SKS Microfin gets Rs 366 cr in fourth round of funding

SKS Microfinance, a Hyderabad-based non-banking financing company, has received $75 million (about Rs 366 crore) in the fourth round of equity funding – $51.25 million from Sandstone Capital and the balance from the company’s existing investors Kismet Capital and SVB India Capital Partners. With this, the company’s total equity base will touch Rs 650 crore.

“It is a part of our strategy to raise a PE fund once in 12 months and leverage the amount 5-6 times,” Vikram Akula, founder and chief executive officer of SKS Microfinance, told mediapersons here on Monday.

The fresh round of equity raised will be used to expand the company’s membership base to eight million over the next two years from the present 3.3 million households across 18 states in the country.

Akula said the company’s cost of funds stood at 11.5 per cent last month, which may go up to 13.5-14.5 per cent in the next couple of months as they had raised loans at higher interest rates of 13-16 per cent.

“The company’s effective interest rate for the end user is currently 25 per cent per annum. We, however, are trying to absorb the impact to ensure that the customers are not affected,” he said.