International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector investment arm of the World Bank, is planning to make a quasi-equity and senior debt investment of up to $11 million (Rs 60 crore) through ECB route in Suryoday Microfinance Private Ltd, a Pune-based micro finance institution operating as a non banking finance company.
The loan will help Suryoday, which primarily operates in western India, expand its operations by strengthening its balance sheet, providing access to diversified funding sources and meeting its regulatory capital adequacy requirements for the next 2-3 years, said IFC.
Promoted by bankers R Baskar Babu, VL Ramakrishnan and Ganesh Rao, the MFI extend loans to salaried women (informal sector) working as housemaids, cooks or in small factories and self employed women working as vegetable / fruit vendors, small shop owners etc.
The company has a borrower base of approximately 145,000 and a gross loan portfolio in excess of Rs 120 crore across 5 states.
IFC’s investments would be the third equity inflow for the MFI in the last six months. In January, 2013, the MFI had raised Rs 20 crore ($3.7 million) from its existing investors Aavishkaar Goodwell and Lok Capital. The funding was to strengthen its presence in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Orissa and also to expand into neighbouring states. (SEE: Pune MFI Suryoday raises $3.7M from Aavishkaar Goodwell, Lok Capital).
In October last year, the MFI raised Rs 7 crore ($1.29 million) from Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd (HDFC), India’s largest mortgage lender.
In May 2009, Aavishkaar Goodwell India Microfinance Development Company Ltd, a fund managed by Aavishkaar Venture Management Services, invested $0.93 million and in August 2010, it further invested $4.48 million, along with Lok Capital I, a fund managed by Lok Advisory Services Pvt Ltd.
The firm also has partnerships with Atyati, IFMR Capital, Process Consulting and Kotak Life Insurance, among others.
(Edited by Prem Udayabhanu)