UGRO Capital Limited

UGRO Capital is a listed NBFC, traded on the NSE and BSE, founded in 2018 by Shachindra Nath and built specifically around MSME lending rather than adapted to it. It describes itself as a DataTech NBFC, and the substance behind that label is a proprietary underwriting model, GRO Score 3.0, which assesses creditworthiness from a tripod of banking, credit bureau and GST data. It serves over 100,000 borrowers through around 210 branches across 30 states, with declared sector focus on healthcare, education, chemicals, food processing and FMCG, hospitality, electrical equipment, auto components and light engineering.

Of all 40 Member Institutions, UGRO is the one whose underwriting method is closest to how a modern startup actually looks on paper. Assessing a borrower from GST and banking data rather than from a property valuation suits a company whose assets are contracts and cash flows, and that is precisely the borrower CGSS exists to serve. The trade-off is ticket size and sector fit: check your sector against its declared focus list before investing time, and calibrate your ask to an NBFC balance sheet rather than a large bank's.

Its role in the Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups. UGRO Capital Limited is one of 40 institutions registered with the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company as a CGSS Member Institution (NCGTC MLI ID 107, classified as a RBI-registered NBFC). Member Institutions are the lenders that actually extend credit under the scheme: you borrow from UGRO Capital Limited, and NCGTC guarantees it against your default. That guarantee is what allows credit to be extended to a DPIIT-recognised startup without collateral, with cover of up to Rs 20 crore per borrower, being 85 percent of the amount in default on loans up to Rs 10 crore and 75 percent above that.

The terms are the lender's, not the scheme's. CGSS fixes the guarantee, not the loan. The interest rate, tenure, moratorium, repayment schedule and how the Annual Guarantee Fee is passed on to you are all set by UGRO Capital Limited under its own credit policy, and they differ materially between Member Institutions for an identical borrower. Registration does not oblige UGRO Capital Limited to lend: it appraises you on its normal credit standards first and applies the guarantee second. Approaching more than one Member Institution is almost always worth the effort.