Prayas Cheritable Trust

What Prayas Cheritable Trust does

Prayas Cheritable Trust is a charitable trust registered in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India, that provides interest-free loans to two defined beneficiary segments: youth pursuing engineering and professional degree programs, and women seeking to start or expand small business ventures. The trust is governed by a four-member trustee board with a USA-based IT consultant, Surendra Prajapat, acting as promoter, and maintains a public presence through the website vprayas.org. Three documented success stories anchor its public-facing record: Ankit Prajapat (engineering beneficiary, 2016), Ayush Paneri (engineering beneficiary, 2017), and Divya Kashyap (women entrepreneur beneficiary, ongoing).

The trust's core product is a zero-interest loan instrument disbursed directly to vetted individual borrowers rather than through a regulated financial institution. Loan qualification appears to rely on trustee review and applicant profile rather than credit underwriting, with repayments providing the recycled capital base for subsequent loans. There is no evidence of a technology platform beyond a basic public-facing website; origination, review, and disbursement appear manual and relationship-driven at small scale.

As a non-profit charitable entity, Prayas Cheritable Trust does not generate commercial revenue. Its funding is sourced from promoter and trustee contributions (with the promoter based in the United States), and loan repayments are recycled into new disbursements rather than retained as yield. The dual-segment focus distinguishes the trust from single-cause Indian NGOs, but the operational footprint is modest — effectively a diaspora-linked family philanthropy vehicle operating in a single Indian city rather than a scaled charitable enterprise.

Name

Prayas Cheritable Trust

Legal name

Prayas Cheritable Trust

Website

https://vprayas.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Prayas Cheritable Trust is an Indore-based non-profit charitable trust providing interest-free loans to youth pursuing engineering or professional degrees and to women entrepreneurs, governed by four trustees and a USA-based IT consultant promoter.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Charitable Microfinance

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)

akta.pro primary industry

Private Foundations (BPAGAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Scholarship & Fellowship Foundations and Trusts (EDADAHAC)

Keywords

• Interest-free loans
• Charitable microlending
• Education financing
• Women entrepreneurship support
• Nonprofit trust services

Headquarters

HQ city

Indore

HQ country

India

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Charitable Loan Repayments: As a charitable non-profit organization, Prayas provides interest-free loans to beneficiaries. Repayments are made by loan recipients after degree completion (within 3 years for students) or through business earnings installments for women entrepreneurs. The repayment pool is recycled to support future beneficiaries.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Prayas Charitable Trust is a non-profit organization that provides interest-free loans to two beneficiary groups: youth from economically disadvantaged backgrounds pursuing Engineering or Professional degrees (repayable over 3 years post-degree completion) and women with entrepreneurial mindset who lack capital to start or grow a business (repayable via installments from business earnings). The trust does not charge interest, requires no collateral, and recycles repaid principal to fund future beneficiaries.

Product overview

Prayas Cheritable Trust operates as a single-service charitable organization offering two distinct interest-free loan programs: Educational Loans for youth pursuing engineering and professional degrees, and Business Loans for women entrepreneurs. The organization does not operate a technology platform; its services are delivered through traditional charitable trust operations, providing financial support to individuals lacking sound financial backgrounds.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Interest-Free Educational Loans Interest-free loans extended to promising youth from economically disadvantaged backgrounds pursuing Engineering or Professional degrees. Recipients can repay the loan amount either as a single cheque or in installments over a period of 3 years after degree completion. No collateral is required and no interest is charged.
• Interest-Free Business Loans for Women Entrepreneurs Interest-free loans provided to economically disadvantaged women with an entrepreneurial mindset to help them start or jump-start businesses. Loans are repaid in installments by allocating a portion of business earnings as agreed upon at loan initiation. No collateral is required and no interest is charged.

Named customers3 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights1 record

Broad incumbents

• Naandi Foundation: Large Indian philanthropic foundation running education, livelihood, and skilling programs. Comparable to Prayas in education/livelihood mission, but operates at vastly larger scale with corporate-backed funding.
• Infosys Foundation: Corporate philanthropic foundation funding education and entrepreneurship in India. Comparable mission in higher education access and rural entrepreneurship, though backed by corporate capital versus Prayas's trust corpus.
• Tata Trusts: India's largest philanthropic foundation, funding education, livelihoods, and women's empowerment across India. Comparable in charitable mission but operates with multi-billion-dollar corpus and institutional governance versus Prayas's trust-based model.

Regional players

• Akshaya Patra Foundation: India's largest mid-day meal NGO supporting children's education. Compares as a large-scale Indian education-focused nonprofit, though its intervention model (meal provision) differs from Prayas's loan-based approach.
• SRIJAN (Social Research and Development Institute): Indian NGO focused on rural livelihoods and women's entrepreneurship in central India. Comparable in mission to Prayas and operates in overlapping geographies including Madhya Pradesh, though SRIJAN's programs are more institutionally structured.

Emerging players

• Selco Foundation: Indian nonprofit supporting sustainable livelihoods and women entrepreneurship through access to clean energy and micro-enterprise support. Comparable in mission to Prayas's women entrepreneur focus and Indian tier-2/3 operating geography.

Direct peers

• Milaan Foundation: India-based nonprofit supporting education and empowerment of underprivileged youth, especially adolescent girls. Comparable mission to Prayas's youth education focus, though Milaan's geographic scope is broader and includes formal scholarships.
• PRADAN (Professional Assistance for Development Action): India-based NGO promoting livelihoods and women's empowerment in rural areas via self-help groups and micro-enterprise support. Comparable to Prayas in mission and beneficiary focus, though with deeper institutional backing and broader geographic reach.
• Swayam Shikshan Prayog: Indian nonprofit focused on women's entrepreneurship and self-help groups in Maharashtra. Closely comparable to Prayas's women entrepreneur loan program and community-led beneficiary identification model.
• Mann Deshi Foundation: India-based charitable trust focused on financial inclusion and women entrepreneurship in rural Maharashtra. Directly comparable to Prayas's women entrepreneur loan program and community-led GTM, though operating at significantly larger scale.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat1 record

Key risks6 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/prayas-cheritable-trust

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Prayas Cheritable Trust