MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Electronica Finance of India Sells $10m in “Masala Bonds” to responsAbility Climate Fund for Lending to Manufacturing SMEs to Cut Greenhouse Emissions

Electronica Finance Limited, a lender to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in India, recently raised the local-currency equivalent of USD 10 million through a bond issue to a fund managed by Switzerland-based responsAbility Investments whose goal is to reduce the impact of people on climate. Electronica, which lends to firms involved in services and manufacturing, will use the funds to facilitate purchases of energy-efficient equipment for creating plastics, machine tools, packaging and paper goods. It has been offering loans for MSMEs to boost energy efficiency for ten years, in partnership with the government-backed Small Industries Development Bank of India. Electronica plans to use a portion of the senior, secured “Masala Bonds” to finance solar-electric panels for the first time.

Electronica has 45 branches and a gross loan portfolio of USD 180 million as of 2019.

Founded in 2003, responsAbility is headquartered in the city of Zurich. As of 2019, it has debt and equity deployed in 540 firms distributed across 90 “emerging economies and developing countries, targeting the inclusive finance, renewable energy and sustainable agriculture sectors.” These assets are valued at a total of USD 3 billion.

Sources and Additional Resources

ResponsAbility press release
https://www.responsability.com/en/responsability-teams-electronica-finance-ltd-expand-green-lending-activities-india

Electronica homepage
https://www.efl.co.in

ResponsAbility homepage
https://www.responsability.com

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