Capital First picks up 7% stake in VFS

Non bank lender Capital First has picked up about seven per cent equity stake in Kolkata-based micro-lender Village Financial Services (VFS).

"This is the second investment for VFS in the last six months. The enhanced net worth will help us implement our growth plans. We are looking for more equity investments in the current fiscal. We are also in the process of tapping capital markets with a mid-sized IPO," VFS MD & CEO Kuldip Maity said.

In the first round of private equity (PE) funding in March this year, VFS had raised equity from Param Capital.

Param Capital's total dilution from VFS was 18.65 per cent stake.

VFS has been showing a stable and healthy growth for the past few years and in the current fiscal it is targeting robust growth and expects its loan book to cross Rs 1,500 crore by end of this financial year, Maity said.

Recently, VFS has started operation in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh and plans to expand to four more states in the current fiscal.

Currently, VFS has operations across 10 states serving about four lakhs customers with over 204 branches.