India : IND: Strengthening Rural Financial Inclusion and Farmer Access to Markets: Axis Bank and Yes Bank
The assistance includes two senior unsecured loans, both up to $200 million to Axis Bank Limited (ABL) and YES Bank Limited (YBL) and a capacity development technical assistance grant of up to $2 million to both ABL and YBL. Both banks will lend the Indian rupee equivalent amount of ADB's aggregate loan disbursements to eligible borrowers to finance working capital and investment loans targeting (i) small farm households, and (ii) rural women, organized in either savings and credit self-help groups (SHGs). The technical assistance will be used by the banks (i) to enhance the supervision and monitoring of their business correspondents, including their internal controls; (ii) to improve the financial literacy of business correspondent-affiliated women SHGs; and (iii) to continue the development of financial service products linking small farmers to markets and loan products targeted to specific regional crops for small farmers.
Project Details
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Project Officer
Doukidis, Doukas
Private Sector Operations Department
Request for information -
Country/Economy
India -
Modality
-
Sector
- Finance
Project Name | IND: Strengthening Rural Financial Inclusion and Farmer Access to Markets: Axis Bank and Yes Bank | ||||||||||
Project Number | 48278-001 | ||||||||||
Borrower / Company | Axis Bank Limited YES BANK LIMITED |
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Country / Economy | India |
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Location | |||||||||||
Type or Modality of Assistance |
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Strategic Agendas | Inclusive economic growth |
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Drivers of Change | Governance and capacity development Knowledge solutions Partnerships Private sector development |
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Sector / Subsector | Finance / Finance sector development - Inclusive finance |
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Gender | Effective gender mainstreaming | ||||||||||
Responsible ADB Department | Private Sector Operations Department | ||||||||||
Responsible ADB Division | Portfolio Management Division, PSOD | ||||||||||
Responsible ADB Officer | Doukidis, Doukas | ||||||||||
Project Sponsor(s) | |||||||||||
Description | The assistance includes two senior unsecured loans, both up to $200 million to Axis Bank Limited (ABL) and YES Bank Limited (YBL) and a capacity development technical assistance grant of up to $2 million to both ABL and YBL. Both banks will lend the Indian rupee equivalent amount of ADB's aggregate loan disbursements to eligible borrowers to finance working capital and investment loans targeting (i) small farm households, and (ii) rural women, organized in either savings and credit self-help groups (SHGs). The technical assistance will be used by the banks (i) to enhance the supervision and monitoring of their business correspondents, including their internal controls; (ii) to improve the financial literacy of business correspondent-affiliated women SHGs; and (iii) to continue the development of financial service products linking small farmers to markets and loan products targeted to specific regional crops for small farmers. | ||||||||||
Objectives and Scope | ADB''s assistance will contribute towards the following objectives: (i) Support of scalable lending models for priority sectors and inclusive agriculture growth. The current level of commercial bank lending to agriculture in India remains inadequate and limited access to finance for the rural population constrains their ability to undertake critical investments to improve yields and income. By channeling funds and providing TA to ABL and YBL for lending to small farmers and rural women, ADB''s support will not only contribute appreciably towards both banks' efforts to meet priority sector lending targets, but also signal to the market and catalyze more local bank finance to support the development of this important sector, helping to alleviate rural poverty. (ii)Strengthening the banking sector by providing bank access to long-term funding. ADB's loans will make a sizeable contribution to ABL and YBL's funding in support of rural financial inclusion. (iii)Technical assistance. ADB''s TA will directly complement ADB's credit lines, supporting the buildup of both banks' inclusive business strategies via business correspondents and targeted lending products to small farmers, using innovative approaches for linking them to markets. ADB's TA will help improve the integrity of credit data at the farmer level, and enhance credit assessment and risk management at both banks, which will benefit farmers with improved access to credit. With ADB''s assistance, the banks' business models can become scalable and replicable flagship initiatives to support inclusive and commercially viable approaches to funding farmers and women borrowers through SHGs. (iv)Effective gender mainstreaming. The assistance includes a comprehensive approach to improve YBL's ability to reach an additional 2.5 million rural, low-income women. This includes women's awareness of financial planning, savings, and borrowing for their farm and household needs as reflected in the gender action plan. |
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Status of Development Objectives | Achieved the development objective of improving access to finance for small farmers and women in rural areas. | ||||||||||
Status of Operation/Construction | Axis Bank's (Loan 3195) operation loan is fully disbursed and repaying and Yes Bank's (Loan 3196) operation loan is fully disbursed and repaid. | ||||||||||
Linkage to Country/Regional Strategy | Under Strategy 2020, ADB aims to strengthen the financial sector by promoting inclusive growth. Inclusive finance will be supported by the focus on rural areas where productivity is low and the potential for income generation is high. The assistance is also consistent with ADB's country partnership strategy, 2013-2017 for India, which highlights the importance of inclusive growth through inclusive financial systems. ADB will assist both banks to expand their services to small farmers and low-income women, which is consistent with the government's efforts as emphasized in the Mor Report. ADB's nonsovereign support will complement earlier and ongoing sovereign efforts in capital market and rural credit cooperative restructuring, as well as agribusiness infrastructure development. |
Safeguard Categories | |
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Environment | FI |
Involuntary Resettlement | FI-C |
Indigenous Peoples | FI-C |
Summary of Environmental and Social Aspects | |
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Environmental Aspects | The loan is classified category FI for environment. Due to the nature of the investments involved, no significant environmental impact is expected. |
Involuntary Resettlement | No IR impact is expected due to the nature of investments involved. |
Indigenous Peoples | No IP impact is expected due to the nature of investments involved. |
Stakeholder Communication, Participation, and Consultation | The participating banks and their affiliated business correspondents follow a well-established participatory approach in forming groups and holding regularly scheduled, structured group meetings. This is adequately reflected in the banks' product policy papers for SHGs. The participating banks and their affiliated business correspondents have adequate processes in place that encourage participation. |
Timetable for assistance design, processing and implementation | |
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Concept Clearance | 21 Jul 2014 |
Credit Committee Meeting | - |
Approval | 18 Nov 2014 |
Last PDS Update | 10 Sep 2021 |
Project Data Sheets (PDS) contain summary information on the project or program. Because the PDS is a work in progress, some information may not be included in its initial version but will be added as it becomes available. Information about proposed projects is tentative and indicative.
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Title | Document Type | Document Date |
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Strengthening Rural Financial Inclusion and Farmer Access to Markets: YES Bank Limited Extended Annual Review Report | Extended Annual Review Reports | Sep 2018 |
Strengthening Rural Financial Inclusion and Farmer Access to Markets: Axis Bank Limited Extended Annual Review Report | Extended Annual Review Reports | Aug 2018 |
Strengthening Rural Financial Inclusion and Farmer Access to Markets: Axis Bank and Yes Bank: Project Data Sheet (हिन्दी) | Translated PDS | Apr 2015 |
Strengthening Rural Financial Inclusion and Farmer Access to Markets - Axis Bank and Yes Bank: Initial Poverty and Social Analysis | Initial Poverty and Social Analysis | Apr 2015 |
Strengthening Rural Financial Inclusion and Farmer Access to Markets - Axis Bank and Yes Bank: Report and Recommendation of the President | Reports and Recommendations of the President | Oct 2014 |
Safeguard Documents See also: Safeguards
Safeguard documents provided at the time of project/facility approval may also be found in the list of linked documents provided with the Report and Recommendation of the President.
None currently available.
Evaluation Documents See also: Independent Evaluation
None currently available.
Related Publications
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