Five years ago, when we began building Vivriti’s Sustainability & Impact function, our ambition was never to create just another vertical. We wanted to demonstrate that sustainability could be a strategic enabler of business, strengthening decision-making, unlocking capital, building resilience and delivering better outcomes for businesses, investors and communities.
Our journey began by looking inward, strengthening our own foundations through governance, policies, impact frameworks and accountability mechanisms. We then moved from frameworks to practice, developing the Vivriti Sustainability Assessment Model (VSAM) to bring ESG into investment decision-making and reflect the realities of India’s mid-market businesses.
As our approach matured, it helped build confidence among our capital partners and enabled us to translate sustainability into opportunities from launching VIRAF, the first fund in Asia to qualify under the 2X Challenge, to raising one of the first climate bonds by a private financial institution in India, certified by the Climate Bonds Initiative and supported by the Asian Development Bank. We also learnt that deploying capital is only the beginning. Lasting impact requires stewardship - working alongside our borrowers and portfolio companies to strengthen governance, improve ESG performance, enhance disclosures and build organisational capability.
Over the last three years, our own S&P Global ESG Score has improved from 44 to 66, reflecting progress in governance, ESG integration and disclosure. Being recognised as the only unlisted company featured in the S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook further affirmed the standards we have set for ourselves.
These five years led us to a fundamental question: if we could build these capabilities ourselves, could we help others do the same?
That question gave rise to Sustainability & Impact Advisory - a platform built by practitioners, grounded in what we have implemented, tested and refined across our own institution and financing and investment portfolio.
For us, this is the natural next chapter of the journey: bringing together capital and impact, strategy and execution, investor expectations and business realities to help businesses strengthen their sustainability journey, build credibility and unlock access to capital.
sustainability journey, build credibility and unlock access to capital. This is where we stand today - with five years of experience behind us, and a clear ambition for what comes NEXT.
Smitha Jain Arora
Head – Sustainability & Impact, Vivriti Group
At Vivriti, our commitment to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles, is the foundation of our responsible and sustainable growth.Reflecting measurable progress and outcomes, our S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) 2025 ESG score of 66, improved from 55 last year and 44 the year before, signalling to investors and stakeholders our commitment and accountability in alignment with international best practices and enhanced ability,to not just manage ESG risks but also seize material ESG opportunities.
At Vivriti, we are building an ecosystem for India’s performing credit economy. Our dual mandate combines attractive risk-adjusted financial returns with measurable societal impact, enabling us to understand whether our capital is creating meaningful, lasting change.
We measure impact by identifying relevant, impact-oriented KPIs and applying a theory-of-change approach across our portfolio. This enables us to understand how our activities drive outcomes, identify positive and negative effects, mitigate risks, maximise positive impact, and measure its scale.
At Vivriti, our impact approach has evolved from a focus on financial inclusion to supporting diverse themes such as gender, clean energy, mobility, infrastructure, and agriculture. We embed intentionality and additionality throughout the investment lifecycle, measure outcomes against the SDGs, and provide transparent reporting to stakeholders.
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Ms Namrata Kaul brings on board over 30 years of global banking experience. She has served as the Managing Director, Corporate and Investment Banking at Deutsche Bank AG. Prior to that she was Head of Asia Business for Deutsche Bank based out of London, involved in multi country interface. Ms Kaul has been involved in developing the strategy roadmap for Deutsche Bank India as part of the India Board and was instrumental in defining and executing the Asia Focus strategy for the EMEA business. She was the founder of Deutsche Bank's Diversity initiative in India. Ms Kaul had earlier worked with ANZ Grindlays Bank in various leadership roles across Treasury, Corporate Banking, Debt Capital Market and Corporate Finance in India and the UK.
Ms Kaul serves on the Board of CARE International. She is a Management Postgraduate from IIM Ahmedabad and has completed a Chevening scholarship on Leadership from London School of Economics.
