Mumbai, 21st June 2025: NeoGrowth, a leading fintech NBFC, announced the roll out of its flagship CSR initiative, NeoShakti. As the inaugural edition of its purpose-driven CSR strategy, NeoShakti is dedicated to advancing women’s economic and personal empowerment. The initiative is designed to foster resilience and self-reliance by focusing on three core areas: skill development, livelihood generation, and workplace sensitization within women across diverse socio-economic backgrounds. With a long-term vision to bridge the gender gap in enterprise, NeoGrowth aims to scale NeoShakti’s impact by doubling its reach over the next 3–5 years.
The CSR programme, ‘NeoShakti’, is built around two key pillars – skill development & livelihood enablement, and promoting workforce participation and wellbeing for women. This is done through initiatives such as vocational training, entrepreneurial skill development, mentorship programs, and Through its partnership with infrastructure enhancement, safety, and wellbeing initiatives.
Under this, nearly 150 young women were trained in Retail and Business Correspondent & Business Facilitator (BCBF) courses across centers in Kalyan and Nalasopara, Maharashtra. The project included counselling, training, assessments, and certification.
Goonj, NeoGrowth supported community-led initiatives rooted in a circular economy model across rural areas of Karnataka and West Bengal. Water scarcity is a critical issue for these marginalised communities. The community development efforts focus on activities such as pond construction, mangrove plantation, and kitchen garden creation for the locals, by the locals. The initiative witnessed active participation of 1,200 women. Additionally, in Palghar of Maharashtra, nearly 60 women earned livelihood by repurposing urban surplus into kits.
Around 1,500 family kits containing grains & food items, clothes, footwear, aasan, woollens, and other household essentials were also distributed to these marginalised communities.
The project led to significant environmental benefits, including the conservation of 0.57 billion litres of water and the sequestration of 66,300 kg of carbon dioxide emissions. NeoGrowth employees also organised donation drives, visited Goonj centres, and contributed 395 hours of volunteer service during the year. Commenting on the initiative, Arun Nayyar, MD & CEO of NeoGrowth said, “At NeoGrowth, we believe uplifting communities by empowering women is critical for inclusive economic growth. NeoShakti reflects our vision and long-term commitment to creating meaningful, sustainable impact in India’s growth journey. Through NeoShakti, we are investing in the potential of multiple women who can become catalysts of change within their families and communities through their entrepreneurial abilities. In the coming years, we aim to scale this initiative significantly by expanding our outreach and fostering sustainable livelihoods, while giving back meaningfully to society. This is all about creating opportunities that last and build resilience among the people.”
In FY 2024-25, the company partnered with Times Foundation and Goonj to implement high-impact programmes focused on skill development, livelihood generation, and environmental sustainability. NeoGrowth employees also played an active role in the initiative through guest lectures, mentoring sessions, and corporate exposure visits, enhancing the participants’ understanding of workplace readiness and communication skills.
Through NeoShakti, NeoGrowth continues to align its CSR strategy with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – notably Goal 5: Gender Equality and Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, contributing to inclusive, equitable, and sustainable development.
Looking Ahead
For FY 2025-26, NeoGrowth is planning to expand the NeoShakti programme to support women in starting or upgrading their businesses through entrepreneurship bootcamps, digital enablement programs, and mentorship initiatives in both urban and rural communities.
