Who belongs on a microfinance list
A list of Islamic microfinance companies in India has to be read with care, because almost none of the bodies on it are companies in the strict sense and none is a licensed Islamic bank. They are co-operative credit societies, registered societies, non-profit organisations and, in one case, a non-banking finance company. There is no licensed Islamic bank anywhere in India.
The finance ministry rejected the RBI’s suggestion of Islamic banking windows in December 2016. Since then, interest-free societies and finance companies have worked through non-mainstream channels with limited reach. That background explains why the bodies below are small, regional and registered under different laws.
The legal point is useful when you assess any entry. These institutions are registered under state co-operative law, such as the Karnataka Souharda Sahakari Act or the Maharashtra and other state acts, or under the Multi-State Co-operative Societies Act, 2002, or as societies and trusts. They are not RBI-licensed NBFC-MFIs, the category that supervised microfinance companies belong to.
Size matters as well. The Delhi-based Sahulat body reports hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries, while most single societies on the list serve thousands or tens of thousands of members. A reader looking for the nearest option should therefore start with the state, then the city, and only then compare products.
List of Islamic microfinance companies in India, with city, form and status
The entries below list Islamic microfinance bodies in India. For each, the figures carry their year, so confirm the present position with the institution before joining.
- Sahulat Microfinance Society, New Delhi: a national non-profit NGO formed on 30 March 2010 to promote interest-free co-operatives. Its current website reports 14 states, 122 branches, more than 400,000 beneficiaries and Rs 641 crore disbursed as of 31 March 2025. Status: active.
- SAHULAT Microfinance Society, Hyderabad: a society established in 2012 and described in 2021 as having 33 branches across Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, over 46,000 members and Rs 362 crore disbursed. Status: figures date from 2021; ask whether it is the same body as the Delhi society.
- Al-Khair Co-operative Credit Society, Patna: a multi-state co-operative working in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. Status: latest dated figures are from April 2018; ask the society for its current status.
- Janseva Co-operative Credit Society, Mumbai: a multi-state co-operative. Status: latest dated information is from May 2021; ask the society for its current status.
- Bait-un-Nasr Urban Co-operative Credit Society, Mumbai: founded in 1976 under Maharashtra state law. Status: working again since its 2012 revival; latest figures March 2018.
- Eisar Credit Souharda Co-operative Society Ltd, Bhatkal: a Souharda society registered under the Karnataka act of 1997. Status: operating according to its own website; ask the Karnataka registrar to confirm its registration.
- Unity Souharda Cooperative Limited, Udupi: a Souharda society started in 2017 under the same Karnataka act. Status: operating according to its own website.
- Taqwa Credit Co-operative Society Ltd (Taqwa Financial Services), Bhatkal: founded on 4 October 2015, with a second branch and corporate office in Jayanagar, Bengaluru, opened on 24 March 2018. Status: a multi-state licence was pending in 2023; check the current status with the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies.
- Karunya Society, Bidar: described in August 2025 as having 47 branches and about 1.25 lakh families. Status: active at that date; ask which legal form it holds.
- Cheraman Financial Services Ltd, Kochi: an unlisted public company incorporated in 2009 that offers equipment lease finance and equity finance, so it is an NBFC and not a microfinance society. Status: active in the company register in September 2026; its RBI certificate should be checked.
Sahulat: an umbrella with two descriptions
A body called Sahulat is described in two different ways. In Delhi it is a national NGO set up on 30 March 2010, with Prof. K. A. Siddique Hassan as president and a goal of helping to start 500 interest-free co-operative branches by the end of 2016. In Hyderabad it is a society set up in 2012. Size, seat and year differ, so ask Sahulat whether these are one organisation or two.
Sahulat lists affiliated co-operatives in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh. That is twelve states against fourteen in its outreach figures, so ask Sahulat which states its figures cover.
Sahulat’s Vision 2026 plan says it works through affiliated credit co-operatives, so ask it for their names. Do not assume that Sahulat is the umbrella for Janseva or Bait-un-Nasr or that the entries above share a membership link; ask Sahulat directly.
The figures on the current Sahulat website are the most recent of any entry, dated 31 March 2025. They cover outreach and loan disbursement, and they are Sahulat’s own figures, so ask for audited statements before relying on them. The Hyderabad figures of 2021 are older and should not be added to the later totals.
