ACCION Takes Equity Stake in Saija Finance, a Microfinance Institution Serving India's Poorest

ACCION Takes Equity Stake in Saija Finance, a Microfinance Institution Serving
India's Poorest

BOSTON and BANGALORE, India, Nov. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- ACCION International, a
pioneer and leader in global microfinance, announced today that it has
invested $500,000 for a 49.5 percent equity stake in Saija Finance Private
Limited, a microfinance start-up that provides financial services to
microentrepreneurs and low- and middle-income families in one of India's most
underserved regions.

The investment was made through ACCION's equity investment arm, the ACCION
Gateway Fund, and represents the fund's fourth investment in India. Other
Gateway investments in India include Swadhaar FinServe, Lok Capital and United
Villages.

Based in the city of Patna, state of Bihar, Saija was founded by entrepreneurs
and husband and wife team S.R. Sinha and Rashmi Sinha, and currently operates
two branches in that city. Registered as a non-banking financial company
(NBFC), it is the only Bihar-based microfinance institution, and serves the
country's poorest state. Bihar, with a per capita income of approximately
$160, a 90 percent illiteracy rate, and 37 million of its 90 million people
living below the poverty line, is one of the most densely populated
agglomerations of poor people anywhere in the world, reports the World Bank.

Over the next five years, Saija plans outreach to households in several of the
poorest states in India: Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and
Uttar Pradesh. Saija aims to serve 400,000 customers by 2014 with group and
individual loans, microinsurance and remittances, and will also roll out
financial literacy training, as well as consumer protection assessment work
through ACCION's Center for Financial Inclusion.

For the last year, ACCION has been providing technical assistance to Saija,
primarily through the secondment of commercial and operations managers. Going
forward, ACCION's technical assistance will assist Saija in testing and
deploying innovative technologies and delivery channels, such as mobile
phone-based payment services or point of sale (POS) terminals. With its
investment, ACCION will also play an active governance role in the
organization, joining founders S.R. Sinha and Rashmi Sinha.

"Bihar faces some of the most extreme poverty in the world," said Michael
Schlein, president and CEO of ACCION. "It is a very difficult environment.
And yet, in a relatively short time, Saija has shown that it has what it takes
to thrive and innovate in one of the world's most challenging markets. We're
delighted to partner with Saija in its drive to deliver a full array of
financial services to a vastly underserved population."

"As we ramp up our outreach to India's poorest states, we are fortunate to
have ACCION as a partner to help us grow in the right way, mindful of the
needs of our customers and with the technical know-how to develop cutting-edge
services tailored to those needs," said S.R. Sinha, co-founder of Saija.

About ACCION in India

ACCION first launched microfinance operations in India in 2005, in order to
make a substantive contribution to the outreach and impact of microfinance in
major urban areas. Through its subsidiary, ACCION Technical Advisors India,
headquartered in Bangalore, ACCION today provides management services,
technical assistance, training and investment to MFIs across the country.
Current partners include Swadhaar FinServe in Mumbai; YES SAMPANN, the
microfinance initiative of YES Bank, also in Mumbai; Grameen Financial
Services Private Limited, in Bangalore; and now Saija Finance in Bihar.
ACCION also runs an industry training center in Bangalore, and has recently
expanded its successful client education program, 'Dialogue on Business,' to
meet the unique needs of the sub-continent.

ACCION® is a registered trademark of ACCION International.

SOURCE ACCION International

U.S.: Bruce MacDonald, SVP, Communications of ACCION International,
+1-617-616-1546, bmacdonald@accion.org; or India: Siddhartha Chowdri, India
Country Manager of ACCION Technical Advisors India, +91 80 411200008,
schowdri@accion.org