Strategy, Investment, Governance, and Technical Assistance for SEWA Grih Rin

In 2007, when David Smith of AHI met Bijal Brahmbhatt of Mahila Housing Trust, an idea hatched – to create a housing finance company dedicated to helping informally employed women borrow money at small scale to improve their informal homes. Eighteen years later, that company - SEWA Grih Rin (SGR), now Sitara - has made more than 10,000 loans across 9 Indian states, 94% of them to India’s two poorest income groups, and grown to 70x its original capitalization.

Although the informal economy constitutes 93% of India’s labor force, inability to access formal mortgage finance and the high costs of borrowing from informal money lenders has prevented many poor urban households from improving their housing. As an affiliate of the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), with 3,700,000 members across 20 Indian states, SGR was launched as an affordable alternative to housing finance, helping households borrow the money to improve their homes.

From the outset, AHI provided critical and ongoing support to MHT and SEWA, including preparing two successive business plans, helping define the company’s housing microfinance products, securing seed funding from the Rockefeller Foundation and later the Gates Foundation, and becoming a founding investor in 2011. David Smith joined the founding board, serving for over a dozen years, including chairing its Risk Management Committee, and AHI participated in several rounds of further equity funding to support the company’s growth. 

From the time of its founding through AHI’s exit in 2024, Sitara:

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• Made more than 10,000 loans, 94% of them to India’s two poorest income groups
• Registered more than 45% of homes in women’s or joint names
• Built a company operating in 9 Indian states
• Helped more than 35,000 Indians rise to better lives
• Reached ₹1,500 crore (US $160 million) in total capitalization