India's CreditAccess Grameen to raise $150 mln via ECBs, says MD

CreditAccess Grameen

09/11/2022 10:27

By Bhakti Tambe
       MUMBAI, Nov 9 (Reuters) - India's CreditAccess Grameen
 CRDE.NS  is planning to raise $150 million through external
commercial borrowing (ECB) in the next six months, the
microfinance lender's managing director and chief executive
officer, Udaya Kumar, said on Wednesday.
    The lender is in talks with foreign banks and development
finance institutions but expects to raise the funds only in
three to six months as hedging and foreign currency pricing are
volatile currently, Kumar said.
    The company has already raised around $200 million through
ECBs this financial year, including through a $35 million
ESG-linked loan from the U.S. International Development Finance
Corp in October.
    Additionally, its public issue of non-convertible debentures
(NCDs) worth up to 5 billion Indian rupees ($61.4 million) will
launch on Nov. 14.
    The lender now plans to tap external borrowings to diversify
its fundraising and improve the asset-liability management,
Kumar said.
    Currently, 70% of CreditAccess Grameen's total borrowing is
through bank loans and 30% via non-bank loans and other avenues
such as domestic bonds and external commercial borrowings.
    The aim is to increase the non-bank borrowing to 40% over
the next three to four years, Kumar said.
    The company has the approval to raise 15 billion rupees
through the public issue of NCDs. Based on the response to the
currently proposed issue, bond yields and demand from investors,
the company will consider tapping the public issue market again.
    In order to move towards secured lending, CreditAccess
Grameen is also planning to launch more loan products and is
already running pilots for gold loans, two-wheeler loans and
mortgage loans in some of its branches. 
    The lender aims to build its non-microfinance book to 50-60
billion rupees in the next five to six years. Its loan book
stood at 138 billion rupees at the end of September.
 
 ($1 = 81.4200 Indian rupees)
 (Reporting by Bhakti Tambe; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
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