IFC to invest in Janalakshmi Financial Services

The World Bank investment arm International Financial Corporation plans to invest 50 million dollar in Janalakshmi Financial Services. The investment will be in a senior debt form.

Janalakshmi is one of the micro finance banks which got a RBI license in mid Sept 2015.The company’s core operation includes micro finance activities like providing small credit to Self Help Group, Mutual Guarantee Group Loans, General Purpose Loans, Enterprise Loans, Emergency Loans, Post Office Savings Bank Account, Janashree Bhima Yojana etc.

It is interesting to see the small micro- finance raising such a huge sum where the mainstream banks which are debt driven are unable to raise capital. The firm has a pan – India presence and the firm will employ the 330 crore fund to reach the low income borrowers.

With more than 4.6 million borrowers and a loan portfolio of around Rs 9,100 crore as of March 2016, Janalakshmi is an urban area-focused micro-finance institution head-quartered in Bangalore.

The company was incorporated in July 2006 and took over micro finance business from Jana Urban Foundation (then known as Janalakshmi Social Service) with effect from April 1, 2008 on receipt of NBFC license from RBI. 

As of March, 2016, Janalakshmi operates through more than 330 branches in 18 states. The states it operates include Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat, Pondicherry, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Punjab, West Bengal and Assam. In April this year, the firm had raised $150 million (Rs 1,000 crore) in a round led by existing investor and global private equity firm TPG.