Guwahati : North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Limited (NEDFi) held its 27th annual general meeting on September 28 at its registered office at Guwahati to present its annual report for 2021-22 to the shareholders. While welcoming the shareholders, CMD NEDFi PVSLN Murty highlighted its achievements .
The year had the highest growth of sanctions qand disbursements and also crossed gross profit of Rs 100 crore.
In a statement, NEDFi said a panoramic view of last year’s financial performance of the Corporation shows noticeable improvement in all parameters. Thus, despite the challenges posed by the operating environment, the Corporation has more shock absorbing capability. The coporation’s risk management practices have delivered better results especially in containing slippages.
The corporation said it has till date, facilitated around Rs 18000 crore of capital investments in the region through its interventions . The major thrust areas are health care, tourism & hospitality , education and agri-processing.
Income and earnings
In FY 22, the gross income of the corporation increased year-on-year by 7.77% to Rs199.21 crore against Rs 184.84 crore.
Performance highlights
Business
During the year, the corporation’s sanctions and disbursements were Rs 719.01 crore and Rs 415.23 crore against the previous year’s figure of Rs 380.06 crore and Rs 311.29 crore respectively. As on March 31, 2022, the Corporation had extended financial assistance to 8694 projects with cumulative sanction & disbursement of Rs 6587 crore and Rs 4949 crore respectively. The loan outstanding as on March 31, 2022 was Rs 1228.11 crore against Rs 1104.50 crore in the previous year.
Thec corporation said it will continue to focus on the micro, small & medium enterprises and micro borrowers by extending financial assistance at concessional rate of interest, while supporting projects funding to all major sectors, mentoring assistance, capacity building, marketing linkages, develop new products & services and use of technology to reach out to the un-served & under-served areas for more geographical coverage. Through the Business Correspondence ( BC Model ) , the corporation is extending its arms to the grassroot borrowers at a cheaper rate of interest.
North East Venture Fund
The corporation, jointly with the Ministry of DoNER, had set up the North East Venture Fund (NEVF) with a corpus of Rs100 crore. As on March 31, 2022, the fund had provided, in-principle, commitment of Rs 81.86 crore for 51 portfolio companies.
New initiatives in FY 2022
Apart from extending financial assistance, NEDFi undertook various initiatives to promote entrepreneurship in the region.
New schemes were launched to assist micro entrepreneurs, artisans, tea growers, self-employed professionals and doctors. Besides, NEDFi micro lending scheme was launched to extend direct finance at cheaper rate, through business correspondents, to the micro entrepreneurs in the un-served & under-served areas of the region. New branches were opened at various locations to increase reach and coverage in the region. Single window online loan application was launched in NEDFi’s web portal (www.nedfi.com). NEDFi signed MoU with Federation of Industries of North-Eastern Region (FINER) & Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) for promoting & nurturing entrepreneurship, generating employment and creating empowerment of weaker sections. Under the North Eastern Council, NEDFi launched an “one stop solution” web portal for career and livelihood, titled “Advancing North East”. The portal aims to facilitate informed career decisions by the students, job seekers and entrepreneurs of the region and improve their competitiveness at the national & global level.
Corporate Social Responsibility
The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives of the corporation focuses on women empowerment, livelihood enhancement projects, employment enhancing vocational skills and development of craft sector in the rural & backward areas through promotion of entrepreneurship.
The corporation has promoted a society namely North East Society for Handicraft Incubation & Livelihood Promotion (NE-SHILP) to facilitate marketing support to the artisans of the region through participation in exhibitions, trade fairs and sales through its various showrooms and making their products competitive through innovation, skill upgradation and adoption of appropriate tools & technologies. During the year, around 1500 artisans benefitted from the marketing support initiatives of the Corporation.
Way forward
The corporation said it will endeavour to accelerate the growth & demand for credit in the region and has set for itself an aspirational growth target for FY 2023 which will be achieved through sound strategy and innovative approach.
In his address,the CMD NEDFi thanked the members of the Board for their valuable guidance, support and counsel and the unstinting support from the M-DoNER, the state governments of the region, banks, financial institutions and other organisations in the North East. He also placed on record the appreciation for the trust and support of all the shareholders- IDBI Bank, LICI, SBI, SIDBI, ICICI Bank, IFCI, SUUTI, GIC & subsidiaries.
