Dhanvarsha Finvest: Mumbai's Esteemed Lender Serving Unserved & Underserved MSME Clients
Karan Desai & Rohanjeet Singh Juneja
Joint Managing Directors
Besides facing challenges like long queues, limited opening hours and complex formalities for deposit and withdrawal at banks for small ticket size loans, most customers are unaware of what a credit score is and how to build it. It is here Mumbai-based Dhanvarsha Finvest Limited, a retail centric MSME-focused lender leads the league with a strong aim of financing the unserved and underserved customers and businesses of India. The company not only offers them timely and affordable financial capital, but also enables their businesses through tie ups for expense management solutions, cash flow planning, business management, and many other services. This helps customers constantly upscale their business, elevate their ability to earn a better livelihood, and fulfill a greater sense of purpose. That is what the company calls ‘Building Social Capital’ for its borrowers.
To learn more about Dhanvarsha Finvest and its excellence, peruse the following snippets of an exclusive colloquy between Karan Desai & Rohanjeet Singh Juneja (Joint Managing Directors) and CEO Insights.
What differentiates your firm from your competitors in the market?
Rohanjeet: We are a small, independent, and extremely well governed institution promoted under the aegis of the 80 year old Wilson Group of Mumbai that leaves no stone unturned to bestow us with the right governance structure. Along with a strong promoter legacy, we have a completely independent and eminent board consisting of stalwarts with rich and diverse experiences from India and abroad. We have an extremely capable and entrepreneurial management team who handle end-to-end operations and takes decisions for the institution. Intrinsically, all our team members are stakeholders of the business and entitled to the ESOP program, thereby feeling a strong sense of ownership & belonging to the institution.
Breathing practicality into each endeavour, we collectively achieve what is best for our institution and
explore opportunities to thrive even at times of stress or adversity. In a nutshell, we are focused on not just building a business but an institution that outlives all of us!
Walk us through your diverse product offerings.
Karan: During our early years, we focused on offering secure loans against properties (LAP) to small businesses and gradually diversified into unsecured business loans, personal loans and others for unserved customers. In the last one year, we have diversified into other sub-segments like education loans, healthcare loans including COVID loans to meet unforeseen medical emergencies. Currently, we are customizing our main products across sub-segments in order to provide structured, timely and consistent solutions to our clients, thereby building long-lasting relationships with them. Being a technology-enabled company, we are also attuning our business technologically so as to mitigate risks and reduce TAT substantially.
How has your company’s journey been so far?
Karan: Since our takeover in August 2017 till early 2018, our company had to go through various transitions in terms of induction of the new Board & Management team. In September 2018, the NBFC market slowed down substantially and has been fairly slow since. Yet, we managed to build a solid business not just during this crisis but also the recent Covid-19 pandemic. We did not lose any talent & also expanded our product portfolio. We believe that the toughest survive in the roughest times and the best businesses are built in the worst times. Moreover, we currently stand at an inflection point in growth both in terms of raising further debt and equity.
How are you planning to take your company ahead?
Rohanjeet: Unlike many other financial institutions in the market that rely a lot on Direct Selling Agents, we have developed those relationships in-house by on-boarding the right talent who understand the nuances of our business. We have also made strong collaborations with multiple partners and associations from different sectors of the industry so that every player in the financial ecosystem becomes a winner. In fact, we believe that a financial
Walk us through your diverse product offerings.
Karan: During our early years, we focused on offering secure loans against properties (LAP) to small businesses and gradually diversified into unsecured business loans, personal loans and others for unserved customers. In the last one year, we have diversified into other sub-segments like education loans, healthcare loans including COVID loans to meet unforeseen medical emergencies. Currently, we are customizing our main products across sub-segments in order to provide structured, timely and consistent solutions to our clients, thereby building long-lasting relationships with them. Being a technology-enabled company, we are also attuning our business technologically so as to mitigate risks and reduce TAT substantially.
We are a small, independent, extremely well governed Board driven institution that comprises of stalwarts who collectively deliver what’s best for our institution and explore opportunities to thrive even at times of stress or adversity
How has your company’s journey been so far?
