JICA, Citi to provide $125 million to Indusind Bank

Mumbai: Japanese lender JICA has teamed up with Citibank to provide a $125 million funding line to domestic private sector lender Indusind Bank.

Indusind will be utilising the co-finance funding for onlending to the agricultural sector in the country, as per an official statement issued on Tuesday. The funding includes a JPY 13 billion (approx $97.45 million) loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and another $30 million from Citi to Indusind, it said.

The statement said Citi arranged the high impact social finance offering to improve financial access for farmers and catalyze capital investment in the agricultural sector in India. It can be noted that JICA has been very active in funding commitments to India especially in the last few years which have witnessed a deepening of Indo-Japan ties, and the two countries also coming together to be a part of the Quad along with the US and Australia.

JICA's previous commitments to India include over Rs 4,000 crore support to build the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link. Citing official data, the Citi statement said the agriculture sector accounts for 17 per cent of GDP and employs 45 per cent of the people, and added that there is an urgent need to improve access to finance to stimulate capital investments in the agricultural sector.

It said Indusind has a presence in key agro centres across rural and semi urban locations.