Chennai: Asirvad Microfinance Ltd., India’s 4th largest NBFC MFI and a subsidiary of Manappuram Finance Ltd., has announced the closing of a US$ 15 million (Rs.111.15 crore), 7-year commercial loan from WorldBusiness Capital, Inc. based in Hartford, Connecticut (USA).
WBC’s loan is supported by the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the U.S. Government’s developing finance institution. DFC partners with the private sector to finance solutions to the most critical challenges facing the developing world today. Proceeds from the loan availed under India’s ECB norms will enable Asirvad to expand its business of providing small loans to low-income women business owners in rural areas to start and expand their income-generating business. The WBC loan will be Asirvad’s 3rd long-term facility denominated in foreign currency from an international financial institution.
In a statement released to the media, Mr. Raja Vaidyanathan, MD of Asirvad Microfinance Ltd. said, “This transaction with an international institution coming at this challenging juncture certainly gives a boost to the microfinance sector and reiterates the resilience Asirvad has always shown, and the speed at which it bounces back.”
Mr. Yogesh Udhoji, CFO, Asirvad Microfinance Ltd said, “With this funding, we look forward to helping rural women with economic opportunities to transform the quality of their lives.”
Rob Monyak, WBC’s Executive Vice President and Chief Lending Officer for Eurasia/Africa Lending, said, “We are excited to have the opportunity to support this dynamic financial institution that has constructed a viable business model to meet the needs of woman-owned enterprises operating in rural areas. Asirvad plays a vital role in providing this underbanked segment of the market with access to the financing they need to establish and grow their businesses.
Hyderabad, April 26, 2021: Netafim Agricultural Financing Agency Pvt. Ltd. (NAFA), an agri-focused NBFC and a subsidiary of Netafim Singapore, has raised USD 40 million via external commercial borrowing (ECB) from the Phoenix Group and Cogito Capital, both Israel based investors. The raised funds will be utilized effectively for business expansion, enhanced offerings, and to expand horizons in the agri-rural domain. The company would successfully improve its margins as it intends to service the high-cost old debt and bring down the overall cost of funds.
The deal also marks fresh equity infusion into NAFA, which recently raised USD 9.4 million of Tier I Capital from Netafim Singapore and offered exit to the initial equity partners Atmaram Properties & Granite Hill Fund as they had reached their investment horizon. This is the maiden investment for both Phoenix Group and Cogito Capital in India and NAFA, through acquiring stake in Netafim Singapore.
Since acquiring NBFC license from RBI in 2013, NAFA has established its presence in 08 states and disbursed total loans worth Rs. 1000+ crores to 10,000+ customers. Among these, more than 60% of farmers are small farmers & marginal farmers. The company now aspires to expand this network and diversify to allied activities for customers’ long-term credit needs.
Lauri A. Hanover, CFO, Netafim
While commenting on the development Lauri A. Hanover, CFO, Netafim said, “In the aftermath of Covid, India is gearing up for self-reliance with emphasis on the agri-rural economy and its rapid modernization. While the sector is still highly fragmented, the demand for credit in agriculture is largely unmet through formal financial institutions. Being the innovator of drip irrigation and the world leader in precision irrigation serving customers for more than 57 years across the globe, the equity infusion in NAFA is aligned with our core of supporting customers in adopting precision irrigation and automation solutions in agriculture. This equity infusion will help NAFA strengthen its capital adequacy and further expand its market presence. We are delighted to partner with The Phoenix Group and Cogito Capital in their maiden investment in India and NAFA.”
Prabhat Chaturvedi, CEO, Netafim Agricultural Financing Agency Pvt. Ltd. elaborated on the company’s plans and said, “Indian agriculture, in general, is characterized by low and uncertain returns as they are more prone to natural calamities and varied risks, resulting in constant demand for agri-financing support. The advent of intensive and climate-resilient agricultural technologies has further amplified the need for good financing schemes. Despite the presence of multiple financial mediums, there aren’t enough credit products catering to the niche demands of the farmers, leading to a huge credit gap. In India, there is a need for diversified credit schemes, along with adequate handholding, to provide financial guidance to farmers on investing in agriculture and allied activities.
NAFA has been serving this sector efficiently during the past decade, understanding their needs and providing them with the right financial assistance. With this investment, NAFA will further enhance its credit lending portfolio and expand horizons within the agri-rural domain beyond micro-irrigation. We are bullish about our growth and are excited to cater to the capital needs of the agriculture and allied sector. The said capital would help us strengthen our market position and reach the communities in a much broader way.”
