AAVAS FINANCIERS LIMITED (Formerly known as “Au HOUSING FINANCE LIMITED”) was originally incorporated as a private limited company at Jaipur, Rajasthan, under the name of "Au Housing Finance Private Limited" on February 23,2011.
Company got registered with National Housing Bank (subsidiary of Reserve Bank of India) as a Housing Finance Company (HFC) and awarded the license from National Housing Bank (NHB) in August 2011.
It formally started its operations in March, 2012.
Subsequently, the name of the Company was changed to "Au Housing Finance Limited" due to conversion from a private company to a public company on January 10, 2013.
In March, 2017, the name of the company was changed from “Au HOUSING FINANCE LIMITED" to "AAVAS FINANCIERS LIMITED” (AAVAS) vide fresh Certificate of Incorporation (COI) dated 29th March, 2017.
AAVAS is engaged in the business of providing housing loans, primarily in the un-served, unreached and under-served market which include the States of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Delhi.
AAVAS is primarily engaged in the business of providing housing loan to customers belonging to low and middle income segment in semi-urban and rural areas. These are credit worthy customers who may or may not have the income proof documents like IT return, salary slip and hence are financially excluded by other large housing finance companies and banks. AAVAS uses unique appraisal methodology to assess these customers individually. The financing solution need to be appropriated and suitable to them.
AAVAS believes that every customer are unique and so far as his financial needs & feel it is absolutely necessary not to treat them as homogenous group of borrowers but appreciate the individual need of every customer, and offer housing Finance solutions that are appropriate and suitable to them.
AAVAS is engaged in the business of providing housing loan to customers belonging to low and middle income segment in semi-urban and rural areas. These are the people who are either self-employed, running small businesses like providing transportation facilities in auto rickshaw or other vehicles, running grocery shops, tiffin centers, beauty parlous and other businesses or these customers are carrying out business of agri or animal husbandry products in rural areas or salaried class people who are carrying out small jobs in private or public sector.
All above people have one prime aspiration of owning their own home and thereby creating an adorable environment for their family members to live in.
These are credit worthy customers that lack financial inclusion because of underdeveloped banking facilities or due to lack of documents like IT returns, salary slips, etc. and hence are excluded by other mortgage companies.
AAVAS uses a unique appraisal methodology to assess these customers individually and delivers tailor-made financing solutions.
AAVAS caters the needs of various small families in rural areas, towns, and a city's peripheral area and other semi-urban areas to meet their life time dream to own their own house.
Presently AAVAS is operating in 11 states namely Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.
The Company has a team of dedicated staff members including highly qualified professionals like Chartered Accountants, Company Secretaries, MBAs etc. who have been contributing to the progress and growth of the Company. The manpower requirement of the offices of the Company is assessed and recruitment is conducted accordingly. Personal skills of employees are fine-tuned and knowledge is enhanced by providing them internal and external training, keeping in view the market requirement from time to time.
AAVAS is engaged in 3 types of products mentioned below under its housing finance business:-
AAVAS also launched "Special Urban Low Income Housing Product" and "Specific Women Ownership Product" in line with NHB's refinance scheme for the Special Urban Housing Refinance Scheme for Low Income Households and Refinance Scheme for Women.
Mrs. Soumya Rajan is the Founder, MD and CEO of Waterfield Advisors, India's largest independent Multi-Family Office that advises on assets of ~US$3.5bn. She previously worked at Standard Chartered Bank India for 16 years, where she headed their Private Banking Division from 2008 to 2010. Having served till earlier this year as Vice Chairperson of Reach to Teach, a UK charity focused on primary education for disadvantaged children in India, Mrs. Soumya Rajan currently serves on the Boards of several other non-profit organisations - Peepul, a charity focused on creating a school transformation platform for government schools; the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar's Research Park and Entrepreneurship Centre; and CSTEP, a research think tank that recommends public policy on the use of new emerging technologies for social and economic development in the areas of energy, environment and infrastructure. Mrs. Soumya Rajan was recognised by AIWMI in 2019 amongst India's Top 100 Women in Finance.
He is the Managing Director and CEO of Aavas. He has been associated with Aavas since its incorporation in 2011. Mr. Agarwal is a qualified Chartered Accountant and had secured the tenth rank in his final examination. Further, he is a qualified Company Secretary. He was previously associated with AuSFB as its Business Head - SME & Mortgages. Sushil Kumar Agarwal has previously worked with ICICI Bank Limited as its Chief Manager and with Kotak Mahindra Primus Limited as an Assistant Manager. He has more than 19 years of experience in the field of retail financial services.
