Home Credit India Finance, a lending subsidiary of TVS Holdings, signed an agreement to buy all of Varthana Finance, a non-bank lender that finances private schools and students, in a deal reported on July 15, 2026.
Home Credit will pay ₹967 crore (about $112 million) in cash for 100% of Varthana's shares, subject to customary adjustments, according to the TVS Holdings disclosure reported by Angel One. The deal needs approval from the Reserve Bank of India and other regulators and is expected to close within nine months of signing.
Once the deal closes, Varthana will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Home Credit and an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of TVS Holdings. Varthana's institutional investors agreed to sell their entire holdings as part of the deal, law firm Trilegal said.
What Varthana built
Varthana was founded in 2013 by Brajesh Mishra and Steve Hardgrave. It is registered as a non-banking financial company and was formerly known as Thirumeni Finance. It lends to schools, colleges, tutorial centres, vocational institutes and other education businesses.
Its loans are low-cost and collateral-free and come with flexible repayment plans. It also lends to students, with loans of up to ₹5 lakh (about $5,800) for degree and postgraduate courses, two-year pre-university courses, certificates and skills courses. The company says it has served more than 13,000 schools since it started.
For the year to March 2026, Varthana reported turnover of ₹398.31 crore (about $46 million), profit after tax of ₹18.65 crore (about $2.2 million) and a net worth of ₹574.23 crore (about $66.5 million).
“We look forward to joining forces with TVS as we continue to support private schools throughout the country. TVS' deep roots, extensive resources and operational excellence will help strengthen our platform, expand our reach and support the next phase of Varthana's growth.”
Why Home Credit is buying
TVS Holdings said the purchase would strengthen its financial services business by adding Varthana's education lending to its loan book. The TVS Venu group already lends to consumers, retailers and businesses through two non-bank lenders, TVS Credit Services and Home Credit India.
Inc42 reported that the deal is meant to help Home Credit scale its financial services across consumer segments and build a presence in secured, longer-tenure loans. TVS Holdings said the deal is not a related-party transaction and that its promoters and group companies have no interest in Varthana.
Inc42's first report said the companies had not disclosed financial terms. The ₹967 crore figure came from the TVS Holdings announcement, which also said the full amount would be paid in cash and set out Varthana's latest results.
Varthana director and executive vice chairman Steve Hardgrave said the company looked forward to joining TVS and that the group's resources would help expand Varthana's reach and support its next phase of growth.
The founders and the funding
Varthana has raised more than $175 million in total, according to Inc42, from investors including responsAbility Investments, Franklin Templeton, Blue Earth Capital, Elevar Equity, Omidyar Network and ChrysCapital.
Much of its recent funding came as debt to fund lending. In 2025 it raised ₹75 crore (about $8.7 million) in a debt round co-led by OfBusiness and its lending arm Oxyzo, and later that year it raised ₹159 crore (about $18.4 million) in debt to help schools build energy-efficient infrastructure.
Trilegal advised Varthana's institutional investors on the sale of their stakes. Parinam Law Associates advised Home Credit, according to Bar & Bench.
What happens next
The deal still has to clear the Reserve Bank of India and other regulators, and the parties gave themselves up to nine months from signing to complete it. Trilegal said it continues to assist the investors with completion and closing. Inc42 reported that the purchase is expected to let Varthana expand its footprint and offer better terms to borrowers.
The purchase is one of several consolidation moves in Indian startups in recent weeks. Inc42 noted that the same week, Mukesh Bansal-led Nurix AI announced plans to buy Verloop.io to add voice and chat AI products, and Dil Foods was reported to be in talks to buy cloud kitchen brand Fresh Menu in a distress sale.
