British International Investment

Altum Credo Home Finance Pvt Ltd

South AsiaFinancial services

Altum Credo addresses the home finance needs of customers within low and medium-income groups.

Our investment

Description of the investment.

We are supporting Altum Credo Private Limited, an affordable housing finance company, to increase access to adequate, safe and affordable housing particularly in Tier 2, 3 cities in India.

The tech-led company provides credit for purchase, construction and refinance of home loans registered with the National Housing Bank of India. It targets first time home buyers, customers looking to construct their own houses, economically weaker sections and low-income groups, new to credit and women home buyers. It specialises in underwriting retail credit products with immovable property as the underlying collateral.

Impact information

Applies to investments made from 2019 onwards. The tabs in this section define what we expect to achieve through the investment, assessing the potential impact of the investment against six dimensions of impact. You can find more details on our methodology of assessing impact here.

What?

Impact
  • Increase access to affordable housing and home ownership for (particularly low-income) households via increased access to finance contributing to improved living conditions (SDG 11.1).

  • Enhancing economic opportunities through increased employment and decent work, which can lead to an improvement in livelihoods (SDG 8.5).

How?

How?

We are helping to increase access to housing financing for customers through home loans for purchase and construction. This will lead to improved living conditions, such as in terms of privacy, security, sanitation, as well as wealth creation through home ownership. It will also create quality, high-skill jobs through Altum’s continued growth in their six existing operational states and expansion into four new states, which will increase the number of offices and employment opportunities.

Who?

Stakeholder Geography Characteristics
Consumers

India

50.8 per cent of Altum’s customers by number and 39.3 per cent by loan book value had an annual household income of less than INR 336,000 in the past two financial years. 55 per cent of customers are self-employed and 45 per cent are salaried. Altum also serves a large proportion of women, with 94 per cent of homebuyer applications made by women. Similarly, 95 per cent of the customer base are first-time home buyers, where 38 per cent of Altum’s customers are new to credit.

Employees

India

Most of the jobs created will be permanent, high-skilled jobs. Retail operation salaries are expected to range from INR 25k/month to INR 100k/month, and head office salaries ranging from INR 18k/month to INR 800K/month. All customer service personnel hired at branch level will be female as per an initiative run by the company.

How much?

Scale Depth/Duration

Altum currently serves 11,193 customers and is projected to serve more than 174,000 customers by 2028. The income and gender profile of these customers is expected to remain at a similar level. Altum have forecasted an increase in their number of branches from 53 to 168 as they expand into four new regions and introduce offices in tier 4 cities – this is projected to increase their headcount from 546 to 1,978 by 2029.

Owning a home tends to improve access to basic amenities such as electricity, sanitation, and financial security through asset ownership. Mortgage penetration for India (excluding Maharastra) is less than 15 per cent. Altum supports underserved customer segments by focusing on lower income populations in tier 2 and tier 3 cities with plans to expand to tier 4 cities. The higher skill/income jobs that will be created are likely to be of significant quality and will mostly be permanent in nature if Altum’s expansion plans proceed as expected.

Contribution/additionality

Contribution/additionality

We are providing some financial additionality to help close the round but is limited given commercial interest and ticket size. We are not providing value additionality as a passive co-investment.

Risk

Execution Risk

Given the ambitious expansion plans, there is a risk Altum will not be able to execute as planned, which can have repercussions on the scale of loans being provisioned and is therefore also a risk to impact. This is aligned with commercial risk and mitigated by confidence in the company’s capability and track record.

Alignment Risk

Altum’s strategy to expand into new states, tier 4 cities and adding higher income groups to diversify its portfolio can impact whether Altum continues to serve the lower-income customer segments that we aim to prioritise through this investment. This is mitigated by the segment representing a substantial proportion of customers and assets under management, and Altum projects this will remain at similar levels in the future.

Environmental and social information

  • Environmental and social summary

    A high-level description of the environmental and social aspects of the investment. This may include a summary of key environmental and social risks identified during environmental and social due diligence (ESDD); key elements of an environmental and social action plan (ESAP); or ways in which we plan to support the investee improve environmental and social standards, such as through their environmental and social management system (ESMS); as well as any other priority areas agreed with the investee.

  • Environmental and social risk

    A risk category rating, which indicates the level of environmental and social risk associated with an investment. For an explanation of the categorisations used, see here. We consistently provide an environmental and social risk category for all investments screened from 2023 onwards.

Environmental and social summary

We partnered with our fund manager to co-invest in this company, including by relying on our fund manager's ESDD. BII developed an ESAP with the investee, which included developing an ESMS and mitigation measures associated with labour and working conditions, Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) management.

Environmental and social risk

Medium-Low

Reporting and Complaints Mechanism

The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism allows anyone outside BII to report alleged breaches of the business integrity or environmental and social provisions of BII’s Policy on Responsible Investing. This includes breaches made by BII, a BII investee, or a portfolio company of a fund in which BII has invested. The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism Rules are available here. Reports and complaints can be submitted by email to reportsandcomplaints@bii.co.uk or by mail. See more details on our Reporting and Complaints Mechanism here.

For any other general enquiries contact us at enquiries@bii.co.uk

  • Key facts

    First published

    When the investment was first published on the website database.

    :
    June 2024
    Last updated

    When the last quarterly update of the website database occurred.

    :
    December 2024
    Project number

    An identifier number shared by investments in the same project.

    :
    D6267
    Status

    The current status of the investment (green flag for active and red flag for exited).

    :
    Active
    Region

    The geographical region where the country is located. We currently invest in Africa, South Asia, South East Asia and the Caribbean. In 2023, BII’s investment mandate was extended allowing it to invest in regional funds linked to Ukraine, with the majority of activity expected to begin post-war. Investments outside these regions were made prior to 2012 under previous investment mandates.

    :
    South Asia
    Country

    The countries where the investment delivers impact. Where impact is delivered in multiple countries, this is indicated.

    :
    India
    Sector

    We prioritise those sectors that facilitate development and need our capital the most. Our priority sectors contribute towards many of the Sustainable Development Goals. They range from investing in the power infrastructure that will provide people with better access to electricity, to investing in financial institutions that direct capital to the individuals and businesses that need it the most.

    :
    Financial services
    Sub sector:
    Specialized Finance

    We provide capital in the following ways: directly – through direct equity, direct debt, guarantees and other non-intermediated financial instruments; and indirectly – principally through investment funds.

    For direct investments and fund investments, this is the date BII committed capital to the investments. This is typically the date on which legal agreements are signed by all parties.

    For the portfolio companies of our fund investments, this is the date (either the month or the quarter) on which the fund committed capital to the portfolio company.

    For direct equity investments, this is the date at which British International Investment exited the investment.

    For debt investments, this is the date at which the final debt repayment was made.

    For funds, this is the date at which the fund was terminated.

    For underlying fund investments, this is the date at which the fund manager exited the investment.

    The total amount committed, per financial instrument, per investment, on the date BII becomes subject to a binding legal obligation to provide funding or assume a contingent liability. This information is provided in US dollars.

    For direct investments, this is the amount that BII has committed to the business or project. For fund investments, this is the amount BII has committed to the fund.

    The currency in which the investment was made.

    Investment type :
    Equity
    Start date :
    March 2024
    Amount :
    $4.09m
    Currency of investment :
    INR
    Domicile

    The company or investment fund’s place of incorporation.

    :
    India

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