Indifi Secures $5 Mn Debt Funding From IndusInd Bank These funds will be used for onward lending to small businesses (MSMEs) to accelerate post-COVID economic recovery
By Prabhjeet Bhatla •
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Gurugram-based online lending platform Indifi Technologies—enabling credit for small businesses—on Monday announced $5 million debt financing from IndusInd Bank Ltd, with a guaranty from US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).
These funds are deployed through term loans from IndusInd Bank's impact investing group to Riviera Investors Private Limited which is Indifi's in-house non-banking financial company (NBFC) arm.
These funds will be used for onward lending to small businesses to accelerate post-COVID economic recovery.
"We are extremely thankful today to the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and IndusInd Bank for this facility which comes to us at the right time and helps us in our goal of extending debt financing to underserved MSMEs who are recovering from the COVID impact. We look forward to strengthening our relationship with DFC and IndusInd in times to come," said Siddharth Mahanot, co-founder and chief operating officer, Indifi Technologies.
Equipped with its core objective of addressing the SME financing gap in India, the company has successfully disbursed over 30,000 loans over across 12 industries since its inception, actively leveraging its extensive network of more than 20 lenders, including its in-house NFBC – Riviera, and over 80 partners, the platform said.
"We are glad to have associated with DFC to support Indifi's effort in accelerating economic recovery for Small and medium scale borrowers. The guaranty from DFC eliminates foreign exchange rate fluctuation risk from the balance sheet of Riviera and it has become an important tool to mobilize debt funding for impact space companies. We have done $30 million of DFC's guarantee-backed transactions to date, out of which $25 million has been done in FY21," stated Roopa Satish, head – corporate and investment banking, CSR, and sustainable banking, IndusInd Bank.
Through this, the firm is not only helping bridge the need-gap but is also playing an instrumental role in driving financial inclusion in India. Also, recently Indifi has forayed into the pharma segment and will be extending its credit line solution to retailers - especially pharma distributors and local chemists - for managing their working capital needs and cash flows, the company further shared.
"We are excited to support Indifi Technologies alongside IndusInd Bank, a longtime partner. Indifi deploys a unique and innovative approach to improve access to finance for small businesses, which are an important engine for economic growth in the Indian economy. Indifi's support is especially important for India's small businesses as they weather the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and recover from its effects," added Loren Rodwin, managing director-social enterprise finance in DFC's office of development credit.
The company aims to substantially improve the experience for borrowers regarding credit access as well as speed and convenience of the loan process and expands the envelope of formal lending by designing the right-fit credit products for MSMEs, improving the standard of risk assessment, and leveraging the supply chain linkages of MSMEs.
