GUWAHATI:
The North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Limited (NEDFi) is laying special emphasis on micro, small & medium enterprises (MSME) and micro borrowers by extending financial assistance at concessional rate of interest, informed NEDFi chairman-cum-managing director, PVSLN Murty, at the 27th annual general meeting of the corporation held in Guwahati September 28.
The Corporation, jointly with the Ministry of DoNER, had set up the North East Venture Fund (NEVF) with a corpus of Rs 100 crore. As on March 31 2022, the fund had provided an in-principle commitment of Rs 81.86 crore for 51 portfolio companies, Murty said.
He also informed that apart from extending financial assistance, NEDFi has undertaken various initiatives to promote entrepreneurship in the region.
New schemes were launched to assist micro-entrepreneurs, artisans, tea growers, self-employed professionals and doctors. Besides, NEDFi Micro Lending Scheme was launched to extend direct finance at a cheaper rate, through Business Correspondents, to the micro-entrepreneurs in the un-served & under-served areas of the region, he said.
New branches were opened at various locations to increase reach and coverage in the region. A single window online loan application was launched in NEDFi’s web portal (www.nedfi.com), Murty also said.
NEDFi signed MoU with the Federation of Industries of North Eastern Region (FINER) & Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) for promoting & nurturing entrepreneurship, generating employment and creating empowerment of weaker sections. Under the aegis of the North Eastern Council (NEC), NEDFi launched a “one-stop solution” web portal for career and livelihood, titled “Advancing North East”. The portal aims to facilitate informed career decisions by the students, job seekers and entrepreneurs of the Region and improve their competitiveness at the national & global level, he also said.
As regards to the profit of the company, he said the year had the highest growth of sanctions and disbursements and also crossed a gross profit of Rs 100 crore.
The gross income of the corporation increased year-on-year by 7.77% to Rs 199.21 crore against Rs 184.84 crores.
During the year, the Corporation’s sanctions and disbursements were Rs 719.01 crore and Rs 415.23 crore against the previous year’s figure of Rs 380.06 crore and Rs 311.29 crore respectively.
As on March 31 2022, the Corporation had extended financial assistance to 8,694 projects with cumulative sanction & disbursement of Rs 6587 crore and Rs 4949 crore respectively.
The loan outstanding as on March 31, 2022, was Rs 1228.11 crore against Rs 1104.50 crore in the previous year.
A panoramic view of last year’s financial performance of the corporation shows a noticeable improvement in all parameters. Thus, despite the challenges posed by the operating environment, the corporation has more shock-absorbing capability. The corporation’s risk management practices have delivered better results especially in containing slippages, he said.
The corporation has to date, facilitated around Rs 18,000 crore of capital investments in the region through its interventions. The major thrust areas are health care, tourism & hospitality, education and agri-processing, he added.