subject: Ifc To Extend Trade Financing To Kotak To Help Smes [print this page] The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has decided to provide trade financing worth US$51 million to Kotak Mahindra Bank as a part of its strategy to help SMEs in India.
IFCs decision to extend funds to Kotak Mahindra Bank bears testimony to its commitment to help small and mid-sized businesses in India and other emerging markets tide over the adverse effects of the global economic crisis, stated Lars Thunell, executive vice president and chief executive of IFC.
Kotak Mahindra is the first bank in India that has been chosen by IFC for extending trade finance in the country. As a part of the trade finance facility, IFC would provide the bank risk coverage.
By extending trade finance facility to Kotak Mahindra, IFC will be able to enhance the banks ability to extend short-term trade funding for SMEs in the country. This, in turn, will be beneficial for the SME sector, given their limited access to foreign currency financing amid the ongoing global financial crisis, said Anuj Chandak, senior analyst of Chowksi Securities, a small-sized trading firm in Mumbai.
Under its Global Trade Finance Programme, IFC will help Kotak Mahindra to provide a wider base of short-term foreign-currency trade finance products to SMEs in India.
