IFMR Investments, a wholly owned subsidiary of IFMR Capital, today announced the launch of a Rs 250 crore fund to provide working capital for financial inclusion enterprises in the country.
Leading insurance companies and IFMR Capital are investors in the IFMR Impact Long Term Multi Asset Class Fund, which is registered with SEBI as a Category II Alternative Investment Fund (AIF).
The fund will offer debt support to organisations that are active in sectors like affordable housing finance, small business loan finance, vehicle finance, agri-business finance and microfinance, IFMR Investments said in a statement.
Through the fund, IFMR Investments seeks to promote alternative debt investments by providing an investment experience similar to that of investing in a credit mutual fund. It had launched a similar fund earlier in 2014.
"While the first fund was exclusively focused on microfinance, its success prompted us to extend the fund management platform across all the asset classes that IFMR Capital currently works in," Kshama Fernandes, chairperson of IFMR Investments and MD of IFMR Capital said.
IFMR Capital said it has developed stringent underwriting guidelines as well as built significant capital market and credit history for the fund's target sectors.
Neogrowth Credit, a Mumbai based NBFC focusing on small business loan finance through an innovative model that leverages on Point-of-Sale (POS) machines, is one of the first institutions to receive investment from the fund.
