Belgium-based Incofin Investment Management (IM) recently disbursed a senior loan of EUR 1 million (USD 1.1 million) from its fund Incofin CVSO to the Society for Advancement of Village Economy (SAVE), which “plans to utilise the…funding to support its two non-banking financial companies providing rural credit services” in India. SAVE’s other units offer services such as agency banking and electronic tolling for transport.
Aditya Bhandari, Incofin IM’s Co-regional Director for Asia, said, “SAVE offers a unique combination of high social impact and broad based asset-side, liability-side financial products for a vast majority of [the] deep rural population. SAVE’s active operations and record financial results, amidst the COVID-19 situation, is a clear validation of its strong business model.” SAVE Managing Director Ajeet Kumar Singh specified that, “This new funding will enable us to empower micro and SME entrepreneurs.”
Established in 2009, SAVE operates in 28 states of India, mainly in rural areas. SAVE provides group and individual loans ranging in size from INR 10,000 (USD 130) to INR 1.5 million (USD 20,000) with terms of one to four years. Its microfinance arm has INR 890 million (USD 12 million) in assets and serves 49,000 people in 2,500 villages.
Incofin CVSO invests in microfinance institutions with the intent to “help enterprising people get started working for themselves and improve their living conditions.” As of 2019, the fund had EUR 81.5 million (USD 91.1 million) invested in 30 countries.
Incofin IM is a for-profit firm that was founded in 2001 and seeks “to promote inclusive progress.” As of January 2020, it has 320 investees in 66 countries, mostly working in financial inclusion and agriculture. Incofin’s portfolio is valued at USD 1 billion and comprises the following funds: agRIF, BRS Microfinance Coop Fund, Fairtrade Access Fund, Fonds pour l’Inclusion Financière en République Démocratique Congo (FPM), Incofin CVSO, Invest in Visions, Rural Impulse Fund (RIF) II, Volksvermogen and a loan portfolio of vdk bank.
By Simrun Kothari, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources
Incofin IM press release
https://www.incofin.com/incofin-cvso-disburses-eur-1-million-loan-to-save-in-india/
SAVE homepage
https://www.saveind.in/
Incofin IM homepage
https://www.incofin.com
Incofin CVSO homepage
https://incofincvso.be/
Incofin CVSO financials
https://incofincvso.be/downloads/
More MicroCapital news on Incofin IM
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-incofin-loans-2m-to-small-enterprise-foundation-sef-of-south-africa-from-microfinance-enhancement-facility-mef/
Did you know that MicroCapital publishes the MicroCapital Monitor newspaper each month? Find out more at https://www.microcapital.org/products-page/.
Similar Posts:
- MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Incofin Launches Water Access Acceleration Fund (W2AF) with $39m to Invest in Africa, Asia
- MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: DPAM, Korys Buy Equity in Incofin Investment Management to Boost Impact, Including Via Climate, Gender Funds
- MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Incofin Places $4.3m in Equity in Varashakti Housing Finance via India Progress Fund
- MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Incofin Closes India Progress Fund with $77m to Promote Financial Inclusion, Agricultural Value Chains
- MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Agritech SuperZop Nets $2.7m in Equity from Incofin India Progress Fund to Connect More Farmers, Retailers
