Mumbai, Aug. 29: Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of the Tata group, Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani and former finance secretary Vijay Kelkar are coming together to establish a technology-enabled microfinance entity called Avanti Finance.

Avanti Finance will focus on delivering affordable and timely credit to the country's under-served and un-served segments.

A statement from Tata Trusts said Tata and Nilekani were bringing in investments from their respective philanthropic capital and any gains would be used to serve humanitarian causes.

Avanti Finance will apply for registration to the RBI and start operations before the end of the current financial year.

Besides the three, R. Venkataramanan, the managing trustee of Tata Trusts,is a founding director of Avanti.

A senior leadership team with experience in technology, microfinance, enterprise risk management, credit operations and customer service, and investment banking has also been put in place.

"Avanti will be a platform to impact the poor through credit at individual and community levels to create a lasting improvement in their livelihoods and standard of living, ushering prosperity," Tata, who has been in the news for investing in several start-ups, said.

Avanti Finance is planning to leverage the social sector presence of Tata Trusts and other partners apart from the rapidly evolving JAM (Jan Dhan Yojana-Aadhar-Mobile) trinity, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the mobile application that enables transactions through smartphones, and the payments bank ecosystem.

The statement added that Avanti Finance would use all these critical components and create product designs in keeping with indigenous needs.

"Access to credit at an affordable cost is still a challenge. I am honoured to be part of Ratan's initiative that leverages the Tata Trusts' rich legacy and aims to make a significant shift in achieving financial inclusion of the common man," Kelkar said.