Awards and Recognition

We were honoured as the ‘Best Small NBFC’ at the esteemed Mint BFSI Summit & Awards organized on 11^th January, 2024 in Mumbai. Veteran banker Mr. K.V. Kamath handed over the award to our CEO Mr. Ganesh Narayanan at the event, underscoring the company’s stellar performance. 

We are super stoked to be awarded with the ‘Microfinance Organisation of the Year Award’ – Large Category. We have been recognised for the fourth time at the Global Inclusive Finance Awards 2023, instituted by ACCESS Development Services in collaboration with HSBC, India.

The esteemed award was presented by Dr. Vivek Joshi, Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance to Udaya Kumar Hebbar, MD at CreditAccess Grameen. As we celebrate 25 years of operations, this reaffirms our commitment to excellence in delivering the best to our 4.6 million ever-supporting women entrepreneurs.

Our CEO, Mr. Ganesh Narayanan was felicitated by Dr. G. Parameshwara, the Hon’ble Home minister of Karnataka at the ‘Top CEO & Investor Awards’ ceremony organised by Global Business Champions on September 16, 2023. The award recognized remarkable contributions made by the company to the economic progress and sustainable development of Tumkur district in Karnataka.

CA Grameen won the “Best Tech of the Year (Robotics & AI)” recognition in the NBFC category at the second edition of Quantic India’s Technology Excellence Awards 2023.

The honour celebrates our efforts in implementing innovative, scalable, and agile technologies in our operations to best serve our customers.

CA Grameen bagged a spot in India’s Best 100 Companies to Work ForTM  – 2023 honour conferred by the GPTW institute (India). The recognition stands as a testament to our dynamic leadership team and inclusive workplace culture that empowers all the employees to bring their best self to work and unlock their full potential.

Mr. Manian RHS, Head- HR and Ms. Marina Alex, DGM-HR received the award on behalf of the company.

CA Grameen has once again been recognized among India’s Top 25 Best Workplaces in BFSI 2023 by Great Place to Work, out of 153 organizations assessed in the BFSI sector.

This marks the fourth consecutive year that we have received this prestigious recognition. According to its citations, CA Grameen has demonstrated responsible leadership and fostered employee wellbeing, earning recognition for its employee-centric culture.

CreditAccess Grameen has won the prestigious “Breaking Ground in WASH Financing” award at the Inclusive Finance Summit 2022 held in New Delhi. The award was presented to us by Mr. V. Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India, and Mr. Hitendra Dave, CEO of HSBC India.

Our MD & CEO, Mr. Udaya Kumar Hebbar, Deputy CEO & CBO Mr. Ganesh Narayanan, CFO Mr. Balakrishna Kamath, CAO Mr. Gururaj KS Rao, CRO Mr. Firoz Anam, CTO Mr. Sudesh Puthran, and Mr. Arun Kumar B, Head of Strategy, Innovation, and Analytics, received the award on behalf of the company.

CA Grameen won the “Best in Enterprise Mobility & Data Centre” by Technology Senate – Indian Express Group. Mr. Sudesh Puthran, Chief Technology Officer leading the technology mandate received the award on behalf of the company.

CreditAccess Grameen won the “Certificate of Merit” for its 2021 edition of the integrated annual report at the 26th South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA) award ceremony held in Kathmandu, Nepal on 18 December 2022.  Mr. Sahib Sharma from Investor Relations received the award on behalf of the institution. Companies were rated by SAFA across 13 industries spanning 5 countries namely Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan & Sri Lanka for best presented integrated annual report and corporate governance disclosures. It is indeed heartening to witness our first integrated annual report published being appreciated at the highest level.

CA Grameen bags another feather in the cap by being awarded for the ‘Impactful Contribution in Financial Inclusion’ segment by Elets at the 12^th NBFC100 Tech Summit held on 24 November, 2022 in Mumbai. Mr. Ganesh Narayanan, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Business Officer along with Mr. Sudesh Puthran, Chief Technology Officer, received the award on behalf of the company. The award reflects the ethos of the institution working relentlessly towards creating women entrepreneurs and promoting inclusive growth.

CA Grameen bagged the “Best Tech of the Year” recognition in the financial services category at the Quantic India’s Technology Excellence Awards held on 14 October, 2022 in Bengaluru. Mr. Sudesh Puthran, Chief Technology Officer, Mr. Ravi Rathinam, Chief Information Security Officer, and Mr. Praveen Kumar, AVP Core Banking Applications, received the award on behalf of the company. The award was bestowed for adopting effective measures to drive technological advancement, scalable infrastructure and enabling the best-in-class technological applications to effectively handle high-volume operations and serve our customers seamlessly.

CA Grameen has won the Prestigious Brands of Asia – 2022 award by BARC(Brand Advertising Research and Consulting) Pvt Ltd in an event held on 27 March, 2022. The award was bestowed for redefining the benchmarks in microfinance sector through our legacy and sustainability in the Asian market.

