Northern Arc Capital, a debt platform, on Tuesday announced that it has concluded a $50 million (about ₹365 crore) external commercial borrowing (ECB) transaction with the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the company said in a statement. JICA is Japan’s governmental agency that works towards promoting economic and social growth in developing countries.
Northern Arc will use the proceeds to cater to the credit demands of women borrowers or towards products that disproportionately benefit women.
Keiichiro Nakazawa, senior vice president of JICA, said, “Northern Arc Capital is a unique and important financial institution that supports funding of the Indian NBFC sector, which plays a key role in promoting financial inclusion in India. We expect more Indian women to have access to financial services through this partnership with Northern Arc. Also, we are delighted that this loan is our first co-financing with USDFC (United States International Development Finance Corporation) in India.”
Commenting on the ECB Transaction, Kshama Fernandes, managing director and chief executive officer of Northern Arc Capital, said, “This transaction is proof of Northern Arc’s ability to forge partnerships with and attract funding from reputed global DFIs. We are excited to partner with JICA to further our mission of catering to the diverse credit requirements of underserved households and businesses. The usage of proceeds will be towards promoting women entrepreneurship and employment, an important target area for the company.”
Since 2009, Northern Arc has enabled financing for its credit originator partners who have impacted over 54.21 million lives across India, of which more than 42 million were women, the statement said. Since the onset of the covid pandemic, the debt platform has raised funds from reputed international investors including USDFC, Asian Development Bank, FMO and Calvert Impact Capital.
This article was first published on livemint.com