Guy Zukin – Managing Partner, Cogito Capital said, “Cogito is excited to be teaming up with Netafim (the global irrigation leader and pioneer), and Phoenix Insurance (one of Israel’s leading insurance companies), in providing growth capital to NAFA. We are looking forward to co-operating with our partners in supporting NAFA’s continued journey in realizing the potential in the Indian agricultural NBFC market. This investment matches Cogito’s strategy of making investments alongside strong partners, focusing on high growth and adjusted risk opportunities.”
Ofer Aviran, Head of Direct and Infrastructure Investments of Phoenix Group commented, “We are very proud to partner with Netafim and Cogito in investing in NAFA. Netafim’s prominent presence in emerging markets, and their professionalism in such an important field of agricultural infrastructure development and food production constitute fertile ground for continued cooperation for the benefit of all parties. I would like to thank Lauri Hanover, Netafim’s CFO, for without her vision, this complex investment would not have come to fruition”.
Palred Technologies Limited, a Technology Solutions player across Consumer Electronics, eCommerce, and IT Solutions industries, on Friday, announced its financial results for the quarter of October to December 2020.
Financial Highlights:
Consolidated Revenue of INR 31.43 Cr for the quarter, registered YoY growth of 161%
Consolidated Profit after tax stood at INR 1.23 Cr for the quarter Vs 1.72 cr loss reported in Q3 FY20
Consolidated YTD Revenue of INR 85.38 Cr for the 9 months ended Dec 2020 and Consolidated YTD Profit after tax of INR 3.19 Cr for the 9 months ended Dec 2020
Revenue generated by pTron brand stood at INR 29.21 Crores in the quarter led by high volume demand for its home-manufactured offerings and a new audio range.
pTron brand EBIT at INR 1.79 Crores against profit of INR 0.35 Cr in Q3 FY 2020
The Company witnessed consistency in performance led by its digital lifestyle and audio accessories brand, pTron. The rapidly growing brand registered complete sales of 9 lac units during the quarter.
Overall profitability of the brand was positively impacted due to the spike in demand for wireless and true wireless audio devices. The WFH model along with online classes and the wave of fitness craze led to an overwhelming demand for hands-free audio devices. In the quarter ended December 2020, the TWS category had registered a humongous growth of 625% (in terms of units sold) as compared to the same period in 2019. The wireless neckband category also witnessed a spike of 313% as compared the quarter ended December 2019.
With an elaborate product portfolio catering to the price sensitive customers, the brand has been proactive in catering to the customer needs and to the pent-up demand post festive sales, giving the brand an upper edge in terms of customer consideration.
Commenting on the results, Mr. Harish Naidu, CFO, Palred Technologies Limited said, “Despite the severe global pandemic, the company has delivered a strong performance in operations and sales fronted by our brand pTron, that drove our vision for the company forward. We have witnessed a YoY growth of 161% with revenues over INR 31 Cr. The recovery witnessed has been better than what we expected a few months back. With the tremendous revenues registered by Palred Technologies Limited, the company is on the verge of crossing INR 100 Cr in FY2021”.
Mr. Ameen Khwaja, Founder & CEO, pTron said, “The demand for wallet-friendly wireless and true wireless audio devices along with smart features makes pTron a unique and attractive option for the younger audience. With the launch of new products and re-establishment of our earlier product line, we can reliably forecast a strong upward trend in the current and upcoming quarters as well. With our super successful Bassbuds series which were received extremely well, we are expecting the series to lead the growth this quarter as well. We, as a brand are pouring in the best of our resources to bring in our A game and set an impressive benchmark to ensure maximum customer satisfaction. So, we are looking forward to bringing in a wider product range to cater to the current and expected demand”.
Gurugram: Ecom Express Private Limited, a leading technology-enabled end-to-end logistics solutions provider to the e-commerce industry, today announced that Venkatesh Tarakkad has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer effective November 20, 2020. Venkatesh will be based out of the Company’s headquarters in Gurugram.
As CFO, Venkatesh will be responsible for Finance, Accounts, Legal, Secretarial, Commercial and Administration functions besides spearheading business goals, including the profitability of the Company.
Commenting on the appointment, Mr. T.A. Krishnan, CEO & Co-founder, Ecom Express Private Limited said, ‘’We are pleased to welcome Venkatesh to our leadership team. His deep and extensive cross-industry experience across Finance, Compliance and other functions, and a strong track record of delivering results, will surely make a positive impact as we manage through the current business environment and continue to position Ecom Express as a leader in the space. I am confident that Venkatesh will provide strong leadership and is an excellent addition to the team.”
Mr. Venkatesh Tarakkad, CFO, Ecom Express said, “I am excited to join Ecom Express, a company making a mark in the e-commerce logistics domain. Ecom Express is leading the way in new technologies, has a strong business model and a proud growth story in the last eight years and I look forward to working with the team to execute on the company’s priorities, accelerate growth and enhance value for all stakeholders.”