Karan: Since our takeover in August 2017 till early 2018, our company had to go through various transitions in terms of induction of the new Board & Management team. In September 2018, the NBFC market slowed down substantially and has been fairly slow since. Yet, we managed to build a solid business not just during this crisis but also the recent Covid-19 pandemic. We did not lose any talent & also expanded our product portfolio. We believe that the toughest survive in the roughest times and the best businesses are built in the worst times. Moreover, we currently stand at an inflection point in growth both in terms of raising further debt and equity.
How are you planning to take your company ahead?
Rohanjeet: Unlike many other financial institutions in the market that rely a lot on Direct Selling Agents, we have developed those relationships in-house by on-boarding the right talent who understand the nuances of our business. We have also made strong collaborations with multiple partners and associations from different sectors of the industry so that every player in the financial ecosystem becomes a winner. In fact, we believe that a financial
services business succeeds on 4C’s - Credit, Collection, Capital, and Collaboration but not Competition. We strongly believe Collaboration will be the name of the game going forward with companies leveraging off each other’s strength as opposed to competing with one another.
On the asset side, we pay tremendous attention to risk mitigation through our technology engine coupled with a complete in-house collections and recoveries platform that is headed by an industry veteran. We have on-boarded talent even during Covid-19 lockdown so that we build an institution that outlives us.
Rohanjeet Singh Juneja, Joint Managing Director
In terms of raising capital for our company, we have won the trust of equity investors with the announced capital infusion from a foreign portfolio investor and lenders given our banking relationships with highly well reputed lenders in the country.
Karan: To conclude, we are a young and nimble organization, open to talking to new partners with innovative ideas, taking quick & efficient decisions, and leveraging each other’s skill sets to build a world-class institution in the next three years.
Karan Desai, Joint Managing Director
With more than 15 years of experience across investment banking, consulting and operations, Karan stands dedicated to scale Dhanvarsha Finvest to newer heights. He is a Master’s degree holder in International Business & Management from Westminster Business School, London and a Commerce Graduate from Narsee Monjee College, Mumbai.
Rohanjeet Singh Juneja, Joint Managing Director
Holding over 17 years of experience in research, strategy, portfolio management, financial analysis and mergers & acquisitions, Rohanjeet is a former investment banker, hedge fund manager, and Head of Research and Strategy that helped operate an extremely successful education and housing finance company. He is an Economics Graduate from Trinity College, Hartford.
• Office: Mumbai
• Product Offerings: Loan Against Property, Atmanirbhar Bharat Business Loans, Essential Commodities Product Express Loan, Personal Loan, Medical Loan & School Fee Loan
On the asset side, we pay tremendous attention to risk mitigation through our technology engine coupled with a complete in-house collections and recoveries platform that is headed by an industry veteran. We have on-boarded talent even during Covid-19 lockdown so that we build an institution that outlives us.
Rohanjeet Singh Juneja, Joint Managing Director
In terms of raising capital for our company, we have won the trust of equity investors with the announced capital infusion from a foreign portfolio investor and lenders given our banking relationships with highly well reputed lenders in the country.
Karan: To conclude, we are a young and nimble organization, open to talking to new partners with innovative ideas, taking quick & efficient decisions, and leveraging each other’s skill sets to build a world-class institution in the next three years.
Karan Desai, Joint Managing Director
With more than 15 years of experience across investment banking, consulting and operations, Karan stands dedicated to scale Dhanvarsha Finvest to newer heights. He is a Master’s degree holder in International Business & Management from Westminster Business School, London and a Commerce Graduate from Narsee Monjee College, Mumbai.
Rohanjeet Singh Juneja, Joint Managing Director
Holding over 17 years of experience in research, strategy, portfolio management, financial analysis and mergers & acquisitions, Rohanjeet is a former investment banker, hedge fund manager, and Head of Research and Strategy that helped operate an extremely successful education and housing finance company. He is an Economics Graduate from Trinity College, Hartford.
• Office: Mumbai
• Product Offerings: Loan Against Property, Atmanirbhar Bharat Business Loans, Essential Commodities Product Express Loan, Personal Loan, Medical Loan & School Fee Loan