CHANDIGARH: Chennai-based Samunnati Financial Intermediation and Services Pvt. Ltd, an agri value chain finance firm has successfully executed the issuance of Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) aggregating to Rs 33 crores. With this investment, Samunnati becomes the first early-stage agri NBFC to raise five offshore debt investments within a span of 7 months. The NCDs were subscribed by two investment funds managed and advised by Symbiotics, an impact-focused investment firm dedicated to and sustainable finance in emerging and frontier markets. The funds will be utilised by Samunnati to build the portfolio by financing the working capital requirements of small-holder farmer organisations and agri-enterprises across the value chain.

Since its launch in 2014, Samunnati has expanded to 14 states, focusing on 34 value chains and has so far disbursed over Rs 1600 crore worth of credit, impacting 2 million farmers, indirectly.

Samunnati provides financial intermediation, market linkages as well as advisory services. Unlike traditional lenders who tend to focus on crop loans or agricultural input loans, the company leverages the relationships between suppliers & buyers to assess risk and enable financial intermediation. It offers customised financial products such as working capital loans to Community Based Organisations (CBO) and receivable finance to Agri SMEs, respectively.

Anil Kumar SG, Founder & CEO, Samunnati Financial Intermediation & Services Pvt. Ltd said, “We are pleased to on-board Symbiotics as a partner in enabling agricultural value chains to reach a higher equilibrium. We see a strong mission alignment between Samunnati’s focus on providing working capital solutions to value chain actors along with market linkages & advisory services and Symbiotics’ stated mission of providing under-served businesses with access to capital.”

Daniel Schriber, head of investments at Symbiotics, said “We are delighted to establish this new partnership with such an innovative company as Samunnati and look forward to championing the development and growth of small-holder farmer organisations and agri-enterprises along the agricultural value chain in India.

In India, agri-value chains continue to face immense constraints in accessing formal financial services. It is estimated that only 30% of the total agriculture demand in India is met by institutional credit. For many agribusinesses and smallholder farmers with neither a long credit history nor the ability to provide collateral, there is limited or no access to loans.