IFMR raises $25 million from Accion

CHENNAI, INDIA: IFMR Holdings announced that they have raised $25 million in equity from Accion, a financial inclusion pioneer, LeapFrog Investments, a specialist investor in emerging-market financial services, and Lok Capital, an Indian impact investment firm.

The new capital will allow IFMR Holdings to accelerate work across India.

86pc of Indians do not borrow from a formal source, only one out of every two Indians has a savings account, and insurance penetration is barely 4pc.

IFMR Capital – a debt capital markets platform for 75 originators offering micro-loans, small business finance, affordable housing and commercial vehicles finance, and reaching over 15million financially excluded people; IFMR Rural Finance – a technology licensor that developed the Kshetriya Gramin Financial Services (KGFS) model for remote rural markets; and IFMR Rural Channels – a credit, insurance and pensions provider to over 600,000 clients through 242 branches in rural areas.

Bindu Ananth, Chair of IFMR Trust, the promoters of IFMR Holdings, said, "This comes at an important inflection point for IFMR Holdings. Against the backdrop of a very favourable policy environment for financial inclusion, we are accelerating growth across all our businesses. We intend being at the forefront of business models combining scale and high-quality financial services for many millions of Indians.”

Accion is investing $12.5 million of the total, LeapFrog Investments $9 million and Lok Capital $3.5 million.