How Badi Bahen Is Training Mothers to Become Trusted Financial Guides for Indian Families

In India, millions of families earn regularly, yet continue to feel financially insecure. Savings remain low, insurance is often mis-sold, loans are taken without full understanding, and investments are either delayed or avoided due to fear and confusion. What most families lack is not income, but trustworthy, simple, and continuous financial guidance in a language they understand.

This gap is what Badi Bahen, a personal finance initiative under Daughters Wealth Tech Private Limited, is trying to address — by building a new model of financial guidance rooted in trust, language, and lived experience.

How the Idea Took Shape

For founder Ranadeep Saha, the turning point came in 2021, not during a business meeting, but at home. One day, his young daughter Anushka asked him for ₹100 and said, “Papa, mujhe 100 rupaye do… main humare liye ek bada ghar banaungi.”

The innocence of the request made him pause. Despite years of running businesses, he realised he had no structured financial plan for his own family. “That question forced me to reflect on what kind of future I was really building,” he recalls. If someone like him struggled with planning, he knew countless middle-class families across India were facing the same challenge.

This personal realisation was reinforced by his years of on-ground experience while building his many earlier ventures. Through daily interactions with customers, delivery partners, drivers, shopkeepers, and families, a consistent pattern emerged. People were working hard and earning regularly, yet remained stressed and financially vulnerable.

Most of the advice they received came from agents focused on selling products, not from someone patiently explaining what was truly right for their family. Poor decisions, taken without understanding, were quietly eroding their stability. These experiences became the foundation of Badi Bahen — a platform built not to sell financial products, but to explain money decisions in a way families can understand and trust.

Why Mothers as Financial Guides

At the heart of the Badi Bahen model is a simple belief: people learn and trust better when guidance comes from someone who understands their life. Instead of relying on product-pushing agents or distant digital platforms, Badi Bahen focuses on training mothers to become certified financial guides for their own communities.

In most Indian households, mothers already manage day-to-day finances. They budget groceries, plan school expenses, save for emergencies, and stretch limited income across multiple needs. Yet their role is rarely recognised in formal financial systems.

Badi Bahen sees this lived experience as a strength. Mothers bring empathy, patience, and credibility — qualities often missing in traditional financial advice. By training mothers as financial guides, the initiative aims to create advisors who are relatable, ethical, and deeply trusted.

These guides are called Badi Bahen, a term that naturally conveys care, guidance, and responsibility in Indian households.

Structured Training, Not Informal Advice

Unlike informal agents or social media influencers, Badi Bahens go through structured, professional training. The programme is designed to make women confident, certified, and job-ready.

Badi Bahen has started its journey by training its first two Badi Bahens, both of whom are currently preparing to appear for the NISM XA certification exam on 5th February. This is a key milestone, as NISM certifications are required to provide regulated financial advisory services in India.

The training includes detailed study material, recorded and live classes, practical exercises, and exposure to real-life financial scenarios. Once certified, these women will guide families on savings, insurance, loans, and investments in a compliant and responsible manner.

Blending Technology with Human Trust

While the model is deeply human, it is also technology-enabled. Badi Bahen operates through a mobile app, where users interact with a digital twin of their assigned financial guide.

This digital twin collects user details through guided conversations, explains basic financial concepts during onboarding, and helps create structured financial plans. Once the plan is prepared, it is reviewed and supported by the human Badi Bahen, ensuring continuity, accountability, and trust.

Importantly, each user is assigned a financial guide who speaks the same language, removing one of the biggest barriers to financial understanding and adoption.

Transparent Choice in Pricing

One of the most common problems in Indian finance is the lack of transparency around fees and commissions. Badi Bahen addresses this upfront.

Users are clearly educated about how financial services are paid for and are given a choice. Some may prefer a fee-only advisory model with direct products, while others may opt for a commission-based model with no upfront advisory fee. This choice is made at the very beginning, and services are delivered accordingly.

The intent is not to push a single model, but to allow families to choose what works best for them — with clarity and transparency.

Salahkar Didi: Learning Finance Through Stories

To build awareness and trust beyond the app, Badi Bahen launched a YouTube web series called “Salahkar Didi.” Instead of lectures or technical explanations, the series uses short, relatable stories to explain personal finance concepts.

Topics range from budgeting and emergency planning to investments, insurance mistakes, and family money conversations. The tone is conversational and rooted in everyday life, making finance feel less intimidating.

So far, 30 episodes of Salahkar Didi have already been released, and new episodes continue to be published regularly.

A Bootstrapped Journey with Institutional Validation

Badi Bahen is a bootstrapped venture, funded through personal sacrifice rather than external capital. The founder sold assets from his earlier business to build the initial foundation, focusing first on compliance, training, and trust.

Recently, the initiative received further validation by getting incubated at IIM Calcutta Innovation Park (IIMCIP). The incubation provides mentorship, ecosystem access, and strategic guidance as Badi Bahen prepares for its next phase of growth.

The Ask

Badi Bahen is still early in its journey, but the intent is clear — to make financial guidance simple, human, and trustworthy for Indian families. Readers who want to understand personal finance without fear, jargon, or sales pressure are encouraged to explore the Salahkar Didi YouTube series. Each episode is designed to help families ask the right questions, avoid common mistakes, and build financial confidence step by step.

Sometimes, the right financial advice does not need to come from an expert in a suit — it just needs to come from a Badi Bahen who understands your life.