Equity investors confidence in India
Japan’s Gojo & Company has invested Rs.105 crore in Delhi-based Satya MicroCapital, and Norway-based Nordic Microfinance Initiative (NMI) and Carpediem Capital Rs.65 crore in Sindhuja Microcredit of Uttar Pradesh, an encouragement for the sector especially as the commitments were made during COVID-19 pandemic.
The sector, categorised an “essential service”, has gradually opened up since 20 April 2020 and is looking at being the provider of credit which is required to rebuild the livelihoods of its clients.
This demonstrated that the Indian microfinance sector continues to attract long-term private equity capital from the global investment firms, said Microfinance Institution Network (MFIN) in comments on 1 June 2020.
MFIN, an RBI recognized self-regulatory organization and industry association of the microfinance industry in India, plays a critical role in the financial inclusion agenda of the country covering over 60 million end clients with a portfolio outstanding of over Rs.2.2 lakh crores.
Speaking on this achievement, Harsh Shrivastava, CEO, MFIN said, “This clearly shows the confidence that equity investors have on the Indian microfinance sector, and capacity to bounce back and manage its portfolio qualities even during demonetization, making it a safe and viable impact investment.
“Both investments came in the last few days, showing the resilience of the sector. We are confident that coupled with RBI & Government-led liquidity infusing measures this will help us in continuing to support employment generation and livelihood rehabilitation across the country.”
MFIN is a premier industry association comprising 55 NBFC-MFIs and 39 Associates including Banks, Small Finance Banks (SFBs) and NBFCs. It is also the Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO) for the regulated NBFC-MFI. Microfinance players, with a Gross Loan Portfolio of Rs.211,302 crore are a key vehicle for Financial Inclusion providing microcredit to as many as 5.64 crore customers. fiinews.com