Venkatesh comes with 25 years of experience of core expertise in steering the financial planning for some of the world’s leading retailers and wholesale brands, including TCNS, Metro Cash & Carry and Siam Makro. Venkatesh also served in finance positions at Coca Cola and Ernst & Young. In his previous role as a group CFO in TCNS, he played a crucial role in leading the IPO process, implementing an end-to-end ERP solution and overhauling the company’s warehousing capabilities. At Metro Cash & Carry, he drove Finance, Technology, omnichannel capability, Horeca customer target group and Supply chain to grow the business rapidly close to a billion dollars.
Venkatesh is a qualified Chartered Accountant, Cost Accountant and Certified Information Systems Auditor.
The RBI kept the repo rates unchanged to 4% and the reverse repo rate to 3.35% on the monetary policy review meeting today. The decision holds good news for prospective buyers in the realty sector. Here are the views of industry players on the same:
The decision of unchanged RBI repo rate and reverse repo rate is a smart move by the government. The government has taken favourable decisions to support the real estate sector in the past few months which has positively impacted the market sentiments and will improve further in the post COVID era. In the past quarter, the sector has seen a robust response in terms of sales across spectrums. This move will further encourage prospective buyers to invest in the realty sector. – Pankaj Bansal, Director, M3M Group.
We welcome the move from RBI that aims at keeping the repo rate unchanged. This will ensure an easy flow of money to the people in the country. This has given a positive ray of hope to the consumers who require a home loan and looking forward to possessing a new house. As people want to attain satisfaction and security of owning a house during this pandemic, the boost in this desire is given by the constant rate of interest on home loans, which is not going to rise soon. We expect that this move by the government will give another boost to real estate. – Dr. Kunal Banerji, Advisor to the CMD, Central Park.
The decision to keep the RBI repo rate and the reverse repo rate unchanged is again a great step by the government. With the economy growing post unlock, the housing sector is utilizing the opportunities due to various RBI decisions in the past few months. As a result, the sector has witnessed favourable market sentiments and increased sales in the past quarter. This will further continue to encourage banks to lend money to the housing sector and ensure improved credit flow. We hope to see further seamless support to the sector in the post-COVID era. This will revive cash flow in the country and maintain financial stability. – Santosh Agarwal, CFO, AlphaCorp.
FlexiBees, a flexible talent platform that provides part-time and project-based talent to businesses via qualified women working returning to work, has seen a surge of 50% in the last 3 months in demand for talent hiring. While Covid-19 rages on, businesses are beginning to revive with the lockdowns being lifted in many places. Talent hiring is an indicator of that revival, but businesses are choosing to hire differently via more agile and cost-effective models that allow them to pursue growth while being able to manage their bottom-lines.
“We see several first-time businesses, who would never have considered part-time or remote-working talent a mere 4 months ago, come to us today because they see the value these talents and models can bring”, says Shreya Prakash, CEO, FlexiBees.
The flexible talent phenomena have been on the rise in the past few years, with smaller companies and start-ups using these models to afford good talent and keep their teams lean, and with larger organizations realising the need to bolster their conventional teams with specialised skills that could be more project-based and short-term in nature.
FlexiBees has been at the forefront of this revolution in India. Founded in 2017 by three graduates from IIM Bangalore, their pool comprises highly educated and experienced women from across functions and sectors, who have chosen to leave the traditional workforce but are looking to build flexible careers. While there were gig talent marketplaces in India and across the world even before them, they are different in their vision of enabling flexible working across all roles and functions, from core operational ones like Sales, Marketing, Finance to more gig and freelance friendly ones like Content, Design, Technology.
“At the heart of our business is the end-to-end matching & selection that we do, the right talent for the right requirement, that helps businesses in three ways. Firstly it ensures that our clients spend less than 10% of the time they would have spent hiring from other sources. Secondly, this involved selection process allows us to fulfil more complex requirements also like Sales, Marketing, Investment Banking, etc. And finally, it ensures that the candidates are vetted for skills but also for parameters like time availability, commitment, support systems, etc.”, says Rashmi Rammohan, COO, FlexiBees.
“All of these together give huge value to clients and 65% of our business comes from repeat clients.”, says Deepa Swamy, CFO, FlexiBees.
Having provided flexible talent to 150+ businesses now, that includes some of the fastest-growing start-ups and biggest MNCs, FlexiBees is hopeful about the benefits this space can unlock for both businesses and under-served talent pools like qualified women out of the workforce. Whether you are a business looking to grow affordably or a talented woman looking to build a balanced career, check them out and what they stand for at www.flexibees.com.
