CreditAccess India Foundation Launches ‘Grameen Smile’ to Provide Free Cleft Care to 100 Children
By Rajib Mukherjee | IBG NEWS
Kolkata, August 11, 2026
CreditAccess India Foundation (CAIF), the CSR arm of CreditAccess Grameen Limited, in partnership with Mission Smile, has launched ‘Grameen Smile’, a healthcare initiative aimed at providing free and comprehensive cleft lip and palate treatment to children from economically disadvantaged families.
The initiative was launched at H.P. Ghosh Hospital in Kolkata and will support a minimum of 100 free cleft surgeries for eligible children across West Bengal and Odisha.
Under the programme, 50 surgeries will be supported in Kolkata district, West Bengal, and another 50 in Khordha district, Odisha. Children between six months and 18 years of age will be eligible, subject to medical assessment and programme criteria.
Addressing a Critical Healthcare Need
Cleft lip and cleft palate are congenital conditions that can affect a child’s ability to feed properly and receive adequate nutrition. If left untreated, they may also contribute to speech and developmental difficulties and social exclusion.
Through ‘Grameen Smile’, CAIF and Mission Smile intend to make corrective surgery, associated medical care and post-operative follow-up accessible to children who might otherwise face significant financial and logistical barriers to treatment.
The programme expands CAIF’s ongoing healthcare initiatives, which have reportedly reached more than 31,000 beneficiaries through various programmes.
Its previous healthcare interventions include the immunisation of more than 6,000 rural schoolgirls against cervical cancer, undertaken in partnership with local Zilla Parishads and non-governmental organisations. CAIF has also conducted multi-cancer and general health screening camps benefiting more than 25,000 people across Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
With ‘Grameen Smile’, the Foundation is extending its healthcare portfolio into specialised surgical care, with the stated objective of ensuring that financial limitations do not prevent children from receiving timely treatment.
‘Every Child Should Have the Chance to Smile’
Speaking at the launch, Gururaj Rao, Chief Operating Officer, CreditAccess Grameen and Director, CreditAccess India Foundation, said the initiative reflects the organisation’s broader commitment to community inclusion.
“At CreditAccess Grameen, inclusion has always meant standing by our communities on the issues that shape a family’s future, and a child’s health is at the heart of that commitment,” Rao said.
He added that through ‘Grameen Smile’, the organisation wants children born with cleft conditions to have the opportunity to eat, speak and smile with confidence, irrespective of their family’s financial circumstances.
Conrad G. Dennis, Chief Executive Officer, Mission Smile, said each successful surgery could provide a child with an opportunity to eat, speak, smile and live with greater confidence.
He expressed appreciation for CA India Foundation’s partnership and said the organisations hoped to extend the initiative to bring treatment and support to more children and their families.
CreditAccess India Foundation’s CSR Focus
CreditAccess India Foundation is a Section 8 company incorporated in May 2021 and registered with the Registrar of Companies, Bengaluru. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of CreditAccess Grameen Limited and undertakes the company’s CSR activities.
The Foundation works across areas including education, livelihoods, healthcare, rural public institution development and disaster management.
CreditAccess Grameen’s Rural Financial Network
CreditAccess Grameen Limited is headquartered in Bengaluru and focuses primarily on providing microfinance services to women, particularly in rural communities.
According to the company, its operations extend across 457-plus districts in 16 states and one Union Territory, supported by more than 2,276 branches.
The company’s operational footprint includes West Bengal, Odisha, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Goa, as well as Puducherry.
Mission Smile’s Cleft Care Experience
Mission Smile is a medical charitable trust dedicated to providing free comprehensive cleft care to children and adults affected by cleft lip, cleft palate and other facial deformities.
Since 2003, the organisation says it has provided complete medical evaluations to more than 79,000 cleft patients and performed over 52,500 free cleft surgeries across India.
Its programmes are delivered through medical missions, outreach centres and its Comprehensive Cleft Care Centre in Guwahati, supported by medical and non-medical volunteers from India and abroad.
The launch of ‘Grameen Smile’ marks a collaboration between corporate CSR resources and specialised charitable healthcare expertise, with the immediate goal of helping at least 100 children access corrective cleft surgery and related care.
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