Microfinance NBFC Annapurna Finance on Thursday said it has raised $109.5 million through a multilateral syndicated social loan facility under the External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) framework. The investment, with a green-shoe option to raise an additional $40 million, involved 10 financial institutions from Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
The company said it will deploy fresh capital for on-lending to microfinance borrowers, focusing on rural women and underserved populations.
Speaking on the investment, Gobinda Chandra Pattanaik, Managing Director of Annapurna Finance, said, “These funds will support our mission to extend credit to rural and underserved communities, and for Annapurna long term foreign borrowings strengthen the ALM position and bring diversity in funding sources,” said Gobinda Chandra Pattanaik, Managing Director of Annapurna Finance.
The company had raised $75 million from Piramal Alternatives, the fund management division of the Piramal Group in May this year.
Founded in 2009, Annapurna Finance said it serves over 2.9 million borrowers across 21 states through over 1,500 branches in 424 districts.
According to Crisil Ratings, the company’s assets under management (AUM) stood at Rs 10,336 crore as on March 31, 2024, indicating annual growth of 18.1 per cent. The momentum continued in the first quarter of fiscal 2025 as AUM increased to Rs 10,496 crore as of June 30, 2024 with the share of microfinance loans in the AUM at 87 per cent and the balance 13 per cent comprising MSME loans.
The asset quality of Annapurna Finance, however, remained average, according to Crisil with with 90+ dpd (days past due) at 3.1 per cent as of June 30, 2024, as against 90+ dpd of 2.9 per cent as of March 31, 2024.
The company has written off Rs 64.5 crore during the first quarter of fiscal 2025, as against Rs 259.8 crore in fiscal 2024 and had sold around Rs 307 crore worth of NPAs to ARC (asset reconstruction companies) during fiscal 2023 out of which the impairment allowance stands at Rs. 228.56 crores as of June 30, 2024.