Swiss impact investor responsAbility backs Satin Creditcare

By Joseph Rai

  • 26 Jul 2019
Credit: Pixabay

Microfinance company Satin Creditcare Network Ltd said on Friday it has raised $9.4 million (around Rs 65 crore) from Switzerland-based impact investment firm responsAbility Investments AG.

The investment will help the company manage its liability mix and medium-term funding goals, Satin Creditcare chairman and managing director HP Singh said in a statement. The funding will also help the company expand, he added.

Satin Creditcare raised the capital from responsAbility through external commercial borrowings, which is essentially a loan availed from a non-resident lender.

This is the second time the company has raised funding using this method; it had first secured ECB financing from US-based commercial finance company World Business Capital.

Satin Creditcare had 1,163 branches across 22 states and union territories with a strong presence in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, the northeast region and Madhya Pradesh as on 31 March 2019.

Satin Creditcare offers its clients a variety of loans under the microfinance segment. In the non-microfinance segment, the firm offers loans to micro, small and medium enterprises, and business correspondent services to financial institutions through wholly owned subsidiary Taraashna Services Ltd.

In January 2019, Satin Creditcare received a separate NBFC licence to commence its MSME business via Satin Finserv Ltd. In February 2018, its wholly owned unit Satin Housing Finance started operations. 

In the last fundraising exercise, Satin Creditcare had mopped up $30 million (Rs 216 crore) in debt from Dutch development finance institution FMO in December last year.

responsAbility Investments

Founded in 2003, the Swiss impact investor provides debt and equity financing predominantly to unlisted companies in emerging economies. With about $3 billion of assets under management, it has invested in about 540 companies in 90 countries, its website shows. It has been quite active in India's financial services sector.

In April, it invested $10 million in green masala bonds issued by Pune-based non-banking finance company Electronica Finance Ltd. In January, responsAbility and homegrown NBFC Northern Arc Capital invested debt capital worth $10 million in Aye Finance Pvt. Ltd. It has also invested in the non-bank lenders Kinara Capital and Samunnati Financial.

Outside the financial services sector, responsAbility picked up a minority stake in organic food exporter Suminter India Organics Pvt. Ltd in October last year. This was the Swiss asset manager’s second investment in the food and agriculture sector in the country.

Its other investments in the country include biomass aggregator Punjab Renewable Energy Systems, sanitary services provider Saraplast Pvt. Ltd and business process outsourcing service provider DesiCrew Solutions Pvt. Ltd.