Incofin's India Progress Fund achieves first close at Rs 450 Cr

Incofin Investment Management on Thursday announced the first close of its India Progress Fund (IPF), which is focussed on financial inclusion and agriculture, at Rs 450 crore.

The fund will make private equity investments in the agri food value chain and financial services in rural India, Incofin IM said in a statement.

The committed capital comes from a diverse set of private and institutional investors including CDC, Proparco, Korys, BIO, and several Belgian family offices and foundations.

The India Progress Fund will support entrepreneurs through patient capital, mentoring and access to a global network. IPF will focus on two sectors which make the deepest social impact -- financial inclusion and the agri-food value chain.

The modernisation of the agri value chain and rural financial inclusion is an underinvested opportunity in India with significant potential for rural impact and for creating meaningful enterprises. We are grateful to our investors for enabling us to execute this investment strategy, said Rahul Rai, Partner, Incofin IM.

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The fund will focus on minority investments with an investment size of Rs 25-70 crore.

Incofin IM benefits from an Indian footprint of over a decade with successful growth capital investments through local teams in Chennai and New Delhi.

Some of the prior equity investments of Incofin in India include -- Fusion Microfinance, SAVE Solutions, Sohan Lal Commodity Management, Annapurna Finance, Light Microfinance .

"Over the last 13 years of being present in India, Incofin has first-hand practical rural market experience. Success from microfinance shall be carried forward to the large unmet missing middle. IPF shall back entrepreneurs aiming to challenge the status quo, in the process to transform from informal to formal market setup, Aditya Bhandari, Partner Incofin IM, said.

The IPF is a private equity impact fund managed by Incofin Investment Management or Incofin Investment IM.