CA Grameen bagged the Gold Shield Award for “Excellence in Integrated Reporting and Reporting on Sustainable Development Goals for the year 2020-21” by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). The award was presented by Dr. Jitendra Singh, Hon’ble Ministers of State (IC) of Earth Sciences, Science and Technology, GoI, CA. Anuj Goyal, Chairman, ICAI Research Committee, CA. Durgesh Kabra, Vice-Chairman, Sustainability Reporting Standards Board, and CA. (Dr.) Debashis Mitra, Vice-President, ICAI, in an event held on 09, February, 2022 at New Delhi.

Workplaces in the Banking, Financial services and Insurance (BFSI) sector-2022. Click here to find out what makes CreditAccess Grameen Limited a Great Workplace. 

https://www.greatplacetowork.in/great/company/creditaccess-grameen-limited

CreditAccess Grameen wins the Micro Finance Organisation of the Year award by Inclusive Finance India Awards 2020 organised by ACCESS in partnership with HSBC. The company has bagged this award for the second time in a row. The 12th Inclusive Finance India Awards Presentation Ceremony was held on 21st January 2021 at Le Meridian in New Delhi in which, Mr Ganesh Narayanan, Chief Business Officer, Gururaj K S Rao, Chief Audit Officer, and Gopal Reddy, Business Head- Group Lending received the award presented by Shri Anurag Thakur, Hon’ble MoS Finance and Corporate Affairs, GoI on behalf of the company.

CreditAccess Grameen Limited was named the winner of a “Silver Stevie® Award” in the Award for Excellence in Innovation in Financial Industries – More than 100 Employees category in the seventh annual Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards. The Stevie Awards are widely considered to be the world’s premier business awards, conferring recognition for achievement in programs such as The International Business Awards® for 18 years.

Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners were determined by the average scores of more than 100 executives around the world acting as judges in May and June. More than 1,000 nominations from organizations across the Asia-Pacific region were considered this year. Nicknamed the Stevie’s for the Greek word for “crowned,” the winners will be celebrated during a virtual (online) awards ceremony on Tuesday, 22 September.

CreditAccess Grameen is now one among India’s 25 Best Workplaces in the Banking, Financial services and Insurance (BFSI) sector-2020. Click here to find out what makes CreditAccess Grameen Limited a Great Workplace.

https://www.greatplacetowork.in/great/rated/India/CreditAccess-Grameen

CreditAccess Grameen limited has been awarded as the “Outstanding contribution to Rural Entrepreneurship and Empowerment” at the second edition of CNBC-AWAAZ CEO Awards. This award is constituted by CNBC-AWAAZ, a leading Hindi business news channel, in association with the Government of Chhattisgarh to celebrate the spirit of entrepreneurship and recognise the achievements and contributions of corporate leaders and companies. The award was given away by Mr Bhupesh Baghel, the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh and was received by Mr Udaya Kumar Hebbar, MD & CEO and Mr Gopal Reddy, Business Head- Group Lending, on behalf of the Company on February 7, 2020 at a function held at Raipur.

CreditAccess Grameen has achieved yet another feat by receiving the Micro Finance Organization of the Year Award 2019 at the Inclusive Finance India Awards 2019 held in New Delhi. This award is an initiative of ACCESS institutionalized in partnership with HSBC India. From CreditAccess Grameen, Mr. Udaya Kumar Hebbar, MD & CEO, Mr. Diwakar BR, Director-Finance & CFO, Mr. Arun Kumar B, Head- Information Technology, Mr. Srivatsa H N, Head -Operations, Mr. Nilesh Dalvi, VP- Investor Relations, received the award from Dr. Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor, Govt. of India and Mr. Surendra Rosha, Chief Executive officer, HSBC India

CreditAccess Grameen has been adjudged as the winner in the Best NBFC category at one of India’s most prestigious financial sector awards — FE Best Banks awards 2017-18. Mr. Udaya Kumar Hebbar, MD & CEO, CreditAccess Grameen, and Mr. Diwakar BR, CFO, CreditAccess Grameen received the award from Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs.

The winners were chosen by a high-powered jury chaired by S Ramadorai, former Chairman, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and a team comprising R. Sankar Raman, director & CFO, Larsen & Toubro, Leo Puri, former managing director, UTI Asset Management, Biswamohan Mahapatra, former executive director, Reserve Bank of India, and Sharad Sharma, founder, Ispirt.

The Company has achieved yet another milestone. CreditAccess Grameen Limited awarded with ‘Water.org and Sa-dhan Awards’ for water and Sanitation Credit Financing – 2019 under ‘Large NBFC-MFI category’. The recognition was provided by recognizing the outstanding contribution for Water and Sanitation lending during FY 2018-19. The event was held on 16th September 2019, at the Sa-Dhan National Conference 2019, at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. On behalf of all CreditAccess Grameen`s employees and the Board members, Mr. Gururaj Rao, Chief Audit Officer, Mr. Sundar Arumugam, Head-New Business and Innovation and Mr. Gopal Reddy, VP-Operations received the award.

