In India, getting into college is hard, but for many, arranging the finances to pay for it is even harder. While aspirations rise across the country, access to affordable education financing remains uneven and often exclusionary. Traditional lenders ask for land papers and salary slips, and the system, by design, favours those with formal incomes, credit histories, and urban addresses.
For students from modest backgrounds, first-generation learners, and families relying on daily wages or informal earnings, the system offers little more than silence. In a landscape like this, Propelld, a Bengaluru-based fintech, is attempting to flip the script. Built on the idea that students should be assessed for their potential, not just their paperwork, the startup is making a strong case for how education financing in India can, and must, be reimagined.
Founded in 2017 by three childhood friends and IIT Madras alumni, Victor Senapaty, Bibhu Prasad Das, and Brijesh Samantaray, Propelld emerged from a deep desire to solve something that truly mattered. Though they were enjoying successful careers in high-paying roles, the trio couldn’t shake a shared sense of disconnect between what they were doing and the kind of societal change they wanted to bring. In conversations that began as side projects and slowly took the shape of a business idea, they stumbled upon an underserved, high-potential space: education financing.
India’s education loan market reached ₹1.65 lakh crore by December 2023, according to a CRISIL report. But access remains highly skewed. 57% of this total loan book is now directed toward students pursuing education abroad. The rest is largely concentrated in domestic education for those from premium academic institutions or financially secure families. Students aiming to pursue domestic education, especially in Tier 2 and 3 cities, often fall outside the lending radar, largely due to a lack of formal income, credit history, or collateral.
The founders saw an opportunity to build a different kind of lending model, one that doesn’t dismiss students based on their family’s financial paperwork. Propelld’s core innovation lies in its alternative underwriting model, which goes beyond the standard metrics used by traditional lenders. Instead of focusing only on CIBIL scores or income tax returns, Propelld conducts household-level assessments, taking into account informal income sources, the earning potential of students, the reputation of the institute, and the support systems around the borrower. This allows them to offer Education Loan Without Collateral for Students, with approvals in 24–48 hours, through a fully digital process with minimal documentation.
Since its inception, Propelld has disbursed over ₹4,000 crore in education loans, supporting more than 4 lakh students across 17,890 pin codes in 28 states. Its presence cuts across verticals in higher education (domestic and abroad), test prep coaching, skilling, and upskilling programs, making it the only full-stack, education-focused lender of its kind in India. While traditional lenders still operate with a one-size-fits-all mindset, Propelld’s approach is tailored, flexible, and informed by ground realities.
Its customers include children of farmers, gig workers, small shopkeepers, and others who would never typically qualify for loans from mainstream institutions. And yet, Propelld’s outcomes defy conventional risk assumptions. The company has maintained a non-performing asset (NPA) ratio of less than 1%, a figure that’s not just industry-competitive but industry-leading.
The 2023 launch of Edgro, Propelld’s fully owned, RBI-registered NBFC, has further sharpened the company’s agility. With Edgro, Propelld now controls the full lending lifecycle, from origination and underwriting to disbursal and collections, enabling it to iterate faster, price more accurately, and deliver a seamless experience for both students and institutions. It also gives Propelld more room to design innovative products, including moratorium-based repayments and flexible co-applicant options, which traditional banks often can’t accommodate due to legacy systems.
Backed by ₹507 crore (around USD 61 million) in equity funding from marquee investors like WestBridge Capital, Stellaris Venture Partners, and India Quotient, Propelld has quietly scaled its operations while staying focused on its niche. In May 2025, the company raised $30.5 million in its Series D round, further fueling its efforts to deepen its presence and expand its reach.
“Our goal has always been to make financing feel less like a hurdle and more like a stepping stone,” says co-founder Victor Senapaty. “If a student has the ambition and ability, their background shouldn’t be a barrier.”
The model appears to be resonating. Partner education institutions have shown strong repeat engagement, and word-of-mouth adoption continues to drive organic growth in new regions. Importantly, students and families who were once invisible to banks are now finding not just a lender, but a partner, in their educational journey.
While India’s broader education finance system still has a long way to go, Propelld’s work offers a possible blueprint that blends empathy with data, speed with integrity, and access with accountability. Whether it’s a student preparing for competitive exams, a young woman heading abroad for a master’s degree, or a working professional upskilling for a better future, Propelld is quietly helping them move forward, not by lowering the bar for eligibility, but by changing how eligibility is defined altogether.
In doing so, it’s not just enabling access to education, it’s redefining the very idea of who deserves it.
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