Lendingkart Finance raises Rs 300 cr via NCDs

Lendingkart Finance today said it has raised Rs 300 crore in non-convertible debentures, its biggest NCD funding ever, from Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC along with another entity.

Lendingkart Finance said Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC has infused Rs 150 crore with another mutual fund company, which did not wish to be named, pumping in a similar amount.

The Rs 300 crore new influx of fund marks Lendingkart Finance's maiden NCD transaction with mutual funds, Lendingkart Technologies co-founder and CEO Harshvardhan Lunia told PTI.

"The freshly-raised amount will be used towards growing our loan book and financing more MSMEs. As we expand our reach to over 1,200 cities across India, these funds will be used to widen our offerings to MSMEs country-wide," he added.

Lendingkart Finance has disbursed over 28,000 loans to more than 21,000 MSMEs across 26 diverse sectors till date, he said.

Lendingkart Finance uses in-house technology tools -- based on big data analytics and machine learning algorithms -- to evaluate its client's creditworthiness.

Over 10,000 data variables are assessed to determine factors like financial health, comparative market performance, social reliability and compliance, the company claimed. The average ticket size of loans disbursed is Rs 5-6 lakhs.

The company has received over USD 250 million, including equity and debt, so far. While the company did not disclose revenue details, it said the business is already profitable.

Lendingkart aims to disburse 30,000 loans in FY18-19, totalling Rs 2,000 crore. It expects 20,000 new MSMEs to be added to its platform in the ongoing fiscal.