Business Wire India

Team Kudos during their annual meeting

Kudos Finance and Investments, a Non-Banking Finance Company, operates in the MSME (Micro Small & Medium Enterprises) space providing loans to small entrepreneurs. After having established 3 branches in Pune, Kudos has launched its new branch at Nasik (Maharashtra) as a part of its expansion and growth plans. With a strong foothold in its existing markets, Kudos plans to expand its footprints rapidly in other Tier II, Tier III locations within Maharashtra and later reach out to other states.

Founded by Mr. Pavitra Walvekar, Kudos Finance and Investments started its NBFC operations in 2014. The product offering includes loans under three products – Short-term Loan (1–6 months), Business loans (24-36 months), and Machinery loans (30–36 months). Pavitra studied Finance in California State University, Fresno, and worked in Wells Fargo Financial for two and half years.

Kudos provides Unsecured collateral-free business loans to Retailers, Traders, Kirana stores, Saree centres, Medical stores, Garages, Restaurants, etc., with a ticket size of Rs 1–15 lakh. Machinery loans are meant for the manufacturing sector, with a ticket size starting from Rs 1 to 15 lakh. Under short-term loans, Kudos offers unsecured loans to existing customers who want to buy bulk goods at discounted rates, with a ticket size starting from Rs 2 to 10 lakh.

An extensive market research on the borrowing habits and loan purposes of MSME sector helped Pavitra to create a database of potential segments and customers. Since the start of the business operations, Kudos Finance has been doubling its loan book every year with a strong focus on portfolio quality and has been successfully able to raise funds in multiple follow on tranches from 6 lenders including Capital First, MAS Financial, Bank of Maharashtra, Electronica Finance, Caspian and Essel Finance.

Kudos follows robust underwriting process that involves a proprietary method of assessment before loans are approved and last mile customer verifications to avoid fraudulent cases. Kudos has been continuously working on adopting technology to automate processes and has implemented systems to improve customer onboarding experience, decision making quality and reduce turn-around time of a transaction.

The NBFC has also tied up with two Insurance companies to provide credit link shield insurance to its customers.

Started with a team of seven employees and one branch a few years back, today the company has launched its fourth branch and has close to 35 employees.