Rang De: India’s First Online Platform for Micro-Credit
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Kanakama Redi, a vegetable vendor in Puri, Orissa used to work from 8.00 am till late in the evening. Yet, most of her earnings were lost in repayment of the loan, availed at higher credit rates, to buy vegetables. Like her, Baban who makes bamboo baskets too could not make the most of her skills earlier as she required money for the raw material and it came at a high interest from the local lender. But things changed once micro-finance facilitator Rang De took care of their small-term requirements.
Rang De, India’s first online micro-lending platform, enables individuals lend money to low-income households in the country. Headquartered in Chennai, the organisation which lays its mission in making “poverty history in India”, has 18 field partners across ten states, namely Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. Lives of Kanakama Redi and Baban are changing. They can now buy wares at wholesale rates to increase profit margin. Both the borrowers have already repaid their loans.
Set up by Ram NK and Smita Ram in 2006, Rang De has helped hundreds of low-income entrepreneurs finding their working capital needs. The operations are simple: any individuals can participate in microcredit by lending as little as Rs 100 by simply registering online and choosing a borrower of one’s choice.
