Vinod Khosla makes largest Microfinance investment in India

Hyderabad, Mar 28 (UNI) Vinod Khosla, along with other social venture capitalists, the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and SKS borrower community, made a Rs 11 crore (2.5 m US dollar) investment in SKS Microfinance today.

''The deal is the largest-ever investment in any microfinance installation in India. SKS, whose mission is to provide financial services to the poor will use the investment to access commercial debt and scale outreach from its current base of 200,000 clients in 2006-07,'' a company press release said.

''I am impressed with the people and processes at SKS and am confident that this investment will enable them to serve even more poor families throughout the country,'' said Khosla.

''Of the Rs 11 crore investment, Khosla has contributed Rs 2.1 crore (470,000 US Dollars) while technology entrepreneurs Ravi Reddy and Sandeep Tungare, co-founders of Vistaar Technologies, have contributed a combined Rs 2.1 crore. The Unitus Equity Fund (UEF) also invested Rs 2.1 crore. The UEF is managed by a subsidiary of Unitus, a Redmond, Washington-based global microfinance accelerator.

In addtion, SKS borrowers have increased their current investment from Rs 2 crore (450,000 US dollars) to Rs 6.5 crore (1.5 million US dollars) and the SIDBI has expanded its current investment from Rs 50 lakhs (112,000 US dollars) to Rs 1 crore (225,000 US dollars).'' ''SKS is on the cutting edge of microfinance, deploying state-of-the-art technologies to reduce operational and transaction costs. This approach will enable SKS to serve its clients more effectively and achieve its ambitious goals,'' remarked Reddy, a supporter of SKS since its inception in 1998.

''SKS is an industry leader in financial transparency, innovation and rapid growth-they are exactly the type of partner we want to build strong relationships with,'' said Geoff Davis, President and CEO of Unitus.

SKS CEO, Vikram Akula, noted, ''we are delighted to have these world-class investors join SKS. They bring deep knowledge of how to scale companies and SKS will benefit tremendously from the skills and experience they have.'' UNI SM VV 2018