Bhubaneshwar based non-banking financial company Annapurna Finance Pvt Ltd. has raised Rs. 155 crore from Oman Joint Investment Fund (OIJIF), a private equity fund backed by India’s largest State Bank of India.
OJIF is a joint venture between SBI and Oman’s State General Reserve Fund which has recently announced the second close of its second fund called “OJIF II” with commitments of $230 million.
The funding amount will be used by Annapurna Finance to expand its microfinance operations boosting its strong presence in eastern India and focus on rural customers. Moreover, the company also has plans to diversify itself into newer asset classes and invest in technology to increase operational efficiency.
Annapurna is promoted by social activist Gobinda Pattanaik who said that company is committed to venturing into asset classes such as lending to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and housing finance. The lending firm has a portfolio of over Rs. 2000 crore and serves 1.2 million borrowers with 400 branches spread in 14 states.
Annapurna has previously been successful in raising multiple rounds of equity from prominent investors that include Incofin, Belgian Investment Organization, DCB Bank, Oiko Credit and Bamboo Capital Partners.
Satyajit Ray, CFO at Annapurna Microfinance said,
The investment by OIJIF is part of a larger fund-raising plan. The company is raising ₹400 crore, of which primary equity infusion will be ₹300 crore and secondary will be ₹100 crore. The company has already raised ₹155 crore from OIJIF as primary equity infusion. We are expecting this entire fund-raiser to be completed by the second quarter of the year.
Notably, this is the second fund by OIJIF which recently invested Rs. 100 crore in Pune based automobile component maker Divgi TorqTransfer Systems.
It has also made significant investments in firms such as National Commodities and Exchange Derivatives Ltd, retailer SSIPL Retail Ltd and ING Vysya Bank which later got acquired by Kotak Mahindra Bank.