Samriddh Kendra: Building Bharat’s Grassroots Fintech Revolution

Samriddh Kendra is a rural fintech platform offering loans and UPI via local agents, redefining credit in small-town India with IIT-backed tech.

Jun 25, 2025 - 11:40

Samriddh Kendra: Building Bharat’s Grassroots Fintech Revolution

Key Takeaways

Samriddh Kendra is a rural fintech platform solving credit and payment access in Bharat
Started in a Bihar dorm room, now facilitates Rs 11 crore+ in disbursements
Operates via local agents (Saathis) and mobile apps to deliver paperless loans and UPI services
Backed by STPI, IITs, and IIMs, partners include Paytm, Tide UK, 20+ NBFCs
Aims to reach Rs 250+ crore disbursement and 10,000+ agents by FY 2025–26

In 2018, from a modest dorm room in Bihar, Suman Saurav saw the glaring gap in rural India’s financial ecosystem. What began as a fintech service aggregator became a movement for inclusive credit access. By 2023, CreditBucket Technologies Pvt. Ltd. was born, and in 2024, its flagship initiative—Samriddh Kendra—launched to bring prosperity to the grassroots.

The Vision: Bharat-First Finance

Samriddh Kendra means "prosperity centre"—and it’s exactly that for thousands of rural micro-entrepreneurs. Built on a blend of tech and trust, it delivers loans, UPI soundboxes, insurance, and financial services through a hyperlocal network of trained agents called "Saathis."

Co-founded by Suman and Bipul Kumar, the company’s mission is to democratize finance in small towns using simple tech and community infrastructure. From paperless loan onboarding to soundbox-based UPI payments, the model brings daily relevance and economic empowerment to rural India.

Problem & Solution: Fixing Rural Finance

Rural borrowers face informal moneylenders, high commissions, and poor financial literacy. Samriddh Kendra solves this by:

Leveraging trusted local merchants as Saathis
Offering zero-commission loans via a mobile app
Enabling QR-based payment and credit onboarding
Embedding value-added services like insurance and ENACH

This tech-plus-human approach is designed to scale at low cost, especially in areas where bank infrastructure is lacking.

Business Model: Scalable and Inclusive

Samriddh Kendra earns revenue through a combination of loan facilitation commissions, monthly UPI soundbox subscriptions priced between Rs 59 and Rs 99, franchise and onboarding fees, and embedded fintech services such as ENACH and insurance.

Its agent-led distribution model ensures low customer acquisition costs and allows for deep market reach without the overhead of physical branches. “Start small. Start local. But start,” says Suman. “You don’t need perfect ideas—just conviction. Solve real problems, build community trust, and be ready to pivot when needed. We started in a dorm room. So can you.”

Market & Growth

With a market of over 8 crore MSMEs and Rs 2 lakh crore credit demand, Samriddh Kendra targets micro-merchants, rural youth, and underserved borrowers. It has facilitated Rs 11 crore+ in loan disbursements, averaging Rs 3 crore monthly, and onboarded 400+ Saathis.

Backed by STPI Chennai, IC-IIT Patna, and other premier institutions, the startup has won multiple awards and built tech infrastructure supported by AWS, Azure, and Freshworks.

With 30% first-time borrowers and 400+ local jobs created, the impact is clear. Women and youth remain key focus areas, and recognition has come from Startup India, YourStory, and IITs/IIMs.

Future Plans

Samriddh Kendra envisions a future where it facilitates over Rs 250 crore in disbursements, scales to 10,000+ Saathis across East India, achieves paperless onboarding across 4,000+ pincodes, and becomes Bharat’s most trusted credit brand. It is already piloting new regions, expanding its franchise model, and steadily onboarding partners to build trust and access in financial deserts.