Hardika Shah

Hardika Shah is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of fintech Kinara Capital which is at the forefront of driving financial inclusion of small business entrepreneurs in India.

Founded in 2011, Kinara Capital is dedicated to addressing the massive MSME credit gap by providing fast and flexible collateral-free business loans with a blend of digital processes and doorstep customer service. Headquartered in Bangalore, Kinara Capital has an extensive branch network catering to last-mile MSMEs. With AI/ML-based data-driven credit decisioning, the company’s multilingual myKinara App offers a quick 1-minute eligibility check and an end-to-end digital process, completing loan decisioning to disbursement within just 24 hours.

Committed to advancing gender parity from day one, Hardika leads Kinara Capital with a women-majority management team and has made inclusivity one of the core values of the company culture. She is advancing women entrepreneurs with the company’s HerVikas program and is committed to supporting women micro-entrepreneurs via the company’s CSR programs.

Prior to building Kinara Capital, Hardika spent nearly two decades as a management consultant executing projects for global companies across USA, Europe and Asia-Pacific. She also spent nearly a decade as a pro-bono mentor with emerging social entrepreneurs at Santa Clara University, Stanford University, Accenture Development Partnerships, the Acumen Fund and Columbia Business School.

Hardika holds a B.A. in Computer Science from Knox College in Illinois, USA. She earned her MBA from a joint program between Columbia Business School and UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

Celebrated for her pioneering and tireless work towards MSME financial inclusion, Hardika Shah continues to receive high acclaim from around the world, most notably:

• NITI Aayog, Top 75 Women Transforming India at 5th Women Transforming India (WTI) Awards (2021)
• Forbes India, Top 20 Most Powerful Women In India (2021)
• Mint, 100 women Building and Shaping India (2022)
• Causeartist, Top 40 Social Entrepreneurs (2022)
• Financial Express,Visionary Leadership Award (2022)
• Women Fintech Leader of the Year- Bharat Fintech Summit (2023)
• Women Entrepreneurs Reshaping the Startup Ecosystem- INC42 (2024)
• Top 50 Indian Digital Finance Influencers- The Digital Fifth (2024)
• Visionary Thought Leader-Elets 5th 100 NBFC Leaders of Excellence (2024)