Satrajit Bhattacharya, Founder, Weaver Services
In less than two years since its founding, Weaver Services has emerged as a leading player in India’s affordable housing finance space. Led by Satrajit Bhattacharya, a veteran who spent decades driving billion-dollar M&A deals and building businesses at HDFC, Weaver has charted an ambitious path—raising $170 million from marquee investors, acquiring two housing finance companies within 16 months, and placing women borrowers and self-employed families at the heart of its strategy. In this conversation with ET Digital, Bhattacharya shares what drove him to leave a marquee corporate career to start Weaver, why he chose an acquisition-led route, and how technology and community empowerment are central to his vision of enabling homeownership for India’s underserved. Edited excerpts.The Economic Times (ET): You spent decades leading billion-dollar M&A deals at HDFC. What motivated you to step away from that role and launch Weaver Services in 2024? What does Weaver Services provide?Satrajit Bhattacharya (SB): I wanted to create something that would make a meaningful difference in people’s lives, and few things are as important as having a home of one’s own. I have long been passionate about building a platform that enables ordinary people, particularly those without formal incomes, to realize the dream of homeownership. While I explored this space during my time at HDFC, the initiative did not fully align with my vision. Having spent much of my career building new businesses and platforms at HDFC, I felt the time was right to step out and establish a housing finance company dedicated to serving the India that resides in smaller towns, with semi-formal or informal sources of income, yet with the same aspiration of owning a home.This motivation is also deeply personal. When I first came to Mumbai, I had no place to stay and slept on the floor of a guesthouse. I have seen three generations of a family share a 100-square-foot room because they had no other option. Through countless conversations with drivers, tour guides, and small shop owners across India, I realized that despite earning a decent livelihood, many could never access housing finance.Weaver Services was born to bridge this gap, providing accessible, tailored housing finance solutions to individuals and families who have been underserved by traditional lenders, so they too can achieve the security and dignity of owning a home.Live EventsET: Weaver announced its first acquisition—CIHL—just six months after founding, and Centrum Housing Finance within 16 months. Why take such an aggressive M&A-led path rather than building from scratch?SB: At Weaver, our mission is about helping people weave their dreams. We focus on incubating ideas and enabling people to achieve their ambitions, whether it’s about owning a home or building a livelihood.Acquisitions like CIHL and Centrum allowed us to accelerate our impact, bringing together aligned teams, existing platforms, and local networks rather than starting everything from scratch. This approach helps us scale faster while staying true to our mission.In terms of core products, we aim to offer solutions that are tailored to the real needs of our borrowers, especially women and self-employed families, combining financial access with guidance and support to create meaningful, long-term impact.The affordable housing gap in India is enormous, with a shortage of nearly 100 million units and mortgage penetration at just 13 percent of GDP, compared to 40 percent or more in many other countries. Penetration drops sharply as we move away from metros and larger cities. Against a shortage of 50–60 million homes, the number of affordable home loan customers is still only about 1.5 million.This underscores both the scale of the opportunity and the urgency to address it. Building from scratch would have meant years of groundwork before achieving meaningful scale. Through acquisitions, we were able to accelerate market entry, establish operating capabilities from day one, and leverage existing platforms and licenses to reach underserved customer segments much faster. At the same time, this path enabled us to bring together capital and expertise to bridge the demand-supply gap more decisively.In short, the acquisition strategy was not just about speed. It was about matching the enormity of the opportunity with an equally bold approach.ET: How do these acquisitions complement each other, and what unique strengths do they bring to Weaver’s platform?SB: To make a meaningful impact in affordable housing, achieving scale is critical. Building from scratch to reach significant scale often takes seven to eight years or more. While we considered starting a new company, we also explored whether strategic acquisitions could accelerate the journey.When we identified CIHL and Centrum, we realized their value systems, business approach, and customer segments closely aligned with what we wanted to build at Weaver. This made integration smoother and the combined platform far more impactful. Having experience in M&A myself, I also recognized the opportunity to leverage these strengths efficiently.I don’t see this as an aggressive strategy, but rather a different approach from what others have typically done. It would only have been aggressive if the companies’ customer segments or values were very different. Since they were closely aligned, bringing them together was a natural and effective way to accelerate our mission.ET: With rapid dealmaking, how do you balance speed with integration, culture-building, and long-term stability?SB: At the end of the day, acquisitions are all about people. Both CIHL and Centrum brought teams who share Weaver’s values, and their networks help us reach across the country faster, giving us the scale and local knowledge we need to make a real impact.Mergers are challenging, but with sensitivity, goodwill, and teamwork, integration works. We focus on aligning cultures, retaining talent, and creating a shared vision, which ensures that everyone moves in the same direction. I’m confident we can move quickly without compromising culture or long-term stability, and that the combined strengths of these teams will allow us to deliver on our mission effectively.ET: You’ve spoken about using AI, data science, and analytics to better assess creditworthiness. How exactly will technology reshape lending to self-employed and informal borrowers?SB: I don’t see this as rapid deal-making. While some things came together quickly, reaching this stage took careful planning and thorough diligence.Technology, especially AI and data analytics, allows us to go beyond traditional metrics, analyze alternative data, and build predictive models. This helps us assess creditworthiness more accurately and responsibly extend credit to self-employed and informal borrowers who were previously underserved.ET: Many underserved borrowers have limited digital footprints. How will Weaver bridge this gap while ensuring responsible lending?SB: This is an evolving area, and we expect it to develop rapidly over the next few years. Our goal is to reduce transaction friction wherever possible, lowering costs and making credit more accessible for consumers. Not all solutions can be implemented immediately, but every step we take keeps the borrower’s interests front and center while fully adhering to regulatory requirements.ET: You’ve placed women borrowers and self-employed families at the center of Weaver’s strategy. Why this focus, and how will products be tailored to their needs?SB: A lot of companies have done a great job serving this segment, but we feel there is still an opportunity to do something different and more tailored. Our team comes from diverse backgrounds across the industry, and we want to leverage that experience to create products that truly meet the needs of women borrowers and self-employed families, making it easier for them to access credit in a way that works for their lives.ET: What ripple effects do you hope Weaver’s approach will create in terms of empowerment and community development?SB: At Weaver, we believe a house can be bought by anyone, but a home is truly made by a woman. By placing women and self-employed families at the center of our strategy, we hope to empower them to take control of their financial futures. Our products are designed to meet their specific needs, making access to credit easier and more flexible.The ripple effect we aim for goes beyond individual families. We want to strengthen communities, create more inclusive economic opportunities, and show that when women and self-employed families thrive, entire neighbourhoods and communities’ benefit.ET: You recently raised $170 million from Lightspeed, Premji Invest, and Gaja Capital. How do you plan to deploy this capital?SB: Part of the funding has already gone into our acquisitions; for example, we spent Rs 267 crore on the Capital India purchase. The rest will be used to grow the business, strengthen our technology platform, and expand our reach to more borrowers across the country.Beyond the financials, we hope the impact goes much further. Owning a home has profound positive effects on education, especially for the girl child, on health, and on overall family well-being. By supporting women and self-employed families, we aim to create ripple effects that empower individuals and strengthen communities.Looking ahead, in the next few years, I hope Weaver is present across the country, not necessarily as the biggest housing finance company, but as a company everyone wants to be part of, whether as a customer or an employee.For me, leadership at Weaver is about being an enabler, creating an environment where the team can work fearlessly, with integrity, and without unnecessary hierarchy. We want people to feel they own the company, that they are stakeholders, not just employees, and that success is driven by meritocracy rather than politics or factions.Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now!
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