Mumbai, India, November 11, 2004—
The International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, has signed an agreement to provide a loan of $22 million to Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited, India.
IFC’s loan will help the company broaden its funding base and support its operations, especially its increasing financing for small and medium businesses and for exporters, an important focus of IFC.
Mr. Jyrki Koskelo, IFC’s director for financial markets, sees IFC’s participation in this project as “part of the Corporation’s ongoing effort to assist India’s financial institutions in meeting an increased demand for high-quality, customer-focused financial services especially by small and medium businesses.”
According to Mr. Iyad Malas, IFC’s director for South Asia, “Providing support for the development of a vibrant, sustainable small and medium enterprise sector in India is one of IFC’s priorities in the region. Ensuring availability of longer-term funding to SMEs and exporters will contribute significantly towards making them more competitive.”
Mr. Uday Kotak, executive vice-chairman and managing director of Kotak Mahindra Bank, said, “The IFC loan will help us extend longer-term financing to our clients. We are delighted to partner with IFC and look forward to doing more business with the Corporation in future.”
Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd, formerly known as Kotak Mahindra Finance Limited, was incorporated in November 1985. In February 2003, the company was given the license to carry on banking business by the Reserve Bank of India, and in March 2003, it became the first company in India to convert into a bank. Over the years, the institution has successfully evolved from a trade finance group to a highly reputed financial conglomerate through several joint ventures with top-tier global financial institutions.
The mission of IFC is to promote sustainable private sector investment in developing countries, helping to reduce poverty and improve people's lives. IFC finances private sector investments in the developing world, mobilizes capital in the international financial markets, helps clients improve social and environmental sustainability, and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses. From its founding in 1956 through FY04, IFC has committed more than $44 billion of its own funds and arranged $23 billion in syndications for 3,143 companies in 140 developing countries. IFC's worldwide committed portfolio as of FY04 was $17.9 billion for its own account and $5.5 billion held for participants in loan syndications.
