"Throughout our journey, we have always sensed the lack of and need for women in agriculture. Kissandhan wants to improve the standard of living for small-scale farmers and their families. Our next step in the procedure is to discuss the loan benefits for women. We are pleased and proud that 9,600 women have benefited from our program's loans, and we hope to double that number in the upcoming year,” stated Sandeep Sabharwal, CEO of SLCM Group.
“The information at hand indicates that women in agriculture in India do not have easy access to credit to build stability. We have also encountered situations where women hold land ownership in their names but lack the ability to make decisions. Gender inequality is present in India's agricultural sector as well, with women making only 70% of what males do,” he added.
“Kissandhan is an initiative that intends to minimize this disparity and recognize women and their significant role in livelihood generation and thus give them the desired access to capital to improve their social and economic standing.”
Business Correspondents are agents appointed by banks and other financial institutions to offer financial services in remote locations where banks are not present. These loans have an average ticket size of Rs. 39,000 per borrower. Kissandhan has so far been able to give the women beneficiaries a total of 413.40 million.
Kissandhan has so far disbursed loans totaling INR 25 billion, having an effect on roughly half a million farmers, agricultural traders, and agricultural processors.
About Kissandhan
One of India's major one-stop post-harvest agri-logistics groups, Kissandhan Agri Financial Services Pvt Ltd (Kissandhan) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sohan Lal Commodity Management Pvt Ltd (SLCM). By offering financing solutions against storage receipts of agricultural commodities and strengthening the group's presence throughout the agriculture supply chain, Kissandhan has added a crucial dimension to the Group. The business is an NBFC governed by the RBI and known as "Kissandhan."
About SLCM
The SLCM Group, established in 2009, provides technology-driven warehousing services in India and Myanmar, including scientific storage for agricultural commodities, fumigation, testing, and certification, as well as funding against storage receipts. SLCM is an ISO 9001: 2015, ISO 22000: 2018, ISO 33000, ISO 14001: 2015, ISO 45001: 2018, and ISO/IEC 27001: 2013 Certified group and a significant player in the global Post-Harvest Agri-Logistics market. Through its AgriReach Digital Platform, SLCM offers technology-driven services to the agri value chain.
Modern technology is available at SLCM Warehouse Management Service to provide storage and protection services for the full spectrum of agricultural commodities.
Including farmers, processors, millers, traders, importers, exporters, commodity exchanges, and the federal and state governments, the company offers services to the complete agriculture ecosystem. Since establishing its wholly-owned subsidiary Kissandhan Business Unit, the company has distributed loans totaling more than INR 25.00 billion and currently operates a network of more than 9,000 warehouses. As of March 2022, SLCM had positively impacted the lives of more than 20.00 crore individuals and directly affected the livelihoods of over 4.00 crore people.
The company to date has received more than 50 national and International awards and recognitions across various categories like commodity warehousing services, financing, and technology applications in the agriculture sector. SLCM’s employee-first approach has been widely commended through honors like Times Ascent ‘Dream Companies to Work For' and ET Now’s ‘Rise With India Dream Companies to Work For'.
