HDFC CREDILA CASHES IN ON RISE IN STUDY LOANS

India's largest education loan financier grew its book significantly after global investors EQT and ChrysCapital came on board.

- MANOJ SHARMA

WHEN BOHORA BROTHERS, Ajay and Anil, started HDFC Credila Financial Services (then Credila) in 2006, no one would have foreseen its rise as India’s largest private overseas education loan provider. Despite belonging to a non-business family, the brothers scaled the Mumbai-based firm from zero to `10,350 crore in 17 years.

Ajay recounts how he and his elder brother Anil had faced difficulties while raising funds for overseas education way back in 1989. “My father and I went from one bank to another for a `15 lakh loan for my MBA in Hofstra University, New York, and faced several challenges. My brother also faced similar challenges,” says Ajay.

Bohoras co-founded Credila after returning from the U.S in 2006. In the initial years, the vision was to create a company that acts as an “enabler” in transforming lives, says Ajay. “We founded Credila with a dream to build a specialised lending organisation for education loans, similar to what HDFC Ltd. is to home loans.” Life came a full circle in 2019 when Credila was wholly acquired by the mortgage giant.