Because Sahulat describes itself as an interest-free microfinance body working through affiliated societies, a customer would normally deal with the local affiliate, not with a central office. Ask the affiliate for its own registration details and ask which law it is registered under.
Older multi-state societies in Bihar and Mumbai
Al-Khair began as an idea from the Al-Khair Charitable Trust, which was set up in 1998, and started operating in early 2000 with a small office and two employees in Patna. In 2018 the society reported about 100 employees, 13 branches, nearly 20,000 borrowers and over Rs 50 crore lent in roughly ten years, with loans of about Rs 5,000 to 50,000 and a nominal service fee to cover salaries and rent.
Janseva, headquartered in Mumbai, was described in March 2010 as having around 16,000 members, 23 branches and operations in twelve states. In 2021 it said it offers non-commercial loans up to Rs 1 lakh without interest or charges and commercial loans up to Rs 25 lakh. These are older figures, and an early claim that it is regulated by the RBI should be checked with the Reserve Bank before anyone relies on it.
An academic study gave Bait-un-Nasr 94,871 registered members, seven branches and 9,803 loan beneficiaries at 31 March 2018. It suspended operations after a liquidity crisis around 2000 and was allowed to revive in 2012.
Al-Khair offers a range of products as well as loans. Its services include demand loans, short-term business loans on a profit-sharing basis, cost-plus finance for consumer durables and several deposit accounts that pay no interest. These descriptions date from 2008 and 2009, so use them as background and not as today’s terms.
Janseva’s product list is long. It includes savings accounts, recurring deposits, a Hajj fund deposit, a children’s education fund and funds for self-help groups. It won a gold medal in 2017 from the Islamic Finance Forum of South Asia, an award that says something about reputation but nothing about its present financial position.
Karnataka and Kerala: Souharda societies and a finance company
Karnataka has the densest cluster. Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Karnataka is said to run interest-free Souharda societies in nine towns, with about 18,000 members and a turnover of Rs 100 crore to Rs 125 crore in the latest figures given. Eisar and Unity are two societies with their own websites; Taqwa works in Bhatkal and Bengaluru; Karunya works in Bidar.
In Kerala, Cheraman Financial Services is the entry for equipment leasing and equity funding. It was co-promoted by the Kerala government and non-resident Keralites, with the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation among its shareholders, and it was reporting losses in 2017. It does not run small microfinance loans.
Readers should not confuse any of these with Human Welfare Credit Cooperative Society, a multi-state society with headquarters in Lucknow that was the subject of a fraud complaint in February 2025. It has no known link to the entries on this list.
Jamaat-linked societies describe training in profit-sharing, partnership and cost-plus contracts, and visits by a Shariah council. These are the societies’ own claims, so ask each society what supervision it actually has.
Taqwa deserves a separate note. Its head office is in Bhatkal, the same town as Eisar, and in 2023 a no-objection certificate from the Karnataka registrar for a multi-state licence had been given while central approval was pending. Check whether it now operates as a multi-state society.
What these bodies usually offer
Small interest-free loans are the common product. Several societies describe them as loans with no profit, where a service fee recovers running costs. Larger or commercial needs are handled through cost-plus sales, profit-sharing partnerships or gold-pledge loans.
Deposits are usually taken on an interest-free basis from members, and some societies offer savings for Hajj or children’s education. Al-Khair lends to members only, and the pattern of joining and holding shares comes up across the other entries too. The Hyderabad Sahulat society reported loans of Rs 5,000 to Rs 1 lakh to small traders, with cash collectors visiting them.
Whether any product is permissible under Islamic rules is for a qualified scholar or Sharia adviser to decide, not for the society’s own description.
How to check an entry before you join
Several points should be confirmed before dealing with any of these bodies. Ask Al-Khair, Janseva, Bait-un-Nasr and Taqwa for their current activity, and ask Sahulat for the list of its affiliated co-operatives.
A society’s own website is not proof of its registration, so ask each one for its certificate.
Before dealing with any of these bodies, search the registrar’s records, ask for the registration number, the bye-laws and audited accounts, and compare them with what you are told. Report unauthorised deposit-taking on the RBI Sachet portal and online fraud on helpline 1930.