IFC fires ₹640 cr in Mahindra Finance

International Finance Corp. (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has recently invested ₹640 crore ($100 million) in Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services Ltd (Mahindra Finance), a non-banking financial company, focused on the rural and semi-urban sector. The funding infusion into the company will enable Mahindra Finance to boost growth, by extending loans to agriculture infrastructure covering lending to farmers buying equipment and vehicles along with financing small and medium enterprises. The investment in Mahindra Finance, the country’s leading rural finance company and India’s largest tractor financier reaching more than half of India’s 6,00,000 inhabited villages, said an official spokesperson Mahindra Finance, adding that mechanized farming can cut costs by 25% and raise productivity by 20% and will go a long way meeting the government’s target of doubling farmers’ incomes by 2022.