We are very happy to welcome Ujjivan as the newest member of the WWB network. Ujjivan is a rapidly growing microfinance organization based in the city of Bangalore, in the Indian state of Karnataka, located in the southwest region of the country. Ujjivan – which means “better life” in Hindi – is one of the few Indian microfinance organizations targeting the urban poor, a group that makes up an estimated 30 percent (approximately 106 million) of India’s population. In this population segment, Ujjivan has focused on serving women because, as stated on the organization’s website, women “are proven to spend a larger portion of their money on the welfare of their family and therefore create systemic changes needed to move their families out of poverty.” Ujjivan’s mission statement begins with the goal of providing “financial services to the economically active poor, to enable them…to be free of poverty within five years of starting their relationship with Ujjivan.”

Headed by CEO Samit Ghosh and Executive Director Ajit Grewal, Ujjivan was founded in 2005, beginning operations in November of that year with its first branch office in the Koramangala district of Bangalore. At the conclusion of an 18-month pilot period, Ujjivan had expanded to 17 branches (including regional expansion into Delhi and Kolkata) serving nearly 24,000 customers, with US$ 3.46 million in loans disbursed. Successfully adapting traditional group loan approaches to meet the diverse needs of urban customers – particularly low-income women – Ujjivan became one of the few multi-product microfinance institutions in India, with offerings including business loans, family loans, emergency loans, festival loans, housing loans, life insurance and health insurance.

To provide a holistic approach to poverty eradication, Ujjivan’s sister organization, Parinaam, was launched to provide “microcredit plus” to Ujjivan’s clients and family members. Parinaam offers healthcare services including: education on issues such as maternal health, hygiene, disease transmission, addiction, nutrition, adolescent health issues and health insurance benefits; immunization tracking; maternal and child healthcare intervention; administration of first aid; and eye-care camps conducted at different Ujjivan Branch locations every month in partnership with Vittala International Institute of Ophthalmology. Parinaam also provides Ujjivan customers with vocational and entrepreneurship services, including: technical sessions (for specific skill enhancements such as tailoring, housekeeping and cooking, childcare and health worker training with licensing); communication skills (with training in both spoken Hindi and English); and entrepreneurship development (training and support for setting up small businesses).

Ujjivan’s membership in the WWB network comes at the end of a year of many milestones. In 2008, Ujjivan continued its geographic expansion, opening branches in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh for a total of 83 branches operating in 7 states. Ujjivan also surpassed important milestones in number of employees (1,000), clients (100,000), and amount of loans disbursed (1 billion rupees, or US$ 21 million).

Ujjivan plans to launch several new products including higher education loans, pensions, remittances and – with technical support from WWB – individual loans. With the introduction of individual lending, the organization plans to expand its customer base to include men as well as women microentrepreneurs. Ujjivan’s five-year goal is to reach 2,000,000 customers nationwide, with hubs in Bangalore, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai, and to have 500 branches by the year 2012.

Women’s World Banking is honored to include Ujjivan among our network members. Alongside our other Indian members – which include SHARE, FWWB India, SEWA Bank and ICICI Bank – Ujjivan’s membership in the WWB network enables us to strengthen our longstanding presence in India and reinforce our commitment to developing the sector. For more information, please visit Ujjivan’s website.