NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

International Finance Corporation, the private investment arm of World Bank plans to invest up to $40 million in Indian micro finance institution Ujjivan Financial Services in form of a senior debt investment.

In September last year, Ujjivan was one of the 10 recipients of the Small Finance Bank License (SFB). And to meet the noms laid down by the Reserve Bank of India, foreign investors in the firm including IFC,  Elevar and India Financial Inclusion Fund, Dutch development finance institution FMO, among others had pared their stake through a public listing on the BSE.

“IFC’s proposed investment will help the company expand the outreach of access to low income borrowers who have little or no access to formal sources of financing and strengthening its balance sheet through availability of long tenor debt during its transformation phase,” IFC said in a disclosure.

The investor further said that the support in terms of long-tenor debt would benefit the Bengaluru-based company by supporting growth and helping it manage liability during early years of transition to SFB.