Mantra Capital is an NBFC that was dormant for decades and then, in late 2024, relaunched itself as a technology-driven lender for two specific groups that mainstream banks often overlook: small-business owners in India’s smaller towns and drivers buying electric three-wheelers. The company was originally incorporated in 1983 as Savani Financials, spent most of its life earning only interest on bank deposits, and then raised fresh capital through a rights issue before beginning active lending under the “Mantra Capital” brand in September 2024. Its recurring approach is to combine paperless digital onboarding - using e-KYC and the Account Aggregator framework - with on-ground teams who understand local markets, so that every loan is 100% secured by property or the vehicle itself. # Business segments Two lending engines built on the same secured-credit philosophy - one financing small businesses against property, the other financing electric three-wheelers against the vehicles themselves - both run through a shared branch network in high-growth states. ## 1. Secured business loans: credit for the small enterprises that banks miss **Loans backed by property or other tangible assets, extended to micro and small businesses in Tier-3 and Tier-4 towns where formal credit is scarce.** - **Collateral is the entry ticket** - every loan is backed by tangible security such as property, which means the company is not taking a view on an unproven business but lending against an asset it can recover. - **Built for the 63-million-MSME universe** - India has over 63 million micro and small enterprises that contribute roughly 30% of GDP, and more than 90% of the company’s own borrowers are entrepreneurs from this group who have had little or no access to formal credit. - **Tech underwriting, human verification** - the company runs automated checks for creditworthiness but layers on manual verification in high-risk zones, so the algorithm gets a reality check from someone who knows the local market. - **Branches where the borrowers are** - operations are concentrated in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi NCR, with a deliberate focus on Tier-3 and Tier-4 towns rather than saturated metro markets. - **Pipeline of adjacent products** - the company is developing Loan Against Property, nano loans for women, and supply-chain finance for textile and green-energy clusters, all extensions of the same secured-lending logic. ## 2. Secured green loans: financing the electric-auto transition from the ground up **Loans for electric three-wheelers - passenger autos and cargo vehicles - where the vehicle itself serves as collateral and the borrower is often a first-time EV driver.** - **The vehicle is the security** - every green loan is backed by the electric auto-rickshaw or cargo three-wheeler it finances, so the asset stays on the company’s books as tangible cover. - **First-mover in a niche that big banks ignore** - as of the FY25 filing date, the company had financed over 840 EVs, with estimated yearly CO₂ savings of 1,359 tonnes, making it an early lender to drivers and small fleet operators that mainstream vehicle finance does not reach. - **OEM partnerships supply the customers** - tie-ups with Mahindra Last Mile Mobility and Omega Seiki Mobility give the company a direct origination channel at the point of vehicle sale, so it does not have to go hunting for borrowers cold. - **Same digital rails, same branch network** - the paperless onboarding, e-KYC and automated-plus-manual underwriting that power the business-loan engine are reused here, and the loans are served through the same 17 branches across Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Delhi. - **Beyond the loan ticket** - the company is exploring retrofit projects, the swappable-battery ecosystem, and the carbon-credit potential of its EV portfolio, treating the loan as the start of a longer green-finance relationship. # Group structure and partners **A standalone listed entity with a single promoter, a freshly built leadership team drawn from large banks and NBFCs, and no subsidiaries.** - **Standalone, no group maze** - the company has no subsidiaries, joint ventures or associate companies, so its balance sheet is the whole story. - **Promoter-led, with new outside investors** - as of March 2025 the promoter held 75%, and in January 2026 the board approved a preferential issue to seven individual investors alongside warrants to the managing director, broadening the capital base. - **Leadership hired from established institutions** - the CEO spent over 25 years at ICICI Bank, ABN AMRO, GE Capital and Fincare SFB; the wider team includes professionals from Citigroup, IDFC First Bank, American Express, AU Small Finance Bank, Deloitte and KPMG. - **OEM and fintech partners extend reach** - Mahindra Last Mile Mobility and Omega Seiki Mobility supply vehicle-finance customers, while fintech platforms and policy thinkers provide digital infrastructure and strategic input. - **Debt discussions are underway** - the company is in active discussions with financial institutions to raise debt capital and has identified co-lending partnerships with banks as a future outlook priority, which would let it scale without carrying every loan on its own book.