Overview
Founded in 1978, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company Limited (CIFCL/Chola), part of the Murugappa Group, has grown from an equipment financing company into a diversified financial services provider. Today, Chola’s portfolio spans vehicle finance, home loans, loan against property (LAP), SME loans, Secured Business Personal Loans (SBPL), Consumer & Small Enterprises Loans (CSEL), loans against securities, and more.
Chola operates with assets under management exceeding ₹2.54 lakh crore, a network of 1,820 branches across 32 states and Union Territories, and a customer base of over 44.7 lakh.
Since 2018, Chola has partnered with Uncia across four phases of its lending business, spanning Housing Finance, Home Equity (Home Loans and LAP), and Corporate & SME Finance, including Supply Chain Finance (SCF), an engagement that now spans eight years.
Business Challenge
Chola’s eight-year engagement with Uncia grew out of a series of distinct business needs as the company expanded into new segments:
- Entering affordable housing finance (2018). Chola needed a Loan Management System (LMS) that could support this new business line and scale quickly, without the long implementation timelines typical of large system rollouts.
- Revamping Home Equity amid COVID-19 (2019). As Chola set out to modernize its Home Loans and LAP business, the onset of the pandemic added operational pressure. Onboarding and underwriting still relied on largely manual processes, which limited how quickly the business could digitize.
- Automating Housing Finance origination (2022). Chola’s Housing Finance business needed deeper automation across KYC, bureau checks, and bank statement analysis to move faster from lead initiation to disbursement.
- Modernizing Corporate & SME Finance, including SCF (2022). Chola’s Corporate and SME Finance businesses were running on a legacy Supply Chain Finance platform. This limited flexibility and made it difficult for Chola’s teams to configure and launch new products independently.
Uncia’s Solution
Uncia worked with Chola across four phases, each addressing a different part of the lending business.
Housing Finance LMS (2018). Uncia implemented an LMS for Chola’s newly launched Housing Finance business. Despite the complexity of the rollout, the platform went live in six to seven months, a fast timeline for a system of this scope.
Home Equity LOS and LMS (2019). Uncia deployed its Loan Origination System (LOS) and LMS to digitize the entire customer onboarding and underwriting process for Chola’s Home Equity business, covering Home Loans and LAP. This built one of India’s first comprehensive digital ecosystems for LAP.
Housing Finance LOS with advanced integrations (2022). Chola adopted Uncia LOS for its Housing Finance business, integrated with third-party APIs including Karza, Posidex, and Perfios. This automated KYC, bureau checks, and bank statement analysis, connecting the process from lead initiation through loan sanction and disbursement.
Supply Chain Finance with Uncia Flow (2022). To modernize Corporate and SME Finance, Uncia deployed Uncia Flow, a platform built on microservices for flexibility and compliance. Integrated with Uncia Leap for rule management and Uncia Studio for user-driven configuration, the solution let Chola migrate off its legacy SCF platform within five to six months and gave Chola’s teams the ability to configure products and launch new offerings independently.
Business Impact
The engagement delivered measurable results across each business line:
- Home Loan disbursements grew from ₹765 crore YTD in FY18 (December) to ₹5,400 crore by FY24 (December), following the Housing Finance LMS rollout.
- LAP disbursements grew from ₹3,600 crore to ₹18,000 crore between March FY20 and March FY25.
- LAP AUM surged from ₹13,000 crore to ₹41,000 crore over the same period.
- The Housing Finance LMS went live in six to seven months, a fast timeline for the scope of the rollout.
- Chola migrated off its legacy SCF platform in five to six months, with its teams able to independently configure products and launch new offerings after go-live.
Conclusion
Chola’s eight-year partnership with Uncia shows how a large, diversified financial institution can carry out digital transformation at scale without disrupting core operations. Across housing finance, LAP, and SCF, the engagement delivered faster disbursements, scalable systems, and stronger customer journeys, built on API-driven architecture, configurable platforms, and phased, agile delivery.
As Aman Sharma, President & Chief Processing Officer at Chola, put it: “Over the past seven years, Uncia has been a true transformation partner for Chola, helping us digitize multiple lending businesses with speed, precision, and minimal disruption. From rapid deployments in housing finance to building one of India’s first comprehensive digital LAP ecosystems and modernizing our SCF operations, their configurable, API-driven platforms have empowered our teams to innovate, scale, and deliver exceptional customer experiences.”
