Press release -
Swedfund continues to support women’s economic empowerment across rural India
Swedfund invests USD 20 million as a loan to India’s leading microfinance institution CreditAccess Grameen Ltd. The loan will contribute to empowering primarily low-income women across India, largely in rural areas, to participate in the economy. This in turn will spur job creation and local development.
"India remains one of the world’s most dynamic yet unequal economies. Microfinance plays a crucial role in improving quality of life and financial resilience by expanding access to credit and financial services. CreditAccess Grameen is dedicated to reaching women and underserved populations. Through this loan, we can further strengthen gender equality and support job creation," says Jane Niedra, Investment Director Financial Inclusion at Swedfund.
Swedfund invested in CreditAccess Grameen already in 2021 and the new loan is a further step in the cooperation, aiming to advance CreditAccess Grameen’s social and environmental standards as well as the management and monitoring of impact.
"We know CreditAccess Grameen as a partner with a business model that delivers results both financially and in reaching women across India. As a Development Finance Institution, we can contribute long term capital where the needs are greatest," says Björn Areskog, Senior Investment Manager at Swedfund.
"Creating lasting social impact requires partners that appreciate our mission and provide continuous long-term commitment. We are proud to partner with Swedfund, whose steadfast support enables us to unlock livelihood opportunities in the hinterlands of our country. Together, we have turned shared values into real-world impact helping build resilient communities," says Ganesh Narayanan, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, at CreditAccess Grameen.
About CreditAccess Grameen Limited
CreditAccess Grameen Limited is a leading Indian microfinance institution headquartered in Bengaluru, focused on providing micro-loans to women customers predominantly in rural areas across India. It provides loans to women micro-entrepreneurs through the joint liability group model and the Company is now operating across 433 districts in 16 states and one union territory with a strong rural focus.
Topics
Categories
About Swedfund
Swedfund is Sweden’s development finance institution with the mission to reduce poverty through sustainable investments in developing countries. Swedfund plays an important role in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement on climate. Swedfund shares the same goal as development cooperation in general, but the tools Swedfund uses are different. Swedfund has two instruments to fulfil its mission: sustainable investments in the private sector and technical feasibility studies through the Project Accelerator targeting the public sector.
Swedfund's investments contribute to the creation of decent jobs and increased access to essential products and services such as electricity and food. Swedfund is a long-term investor and is additional and catalytic through its investments and by mobilising private capital. Swedfund's feasibility studies support sustainable public infrastructure development, trade, and export opportunities for Swedish solutions.
We are part of Swedish development cooperation, and we measure and report all our results. As a state-owned company, Swedfund is managed by the Ministry of Finance and financed through portfolio reflows and annual capital injections for which the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs is responsible.
For more information: please visit www.swedfund.se/en
