‘Project Catch’ m Young’ – Focused on delivering collections efficiencies” in his previous assignments. He holds a degree in Finance Management from IMT Ghaziabad and a Marketing and Finance post graduate diploma from IMI Delhi. He has also completed an Executive Education program in general management from INSEAD, Singapore and France.
About this Promising Company
Headquartered in Mumbai, Avanse is one of India’s fastest growing education finance company, incorporated in 2013 with a socio-economic objective of making better education affordable to the masses in India. Avanse is committed to facilitating and fulfilling academic dreams of talented young students. Avanse is an NBFC arm of Wadhwan Global Capital Private Limited (WGC), a diversified financial services conglomerate with an AUM of USD ~22 billion and presence across lending, insurance, protection and strategic investments. Avanse is an associate company of DHFL, which is the flagship company of WGC and a leading financial institution in India. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), an arm of the World Bank is a key stakeholder with 15% equity stake in Avanse.
Distinctive Services
In the education finance domain, Avanse provides loans across two categories:
- Education Loan (B2C) – With its new age, flexible and tailored educational financial solutions, Avanse makes higher education affordable and accessible to Indian students and young professionals, thus, enabling them to ‘Aspire without Boundaries’. Avanse has fulfilled higher education dreams of over 10,000+ students across 6000+ courses in 45+ countries. Avanse has recently extended its solutions to help parents fund their child’s school fees
- Educational Institutional Loan (B2B) – Under this category, Avanse provides loans for financing working and growth capital of educational institutes which is requires for their infrastructure expansion
Avanse’s Strategy to Overcome Initial Hiccups
The overall education loan market is dominated by PSU banks. According to study by credit bureau Transunion Cibil ~9% of the education loans disbursed by banks have turned into non-performing assets. This challenge was an opportunity for Avanse to quickly establish as a new age, agile player and break through this competitive market while also ensuring quality of business and lower defaults rates. To ensure this, Avanse has undertaken several successful initiatives. Avanse has been at the forefront of creating great value and customizable solutions for customers. To keep defaults low, Avanse has built strong underwriting processes through a well-defined scorecard model by opting for a student led approach. Avanse focuses on the right student profile by incorporating employability potential, co-borrowers credit profile, the pedigree of the Institute and the course.
Delivering the Class of Business
Avanse has been at the forefront of creating great value for customers by offering features including 100% Funding, Funding beyond tuition fees (covering visa, travel and stay expenses), instant sanctions for select programs and universities and loans without any limit. Avanse has successfully transitioned from “mortgage/collateral driven” education loan to “student led approach” whereby student academics and future employability is taken into consideration for granting loan. Avanse has created customized solution for students based on the country and program of choice. Unlike most financial lenders, Avanse has also funded many unconventional and new age education programs.
Digital and Technology are the critical growth enablers for Avanse across all its businesses. Avanse is enhancing its operational capabilities and processes with an aim to improve customer experience and enhance productivity through technology. Some of the key initiatives include:
- Straight through Loan processing with automated score cards
- Artificial Intelligence allowing loans to ‘New to Credit’ customers allowing financial access
- Digitization of systems and processes
Role of Avanse’s Employees in Its Success
Avanse considers its talented employees as its greatest asset in its journey towards success. Avanse has a team of over 250+ talented employees guided by a diverse leadership team with a cumulative 200+ years of experience across leading financial services organizations. The company’s growth has been phenomenal with a CAGR of over 150 % over the last 4 years. Avanse has funded over 10,000+ students across 6000+ courses in 1900+ institutes across India and over 45+ countries. Avanse has over 400 partnerships with educational counselors across the country and has funded over 175 institutions covering over 5 lakh students. Avanse is building an organization with a culture based on Governance, Transparency, Meritocracy, Inclusivity and Happiness Quotient. Avanse aspires to build a great company which people can look upto in years to come.
Driving Towards Future Goals
One of the largest Education Loan NBFCs in India today, Avanse has embarked on a journey of transforming from an education focused NBFC to a leading Customer Centric Diversified NBFC focused on Profitable Growth across domains of Consumer, MSME and Commercial Businesses. While Avanse will focus on a profitable growth across these sectors, it will however maintain its leadership position in the Education Finance space. Avanse is expanding its reach across the country and will be scaling up in new segments like school fee funding and funding of a wider range of educational programs. Technology will continue to be a critical enabler across all the businesses.
Advice for the Budding Startups in the Industry
India offers tremendous opportunity to individuals who have a strong belief in their entrepreneurial idea and are willing to work towards its successful execution. The crucial aspect of any business is the value one can create for customers without chasing only the top line growth. Initial capital burn is a necessary aspect of business but a successful business is only that which is self-sustaining. Entry barriers for most businesses are low today and therefore strong customers relationships are not only a great guard against competitive activity but also ensure long term viability and profitability of the business.
Source :-The 10 Most Admired Non Banking Financial Companies In 2018
