Vineet Rai is not your typical venture capitalist. A forester by training, rejected by the Army, Navy, and Air Force, he stumbled into finance with a radical question: how do you help poor people become rich?

Starting with just ₹5,000 and a ₹10,000 monthly salary, it took him 4.5 years to raise his first $1 million. Today, Aavishkaar Group manages $1.4 billion across equity, microfinance, and credit funds, backing entrepreneurs that banks refuse to touch. In this candid conversation with host Akshay Datt, Vineet shares how he bought a dying microfinance company for ₹12 crore and turned it into a ₹7,000 crore institution, why he prefers "grey hairs" over young founders for regulated businesses, and why he believes Indian startups are massively overvalued.

He also unpacks the microfinance crisis, the Andhra Pradesh meltdown that nearly destroyed the sector, and why governance is the ultimate safety net for entrepreneurs. Whether you are building for Bharat, raising your first fund, or navigating India's regulatory landscape, this episode offers hard-won wisdom from one of impact investing's true pioneers.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

👉How Vineet Rai built Aavishkaar from ₹5,000 savings to $1.5 billion AUM over 20 years

👉The contrarian bet of buying a loss-making microfinance company during a sector crisis

👉Why experienced operators beat young founders in regulated industries like banking and NBFCs

👉How microfinance grew from ₹100 crore to ₹4.5 lakh crore and the challenges it faces today

👉Vineet's sharp critique of India's startup valuation bubble and the "half-x returns" problem

👉Lessons on governance, patience, and building institutions that survive external shocks

Chapters:

00:00 - What is Aavishkaar Group

06:52 - Equity, Debt and Microfinance Explained

13:00 - How Microfinance Actually Works

17:35 - Technology Transformation at Arohan

24:04 - The Andhra Pradesh Crisis Story

31:26 - Unit Economics of Microfinance

40:41 - JAM Trinity and Cashless India

44:29 - From Forester to Fund Manager

57:02 - Raising the First $1 Million

01:03:41 - The Arohan Turnaround Bet

01:08:07 - What Makes a Great Entrepreneur

01:12:06 - Competing with Peak15 and Sequoia

01:15:22 - Advice for Founders Raising Capital

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