Founded in March 2013, Svatantra is the first microfinance institution in India to receive approval from the central bank to act as a non-bank. The MFI has more than 3,500 employees, serves more than 760,000 customers in rural areas and operates in 14 states in India. Svatantra only serves women in rural areas as clients and is the only institution with a completely cashless withdrawal from the account. The Institute has won several awards, including the Financial Inclusion and Deepening Award 2014, the Order of Merit of the Indian Non-Governmental Association SKOCH and the Award for Best Technology Initiative of the Indian All Finance Conference (BFSI CTO Summit). In October2019, the GLS Microfinance Fund granted a USD 5 million loan to Svatantra.