She is an Independent Director of Aavas. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Commerce from the Madurai Kamaraj University. She is a qualified Chartered Accountant and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Kalpana Iyer was previously associated with Citibank N.A., India as its Senior Vice-President, during which she was responsible for women's banking and microfinance. She has also previously held the position of a Director at IncValue Advisors Private Limited. At present, she is acting as a Managing Director of Svakarma Finance Private Limited.
He is the Chairperson of the Board and an Independent Director of Aavas. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Science (Electrical Engineering) from the University of Southern California. Additionally, Sandeep Tandon has completed the Harvard Business School YPO President Program. He previously served as the Managing Director of Tandon Advance Device Private Limited and as a Director on the Board of Accelyst Solutions Private Limited. At present, Mr. Tandon is acting as the Executive Director of Syrma Technology Private Limited and serves as a Director in various private companies.
He is a Nominee Director appointed on the Board of Aavas by Lake District and Kedaara AIF-1. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Commerce from the University of Mysore. He is a honorary Fellow of the Indian Institute of Banking and Finance. Further, Mr. Kamath is a certified associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers. He was previously associated with Corporation Bank as its General Manager and with Punjab National Bank as its chairman and managing director. Mr. Kamath has also served as the Chairman and Managing Director of Allahabad Bank and as an Executive Director of Bank of India.
He is a Nominee Director appointed on the Board of Aavas by Partners Group ESCL and Partners Group Master Fund. He holds a post-graduate diploma in management from Indian Institute of Management at Bangalore. Vivek Vig has previously served as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Destimoney Enterprises Limited. Further, he was previously associated with the Centurion Bank of Punjab (which was subsequently merged with HDFC Bank) as its Country Head - Retail Bank and has also acted as a Director on the Board of PNB Housing Finance Limited. In the past, he has also been associated with Citibank N.A., India, where he has held various positions across the consumer bank.
Mr. Sharma is a Promoter Nominee Director appointed on the Board of Aavas by one of our promoters, Lake District Holdings Limited. He is the Co-Founder and Partner of Kedaara Capital, a leading India focused private equity firm. Mr. Sharma has over 14 years of investment experience, encompassing the full lifecycle of private equity from sourcing investments across sectors, driving value creation to successfully divesting investments over this period. Before cofounding Kedaara, Mr. Sharma was at General Atlantic ('GA') and co-led GA's investments across financial services, healthcare, business services and technology including investments in IndusInd Bank, Jubilant Lifesciences, IBS Software among others. Prior to GA, Mr. Sharma worked as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, serving clients across IT/BPO, financial services, healthcare and public policy. In addition, Mr. Sharma worked at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in setting up the largest HIV/AIDS prevention program in India. Mr. Sharma holds the Economic Times 40 under 40 Award given to business leaders in India. Mr. Sharma holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, and a Dual Degree (B.Tech. and M.Tech) in Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
Mr. Tandon is a Promoter Nominee Director appointed on the Board of Aavas by ESCL and Master Fund. He is the Head of Private Equity in Asia for Partners Group and is a member of its Private Equity Directs Investment Committee. Prior to joining Partners Group, Mr. Tandon co-led TPG Growth's investments in India, having started his investing career with Matrix Partners, where he was responsible for investments in mobility and financial services. Before that, Manas was engaged in designing and selling cutting-edge telecom solutions for start-ups such as MaxComm Technologies (acquired by Cisco Systems) and Camiant Inc. (now part of Oracle). Mr. Tandon holds an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a Palmer Scholar, and a Bachelor's Degree in Technology (Electrical Engineering) from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, where he was awarded the General Proficiency Medal for outstanding academic performance. Mr. Tandon holds eight US patents and is a member of the Mumbai chapters of the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO) and the Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO).
Mr. Kaji is a Promoter Nominee Director and is appointed on the Board of Aavas by one of our Promoters, Lake District Holdings Limited. He is a Director at Kedaara Capital, a leading India focused private equity firm, where he leads the financial services investing practice. Mr. Kaji has over 9 years of investment experience, encompassing the full lifecycle of private equity across geographies and sectors. Prior to Kedaara, Mr. Kaji was at the Mumbai office of the global investment firm Temasek Holdings, where he focused on public and private market investments across sectors. Previously, he worked as investment banker in New York, first at Merrill Lynch & Co., and then at leading boutique firm Perella Weinberg Partners. Mr. Kaji holds an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Dartmouth College. He is a member of the Mumbai chapter of the Entrepreneurs Organization.
