Financial inclusion platform IFMR Holdings raises Rs 12.5 crore from Proparco

Funds to support IFMR's expansion plans and extend support to downstream companies

IFMR Holdings, a financial inclusion platform, on Tuesday announced that it has raised Rs 12.5 crore in fresh funding from Proparco, the French development financial institution.

The current round of funding will be used to strengthen and support downstream companies, fuel the company’s expansion plans and increase the range of financial products for people at the bottom of the pyramid.

Clocking revenue of Rs 213 crores in FY 2015, IFMR Holdings, together with its group companies, has reached over 17 million financially excluded individuals across the country, in both rural and urban areas.

Proparco is a private sector financing arm of Agence Francaise de Developpment and has been working to support development in developing and emerging countries for nearly 40 years.

In August 2015, IFMR Holdings raised Rs 168 crores from Accion, a leading a global non-profit organisation supporting financial inclusion, LeapFrog Investments, a specialist investor in emerging-market financial services, and from India’s leading impact investment firm, Lok Capital’s Fund II (Sarva Capital).

Proparco believes that India is a laboratory in business models that combine financial sustainability and social impact for the poor. The French institution also believes that India is a perfect setting for direct investments in social ventures owing to the presence of highly qualified and innovative professionals coupled with an immense base of people under the poverty line.

IFMR Holdings invests in, incubates and operates financial inclusion enterprises in India.