From Subsistence to Market Place: State Industry Minister Inaugurates ‘Swayamsiddha’ Business Outlet Powered by Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited’s CSR Initiative in Patna
Bihar Industry Minister Shreyashi Singh opened 'Swayamsiddha' in Patna, a store run by underprivileged women & former ragpickers of Nai Dharti NGO. SIFL's CSR directly powered this via major infra support: a 58KVA generator, automated kitchen tech, smart boards & water purifiers.
Patna, (Bihar) [India]: In a major stride toward socio-economic inclusion, the State Minister of Industry and Sports, Ms. Shreyashi Singh, formally inaugurated ‘Swayamsiddha’, a pioneering showroom-cum-business outlet located at S K Puri, Patna. The landmark retail venture is managed and run by the Swashakti Mahila Utpadak Trust—a collective composed entirely of rehabilitated underprivileged young girl child & adults, destitutes, and former rag pickers.
The establishment of this outlet marks a critical milestone in the transformative journey pioneered by the grassroots NGO Nai Dharti. Over the past decade, the organization has focused on breaking generational cycles of acute poverty by providing free formal education, holistic development, and robust livelihood rehabilitation to deprived girls and vulnerable women.
Touring the newly opened facility, Minister Shreyashi Singh inspected vibrant stalls showcasing quality handicrafts, precision jute products, and packaged food items prepared directly by the trust’s beneficiaries. Appreciating their transition into entrepreneurial self-reliance, the Hon’ble Minister noted that these resilient women have set a powerful benchmark for women’s empowerment across the state. She further assured the trust of comprehensive governmental ecosystem and support, to help scale such endeavours of Nai Dharti.
Empowering through Strategic Infrastructure: The SIFL Contribution
Championing this sustainable model of social development, Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited (SIFL) has emerged as a key corporate sponsor, facilitating critical infrastructural transformation at the core training centre where such deprived women are trained. To ensure uninterrupted production, seamless capacity building, and dignified working conditions, SIFL aligned its corporate social responsibility (CSR) capital directly into relevant modernization.
SIFL’s direct financial support towards the project’s infrastructure includes:
- Production Continuity & Power Security:Funding the deployment of a heavy-duty 58 KVA Diesel Generator (DG) set to safeguard the training and processing units from erratic power outages, ensuring consistent production timelines.
- Advanced Kitchen & Food Processing Efficiency:Integration of automated manufacturing capabilities, including a high-capacity Roti Making Machine (capable of producing 600 pieces per hour) alongside a 15 Kg automatic dough vending machine to elevate culinary processing output.
- Digital Literacy & Skill Development:Provision of interactive smart boards to modernize classroom learning, digital skill acquisition, and vocational lecturing for the young women and girls.
- Health & Pure Water Access:Setting up industrial-grade commercial water purification infrastructure to ensure absolute health and safety compliance for the workforce and trainees.
SIFL believes that true corporate responsibility goes beyond philanthropy; it lies in building sustainable capability. By providing industrial-grade machinery, power security, and advanced educational tools to the needy women of Nai Dharti, SIFL is just playing its small part in transforming a vulnerable community from daily wage dependency into self-sustainability. Initiatives like Swayamsiddha aided with the right infrastructure can alleviate marginalized communities and enable them to align to the mainstream.
Nandita Banerji of Nai Dharti added that the support from corporate allies like SIFL has completely revolutionized their training capacity, allowing grassroots micro-enterprises to bridge the gap between rural production and urban commercial markets flawlessly.
The Swayamsiddha outlet is now open to the public in Patna, offering organic food blends, tailored garments, and artisanal jute crafts—with 100% of the proceeds being funnelled directly back into the economic empowerment of its women owners.
About Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited: SIFL is one of India’s holistic infrastructure finance institutions, consistently driving social and national development. Through targeted CSR frameworks, SIFL remains dedicated to fostering educational equity, technical literacy, and long-term economic independence across underprivileged communities in rural and semi-urban India.
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