India’s Svasti Microfinance recently raised USD 5 million via a bond issue by the Impact Investment Exchange (IIX), a for-profit firm in Singapore, with the goal of catalyzing income generation for low-income women. The funding is provided through four-year non-convertible debentures (NCDs) listed on the Singapore Exchange. It is also part of the fifth iteration of IIX’s Women’s Livelihood Bond (WLB) Series, WLB5, which is an element of IIX’s Orange Bond Initiative, “the world’s first asset class built by and for the Global South and the 99 percent as a solution to financing gender equality.”
Svasti was founded in 2008 and seeks to provide “access to finance to all sections of society, through the use of smart process design and innovative technology.” Its products include personal loans ranging from INR 20,000 (USD 240) to INR 80,000 (USD 970); and loans for micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) ranging from INR 100,000 (USD 1,200) to INR 2 million (USD 24,000). As of 2023, the company serves 3.6 million customers across eight states in India.
Founded in 2009, IIX provides capital to social enterprises. IIX created the WLB Series as “the world’s first gender-lens impact investing security listed on a stock exchange.” As of 2023, the series has mobilized investment totaling USD 128 million for deployment in Africa and Asia.
By Vaughn Rajah, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources
PR Newswire article
https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/svasti-microfinance-raises-usd-5-million-from-iixs-womens-livelihood-bond-5-the-worlds-first-orange-bond-issuance-301763013
Svasti homepage
https://www.svasti.in
IIX homepage
https://iixglobal.com
WLB homepage
https://wlb.iixglobal.com
Singapore Exchange homepage
www.sgx.com
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