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HomePosts Tagged "IndusInd Bank"
Company News, Finance, India, Institutions, Sustainability

This social financing to IndusInd Bank will be used by farmers to purchase farm equipment, crops, seeds, and fertilisers

Citi and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) have announced a co-financing loan to IndusInd Bank. This includes a $30 million loan by Citi and JPY 13 billion ($97.6 million) loan by JICA. This high-impact social finance offering that Citi arranged for IndusInd Bank is expected to improve financial access for farmers and catalyse capital investment in the agricultural sector in India.

K Balasubramanian, head of the corporate bank for Citi in South Asia covering India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka said, “This social financing to IndusInd Bank will be used by farmers to purchase farm equipment, crops, seeds, and fertilisers, as well as by small agricultural supply chain service providers. This transaction, in which Citi collaborates with JICA, marks our first structured co-financing arrangement to support India’s agricultural sector”.

This agreement highlights Citi and JICA’s support for strengthening food security in the country through funding the agricultural sector and sustainable food systems.

Citi has committed $1 trillion to sustainable finance by 2030, as well as expanding access to basic services for 15 million underserved and low-income households, including 10 million women. This financing contributes to Goals 1, 8, and 17 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), reducing disparities in India by helping improve financial access to projects that contribute to solving agricultural issues. It also helps contribute to food security amid concerns about high food prices and supply shortages due to instability in the global situation.

This social financing to IndusInd Bank will

Agrotech, Company News, Finance, India, Start ups

The fund expects to invest in 12 startups and has already secured commitments from leading investors such as IndusInd Bank

Caspian Equity, a Hyderabad-based venture capital fund that invests in social impact startups has launched a new equity fund LEAF (Leap for Agriculture Fund) with a focus on early-stage Food & Agribusiness startups. LEAF intends to achieve positive social and environmental impact through its investments besides aiming to attain attractive financial returns by laying emphasis on closely working with the portfolio companies to provide the required support.
 
“Caspian LEAF will focus on high-impact, close-to-farmer solutions that benefit small and marginal farmers. Some of the spaces we are looking at are efficiency in input use, reduction in drudgery, labour-saving farm machinery, close-to-farm processing and traceability solutions. We hope to be more than just investors, and help build robust and sustainable businesses that become market leaders in the spaces they operate in,” said Emmanuel Murray, Investment Director at Caspian Equity and Fund Manager of Caspian LEAF Fund.
 
The fund, which has a size of Rs 52 crore, will invest in pre-series A startups with ticket sizes ranging from Rs 1-5 crore. The fund expects to invest in 12 startups and has already secured commitments from leading investors such as IndusInd Bank.  
  
The fund aims to combine access to equity in the critical years of transaction and scaling up of start-up operations with close operational support and oversight on governance structures. The Fund intends to contribute significantly to improving the value chain of Agriculture majorly in the upstream segment which will address pain points across different elements of the agri value chain.

The fund expects to invest in 12

Agrotech, Company News, Horticulture

The foundation helped set up the necessary infrastructure for the crop and imparted the training to farmers to grow the fruit.

 As many as 35 farmers from Farakka in West Bengal have each made over Rs.1 lakh in profits by switching to strawberry cultivation. The crop was introduced to the agrarians by Ambuja Cement Foundation (ACF), the corporate social responsibility arm of Ambuja Cements Ltd., in partnership with IndusInd Bank, as part of a pilot project in 2020-21.

The foundation helped set up the necessary infrastructure for the crop and imparted the training to farmers to grow the fruit. The objective behind the intervention was to raise farmers’ income.

Marketing was an important item on the agenda, so the foundation initiated a market survey. At first, they visited local retail fruit shops and markets and contacted shopping malls in peripheral areas. It later initiated discussions across locations to explore the market.

Considering that strawberry is a perishable product, the foundation scouted for a more tolerable variety that lasts long and offers improved yields. The farmers, it was observed, had become adept at growing strawberries. A year ago, some farmers were urged to take up strawberry cultivation and the learnings from it was that it could help them earn a lump sum within 2-3 months. As a result, ACF decided to scale up strawberry production. An order of 40,000 plants was placed for 35 farmers, with the number of plants ordered being four times last year.

 Neeraj Akhoury, CEO India Holcim and Managing Director & CEO of Ambuja Cements Ltd., said, “We observed that the people living in rural areas need greater access to economic development. This is more so in the case of our agrarians—a majority of who are fragmented and landless. Economic development of our farmers can end poverty in India’s hinterland. Our focus was to target farmers with assured irrigation and other facilities so that they can earn their livelihood.”

The foundation helped set up the necessary