Tarayana Microfinance for Rural Development

What Tarayana Microfinance for Rural Development does

Tarayana Microfinance for Rural Development (legal entity: Tarayana Micro Finance Private Limited) is a Bhutan-registered non-profit microfinance institution founded in 2019 and headquartered at Tarayana Centre, Chubachu, Thimphu. It provides microcredit loans to rural borrowers across Bhutan, with a stated mission of enabling rural communities to progress out of poverty through credit, continuous skills training, and progress monitoring, and by connecting rural SMEs with relevant Royal Government of Bhutan programs. Its primary customer segments are rural microbusiness owners, agricultural workers, dairy farmers, agricultural machinery buyers (via hire purchase), poor and transient poor households (including COVID-19 food-production livelihood support), and rural SMEs.

The institution operates a five-product portfolio — Classic Small Business Expansion, Classic Agriculture, Development Dairy Farming, Hire Purchase Power Tiller (distributed through Karma One Stop Shop), and Classic Machinery — all standardized at Nu. 30,000–500,000 per loan, 15% per annum interest, and a maximum 2-year tenor. Its underlying technology is a digital-first credit appraisal system: all underwriting is conducted online via phone calls and social media apps, with no physical application forms, and Field Officers assist with verification and document signing when needed. Repayment is enabled through MBOB (Mobile Bank of Bhutan) auto-debit against a mandatory BOBL account with at least 3 months of pre-saving.

TMF generates revenue primarily through interest income on its microcredit book and supplements this with donations and grants from social impact investors, who can remit USD and EUR via Standard Chartered Bank. The organization has applied for approval to accept equity investors, signaling a shift toward a hybrid capital base. Its distribution is direct-to-borrower via a lean field-officer model combined with the digital appraisal channel, and its strategic relationships with Bank of Bhutan Ltd, Karma One Stop Shop, Standard Chartered Bank, and the Royal Government of Bhutan anchor it within Bhutan's formal financial and policy ecosystem.

Name

Tarayana Microfinance for Rural Development

Legal name

Tarayana Micro Finance Private Limited

Website

https://tarayanamicrofinance.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Tarayana Microfinance for Rural Development is a Bhutan-based non-profit MFI offering digital-first microcredit (Nu. 30,000–500,000 at 15% p.a.) to rural microbusiness owners, farmers, dairy operators, and poor households across Bhutan, with repayment via MBOB auto-debit.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Microfinance

NAICS

Nondepository Credit Intermediation (5222)

SIC

Short-Term Business Credit Institutions (6153)

akta.pro primary industry

Microloans & Working Capital Loans (FSAKAGAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Agricultural & Rural Microfinance (FSAKAGAG)

Keywords

• Rural microfinance
• Microcredit lending
• Agricultural loans
• Financial inclusion
• Hire purchase financing

Headquarters

HQ city

Thimphu

HQ country

Bhutan

HQ region

Asia

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Microcredit Lending: Tarayana Microfinance provides microcredit loans to rural borrowers in Bhutan. Revenue is generated through interest income on loans ranging from Nu. 30,000 to Nu. 500,000 at 15% per annum with maximum 2-year loan periods. The organization also seeks donations and grants from social impact investors.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Tarayana Microfinance provides microcredit loans to rural communities across Bhutan, offering five distinct loan products (Classic – Small Business Expansion, Classic – Agriculture, Development – Dairy Farming, Hire Purchase – Power Tiller, and Classic – Machinery) ranging from Nu. 30,000 to Nu. 500,000 at 15% per annum with a maximum 2-year repayment period. The institution conducts credit appraisals entirely online through phone calls and social media applications, requires a Bank of Bhutan Ltd (BOBL) account with minimum 3 months pre-savings for borrowers, and collects repayments via automated MBOB deductions. Its core mission is to enable poor and transient segments of rural Bhutan to progress out of poverty through credit, skills training, progress monitoring, and connections to government programs.

