Varthana provides loans and support to affordable private schools in India with the goal of improving access to quality education to India's low-income and emerging middle class families. Varthana partners with those education entrepreneurs who have a sense of urgency about improving access to quality education in low-income communities. These entrepreneurs are usually (not always) ex-educators themselves, who have spent time teaching children in the neighborhood and have then slowly expanded to start a school. They are driven by their mission to provide a robust education, often far superior to the government alternatives. Loans are typically used to either improve the quality or expand the capacity of the school.