June 2017: Grameen Koota won the SKOCH Resilient India Award 2017 for Sanitation. The Award was presented on 20 June 2017 at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Hall by Sameer Kochhar, Chairman of SKOCH Group and Porush Singh, Division President – South Asia, Mastercard. Diwakar BR (CFO, Grameen Koota), Anshul Sharan (Head- Strategy & Planning) and Sujay CT (Strategy & Planning) received the Award on behalf of the organization.

Managing Director & CEO Udaya Kumar said, “We are delighted to receive the SKOCH Award and the Order of Merit. It validates our core principle of social responsibility to our stakeholders.”

Grameen Koota also received the Order of Merit in two categories: Microcredit service and Sanitation. The SKOCH Order of Merit recognized and appreciated Grameen Koota’s efforts in delivering financial products and services to the last mile.

April 2017: Grameen Koota bagged the ISC FICCI 2017 Award for Best Financial Accessibility for Sanitation. Sumit Kumar, Director, Grameen Koota received the award from the Union Minister for Railways, Suresh P. Prabhu on Thursday, April 27, 2017 at a ceremony during the India Sanitation Conclave 2017 held in New Delhi. Diwarkar BR, CFO, Grameen Koota and Anshul Sharan, Head – Strategy, Grameen Koota, were present at the ceremony.

In its award citation, the India Sanitation Coalition (ISC) said: “Grameen Koota has been recognized for increasing financial accessibility in rural Karnataka and Maharashtra through their three-pronged approach – Creating awareness among all people in operational areas of Grameen Koota, Imparting training on various aspects of Sanitation and Providing access to affordable credit for toilet construction to interested Grameen Koota customers.”

Access to affordable finance has resulted in over 6 lakh Grameen Koota members improving water and sanitation systems in their homes.

Grameen Koota was awarded the Microfinance Organization of the Year (Large) 2015, at the 7th edition of the Microfinance India Awards ceremony held as part of the Inclusive Finance India Summit on Tuesday in New Delhi. The award honours those MFIs which have contributed positively to the growth of the industry and maintained transparency and customer-centric approach. 

Hon’ble Minister of State for Finance, Mr. Jayant Sinha presented the award to our MD&CEO, Mr. Udaya Kumar Hebbar.

Grameen Koota got acknowledged for the 3rd time in a row by MIX for its outstanding performance in social sector. Grameen Koota has been bestowed with the honor of being one of the only 5 Indian institutions which have been recognized as MIX 2013 Socially Transparent And Responsible (S.T.A.R.) MFI. It’s one of the 30 institutions out of the 200+ MFIs, which participated in the desk review process globally, to have been awarded with STAR recognition.

After undergoing Truelift Assessment at the Microcredit Summit Campaign’s Partnerships against Poverty Summit, Grameen Koota was awarded with its Truelift Certification acknowledging it at ‘Achiever’s level’, out of the four Truelift milestones, for its commitment to pro-poor microfinance practices.

Truelift through this certification not only recognized the efforts made by Grameen Koota to put welfare of clients at the centre of microfinance but also demonstrated that the institution is responsible, effective and committed towards bringing about total financial inclusion to promote inclusive growth and poverty alleviation. M-CRIL conducted the True lift Assessment using the tool developed by TrueLift to form an opinion of an MFI’s performance.

In September Grameen Koota was awarded the official Seal of Transparency from MFTransparency as part of its Transparent Pricing Initiative in India. As per MF Transparency Grameen Koota’s firm commitment to consumer protection and responsible microfinance was primarily the basis of awarding the seal to the organization.

MicroFinance Transparency is an international non-governmental organization founded in 2008 with the purpose of facilitating transparent markets through the dissemination of true cost information to all market stakeholders. MFTransparency represents an industry movement toward fair practices and responsibility. MFTransparency launched the Transparent Pricing Initiative in India in April 2010 with widespread support from a range of industry actors as sponsors of the Initiative. The Indian microfinance market as a whole has shown a strong commitment to developing an enabling environment for transparent pricing. MFTransparency awards transparency certification to all MFIs who submit data and commit to educating their clients on pricing.

Grameen Koota was placed fourth in the rank of top 100 microfinance institutions in the world by the global Microfinance Exchange (MIX) in terms of performance in 2009. This year, 20 MFIs from India figured in the list of top 100 MFIs ranked by the MIX with Grameen Koota topping Indian MFIs. Grameen Koota jumped from a rank of 180 in 2008 to 4 in 2009 with an overall percentile of 82.2% from its last year’s 68.9%.