Product overview

Tarayana Microfinance for Rural Development offers a portfolio of microfinance loan products designed to support rural development in Bhutan. The product lineup includes five distinct offerings: Classic - Small Business Expansion (for pre-established microbusiness working capital), Classic - Agriculture (for existing agricultural expansion), Development - Dairy Farming (for dairy farming operations), Hire Purchase - Power Tiller (for agricultural machinery from Karma One Stop Shop), and Classic - Machinery (for general machinery purchases). All loans range from Nu. 30,000 to Nu. 500,000 with a 15% annual interest rate and maximum 2-year repayment period. The company conducts credit appraisals online through calls and social media applications, with payments processed through MBOB.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Classic - Small Business Expansion Loan Microfinance loan product offering Nu. 30,000 to Nu. 500,000 at 15% per annum with a maximum 2-year repayment period for the expansion and working capital management of pre-established microbusinesses in rural Bhutan. Requires a BOBL account with minimum 3 months pre-savings, CID card, and a guarantor.
• Classic - Agriculture Loan Microfinance loan product offering Nu. 30,000 to Nu. 500,000 at 15% per annum with a maximum 2-year repayment period for the expansion of existing agricultural activities by rural Bhutanese farmers. Requires a Lagthram (land document) along with the standard BOBL pre-savings, CID card, and guarantor.
• Development - Dairy Farming Loan Microfinance loan product offering Nu. 30,000 to Nu. 500,000 at 15% per annum with a maximum 2-year repayment period for the expansion and working capital management of pre-established dairy farming microbusinesses in rural Bhutan.
• Hire Purchase - Power Tiller Loan Hire purchase financing of Nu. 30,000 to Nu. 500,000 at 15% per annum with a maximum 2-year repayment period for the purchase of Mini Power Tillers and other agricultural machinery from Karma One Stop Shop. This is the only loan product that does not require a guarantor.
• Classic - Machinery Loan Microfinance loan product offering Nu. 30,000 to Nu. 500,000 at 15% per annum with a maximum 2-year repayment period for the purchase of machinery items including farm machinery to support rural enterprise development in Bhutan.

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Karma One Stop ShopminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorHire purchase loans for Mini Power Tiller and other agricultural machinery are distributed through Karma One Stop Shop.
• Royal Government of BhutancoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTMF connects rural SMEs with relevant government programs. During COVID-19, TMF helped poor and transient villagers start food production livelihoods, aligning with the government's drive to increase food self-sufficiency of Bhutan.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• BRAC: BRAC runs one of the world's largest microfinance programs alongside health, education, and livelihoods programming for the poor. TMF's combination of credit, skills training, and SME-government linkage closely mirrors BRAC's holistic development model.
• Kiva: Kiva is a non-profit crowdfunding platform that channels capital from impact lenders to microfinance institutions and individual borrowers worldwide. Kiva is a peer in mission and donor model, though not a direct balance-sheet lender to the same end-borrower set.
• CreditAccess Grameen: CreditAccess Grameen is one of India's largest microfinance institutions focused on rural women borrowers and micro-enterprises. Its product set and rural microbusiness focus overlap directly with TMF's small-business, agriculture, and dairy loan products.
• Grameen Bank: Grameen Bank is the archetypal rural microfinance institution in Bangladesh, lending to poor, often landless borrowers, predominantly women, with group-lending methodologies. TMF is a directly comparable MFI: small-ticket, rural, development-focused, and operating in a similarly mountainous South Asian context.
• Oikocredit: Oikocredit is a global cooperative that finances microfinance institutions, cooperatives, and small businesses in developing countries. It is a directly comparable mission-aligned capital provider that could be a funder or peer to TMF.
• Spandana Sphoorty Financial: Spandana Sphoorty is an Indian microfinance institution providing joint-liability group loans to women in rural areas. It is a peer in product model and rural micro-borrower focus, though operating at a far larger scale.
• ASA International: ASA International is a listed microfinance group operating across South and Southeast Asia, providing small-ticket working-capital loans to micro-entrepreneurs. TMF is comparable as a regional MFI serving similar low-income borrower segments in a similar regulatory environment.

Broad incumbents

• Bandhan Bank: Bandhan Bank is a large Indian commercial bank that originated as a microfinance institution and still serves micro-borrowers and rural SMEs. It is a comparable player in the microfinance-to-bank evolution that TMF could plausibly follow.
• M-Pesa: M-Pesa is Africa's leading mobile money platform enabling payments, savings, and credit. Like TMF's MBOB integration, M-Pesa shows how mobile rails can be the foundation for rural microfinance in low-penetration markets.

Emerging players

• Mifos Initiative: Mifos is a non-profit providing open-source core banking and microfinance software to MFIs globally. It is an adjacent technology peer relevant to TMF's digital-first operating model and potential platform partner as TMF scales.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/tarayanamicrofinance
• Facebookfacebook.com/Tarayana-MicroFinance-104441261149673
• Instagraminstagram.com/tarayanamicrofinance
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tarayanamicrofinance

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Tarayana Microfinance for Rural Development