Yes Bank secures over $100-million from US to fund women-run units, SMEs

Mumbai: Private sector lender Yes Bank on Friday said it will lend USD 50 million each to businesses owned by women and SMEs through loan agreements signed with the US development finance body Opic and American retail lender Wells Fargo.

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (Opic), a development finance institution of US government, will provide USD 75 million in financing. Another tranche of up to USD 75 million in syndicated financing will be jointly arranged by Wells Fargo Bank and Opic.

The bank has signed an agreement with both Opic and Wells Fargo, it said in a statement.

This is the third such agreement signed by the Yes Bank, after a USD 265-million facility which will be used for SME financing and a USD 50-million loan from the IFC in March 2016 for women entrepreneurs.

"This agreement with Opic further strengthens our ability to fund and support the unique needs of SMEs and the entrepreneurial ecosystem, thus boosting the developmental agenda in low-income states," Yes Bank managing director and chief executive Rana Kapoor said.

Opic acting president Dev Jagadesan said the tie-up is aimed at fostering economic growth in India by alleviating the financial challenges faced by SMEs.

At present, only a fourth of the three million women-owned businesses which create eight million jobs get the finance they need to grow, the statement said.

Small and medium enterprises contribute 45 percent of industrial output and employ 42 million people in the country, it said.