Three Wheels United

Works with the aim of alleviating poverty and reducing pollution by providing financial loans to auto rickshaw drivers to help them purchase green aut Read moreo rickshaws. There are over 6 million auto rickshaws driven by over 12 million drivers in India. Due to inaccessibility of financial loans, the drivers end up renting an auto rickshaw and on an average, they earn less than INR 600 in a day. Given the fact that India tops the chart of having 9/10 most polluted cities in the world, the auto rickshaws contribute 1% of 2B tonnes annual vehicular CO2 emissions. As a solution to the above problem, it provides asset ownership to auto drivers through financial loans. It provides loans by establishing a non-banking financial company (NBFC) and through a financial technology, an application which manages an alternative credit rating mechanism. The vehicle comes with a kill switch button and a GPS device for security purposes and the data collected is used for establishing and implementing best practices. Through the community outreach programme, it trains auto drivers and helps them in getting acquainted with insurance schemes, financial literacy, documentation and customer service. It has established a financial security net for the drivers by opening personal and group savings bank accounts for them. It also encourages females to become auto drivers by training them to drive and enables them to become financially independent. Since its inception, more than 2000 assets have been financed with 99% portfolio performance. By shifting stroke engines to the electric vehicle, it has reduced CO2 emissions by 64 tonnes and generated an extra income of 3.5 M INR.