PRESS RELEASE: Asian Development Bank Loans $200m to Yes Bank of India to Fund Women’s Self-Help Groups, Small Farmers

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

The Asian Development Bank (ADB), a multilateral development finance institution based in the Philippines, has recently approved a loan of up to USD 200 million to Yes Bank Limited, an Indian commercial bank based in Mumbai. The loan will be on-lent to “2.5 million rural, low income women”[1] who are members of self-help groups and “up to 37,000 small-scale farmers”[1] working in rural areas of the country. The loan agreement also includes a provision for USD 1 million to be used for technical assistance for capacity building, including financial literacy training and product development.

Mr Todd Freeland, the director general of private sector operations at the Asian Development Bank, said that “ADB is proud to partner with Yes Bank in promoting rural financial inclusion in India. ADB’s capital investment and technical assistance will provide sustainable finance to low income women and their families”[1]. He added that “in addition to income generation via female self-help groups, the project targets small farmers to allow them to benefit from agricultural value chains and enhance their productivity through better access to markets and investment finance”[1]. Mr Rana Kapoor, the managing director and chief executive officer of Yes Bank, stated that “this significant commitment from Asian Development Bank reiterates our focus towards responsible banking and furthering the financial inclusion agenda”[1].

In 2013, the 67-member ADB distributed financial assistance totaling approximately USD 21 billion. As of fiscal year-end 2013, Yes Bank reported INR 991 billion (USD 16.0 billion) in total assets, return on assets of 1.5 percent and return on equity of 24.8 percent.

Source: MicroCapital (link opens in a new window)

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lending, microfinance