Grant and Funding Programs Offered by Nandan Capital

Nandan Capital is the investment manager behind Nandan Growth Fund, a SEBI-registered Category II Alternative Investment Fund dedicated to Indian small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The fund provides performance-oriented debt capital and, in select situations, complementary equity investments. Its goal is to bridge the gap left by traditional bank finance by offering flexible, faster, and often non-dilutive capital to companies with solid fundamentals and clear growth plans.

Positioned as sector-agnostic, Nandan Growth Fund can back businesses across information technology, financial services, retail and e‑commerce, manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, consumer goods, and other mainstream industries, while explicitly avoiding deep tech, government‑dependent revenue models, structurally loss‑making unit economics, and certain capital‑intensive project structures. The emphasis is on profitable or near‑profitable growth supported by strong operating metrics.

The fund follows a structured investment process covering performance review, analysis, recommendations, due diligence, and ongoing evaluation after disbursement. Prospective portfolio companies are screened against standardized thresholds such as minimum operating history, revenue scale, leverage levels, receivables quality, founder experience, and cash runway. Only candidates meeting most of these criteria progress to deeper diligence and term finalization.

Beyond quantitative filters, the team examines return on capital employed, interest coverage, store or unit profitability, and scalability. Security packages often include working capital assets, inventory, brand value, and personal guarantees from promoters. After funding, Nandan Growth Fund monitors covenant compliance and business performance through periodic reviews.

Nandan Growth Fund targets entrepreneurs whose bank limits are constrained or disbursement timelines are too slow for their expansion plans. Typical use cases highlighted include growth capital for regional retail chains, working capital for fast‑growing manufacturers on the path to SME IPOs, and expansion financing for consumer brands with high store‑level profitability.

Through its performance credit approach, the fund aims to keep the cost of capital below that of equity, help companies strengthen their capital structure, and position them for later equity rounds or stock market listings. In this way, Nandan Capital plays a complementary role in India’s SME financing landscape, sitting between conventional bank lending and pure venture capital.

Nandan Growth Fund is formally recognized as a Category II Alternative Investment Fund, with a SEBI registration number clearly disclosed on the site. This regulatory framework shapes its investment mandate and underlines its function as an organized, professionally managed funding provider rather than a casual or ad‑hoc lender.