CB BureauAn initiative to rehabilitate pavement dwellers in Chennai and provide housing, food security, healthcare, livelihood skill development and supplemental education to 1,300 poor families was launched by Equitas Small Finance Bank. This rehabilitation programme, called Equitas Bird’s Nest, is part of the Equitas Development Initiatives Trust (EDIT) that works with low-income self-help group (SHG) members and helps with their requirements including schools for SHG members’ children and skill development training classes. Equitas Group is committed to contributing five per cent of its annual profits to this Trust.
Questions on specific details of the programme’s workings, goals and targets got no response from the company.
The CSR mission statement of Equitas is to improve quality of life by increasing total household asset value of those who are not effectively serviced by the formal financial sector, by enabling access to financial and other relevant products. Equitas Small Finance Bank Limited is a small finance bank that commenced business in 2016 and focuses on providing financing solutions for individuals and micro and small enterprises (MSEs). It is the first private sector bank from Tamil Nadu post-Independence.