Mumbai: Agriwise Finserv Limited, one of India’s fastest growing agri-focussed NBFC’s, entered into a co-lending agreement with Central Bank of India, one of India’s oldest banks, with agriculture being one of the key thrust areas for agri-loan disbursal. The co-lending agreement will ensure that the farmer, agri and allied community get finance at affordable rates in a simple, transparent and speedy manner. The loan will be disbursed at a blended interest rate, as per the RBI directive on co-lending of loans.
MrSuresh Goyal, MD signed the agreement on behalf of Agriwise; the ceremony witnessed the august presence of senior officials of Central Bank of India, Mr Rajeev Puri (ED), Mr Vivek Wahi (ED), Mr Sundeep Gulati (GM, ARD & FI), Mr S S Rao (GM, MSME & Fintech) and Mr S S Murty (DGM, ARD & FI).
Mr Kalpesh Ojha, Chief Financial Officer, Agriwise,led this initiative along with his team. Commenting on the tie-up, Mr Ojha, said, “It is a matter of great pride and prestige to partner with Central Bank of India in our journey towards sustainable financial solutions in rural India. We are committed to enlarging our portfolio to underserved and unserved rural customer segments and increasing our offerings to our current customers. We wish to leverage partnerships that bring together our strength of reach and customer insights with the banks lower cost of funds. In parallel, our strong technology backbone is helping us capture unique customer insights to deliver our product & solutions in a seamless, transparent and fair manner.”
Mr. Rajeev Puri, Executive Director, Central Bank of India, said, ” We are focussed on lending to the agriculture sector as priority sector lending is a key goal to empower our farmer community. With this tie-up, we wish to reach a larger and deeper set of customers in the rural and agri-sector. Agriwise with its specialised knowledge and experience in dealing with agri and allied sectors will enable us to serve a broader set of customers.”
Agriwise has disbursed over Rs. 1,250 crores of loans as of FY 21 and has an ever-growing customer base of over 3000 in the agri and allied sector. In line with the Government of India’s focus on rural empowerment and Reserve Bank of India’s co-lending model (CLM), the company has set up a dedicated department for the co-lending business to provide affordable loans to the agri-community. Transforming the Indian farmer into agripreneurs by catering to their fund requirements through innovative products and digitalisation is a vital goal of the company. As a result, the company today is one of the most trusted ‘one-stop’ shops for the Indian farmer and agri-community.