Northern Arc Capital Ltd. Company History and Annual Growth Details

Our Company was incorporated on March 9, 1989 at Madras, India as ‘Highland Leasing & Finance Private Limited’, a private limited company under the Companies Act, 1956 and was granted a certificate of incorporation by the RoC. After the acquisition of our Company by the IFMR Trust in 2008, the name of our Company was changed to ‘IFMR Capital Finance Private Limited’ and a fresh certificate of incorporation dated June 19, 2009 was issued by the RoC. Our Company was converted into a public limited company under the Companies Act, 2013, and consequently, the name of our Company was changed to ‘IFMR Capital Finance Limited’ and a fresh certificate of incorporation dated December 12, 2017 was issued by the RoC. Subsequently, pursuant to a rebranding exercise, the name of our Company was changed to ‘Northern Arc Capital Limited’ and a fresh certificate of incorporation dated February 20, 2018 was issued by the RoC.

Major Events:

2008

• Acquisition of 100% shareholding in our Company by IFMR Trust

2009

• Commenced our operations as a platform catering to diverse credit requirements

• Entered the microfinance sector

• Undertook the country’s first microfinance securitization transaction to enable funding to a microfinance institution.

2010

• Arranged and structured India’s first pooled multi-originator securitisation transaction (MOSECR) which enabled funding to four Originator Partners operating in the microfinance sector.

• Completed our first placement of a microfinance securitisation with private individual investor

2011

• Entered the MSME finance sector

• Approved as a partner- financial institution by the Asian Development Bank to enable partial-guarantee backed lending to Indian MFIs. Through the partnership, total loans of ?8.93 billion under this program have been facilitated to ADB-approved MFIs

2013

• Entered the vehicle finance and affordable housing finance sectors

• Completed India’s first listed securitisation of microfinance loans, which enabled funding to eight Originator Partners operating in the microfinance sector.

2014

• Credit Rating of commercial paper programme upgraded to A1+ and credit rating of long term bank facilities, non-convertible debentures, and subordinated debt upgraded to A+

• Raised equity from LeapFrog Financial Inclusion India Holdings Ltd, which was a subsidiary of LeapFrog II Holdings, Ltd. and a step down subsidiary of LeapFrog Financial Inclusion Fund II, LP and LeapFrog Financial Inclusion Fund II-B, LP, which are funds focused on financial inclusion in emerging markets

• Structured and arranged our first pooled bond issuance, which enabled funding to 10 Originator Partners operating in the microfinance sector and one Originator Partner operating in education finance sector.

• Obtained SEBI registration for NAIM’s first alternative investment fund, a Category I – Social Venture Fund. Subsequently, we launched a long-term microfinance debt fund as a scheme of the fund.

2015

• Arranged our first ECB transaction for an Originator Partner in the microfinance sector

2016

• Entered the agricultural supply chain finance sector

• Obtained a trademark registration for “MOSECR”

• Raised equity from Standard Chartered Bank (entire shareholding of Standard Chartered Bank was transferred to Augusta in December, 2019) and Eight Roads

• Expanded our platform with commencement of retail business

• Expanded our platform with commencement of business with mid-market companies

2017

• Structured and arranged the country’s first pooled loan issuance product which enabled funding to eight Originator Partners operating across microfinance, vehicle finance and MSME finance sectors

• Structured and arranged the country’s first single issuer partial credit enhanced (SPiCE) bond which enabled funding to an Originator Partner operating in the vehicle finance sector

• Structured the country’s first collateralised loan obligation transaction which enabled us to securitise receivables from a select pool of term loans advanced by us to four Originator Partners operating in the microfinance and MSME finance sectors.

• Accorded ‘Impact Business Models Rating - Platinum’ rating by GIIRS Ratings for our socially and environmentally focussed products on a scale of bronze to platinum where platinum is the highest possible rating.

2018

• Name changed to Northern Arc Capital Limited

• Undertook our first persistent securitization transaction which was also India’s first vehicle loan backed securitisation transaction with replenishing structure. This transaction enabled funding to an Originator Partner operating in the vehicle finance sector.

• Accorded ‘Impact Business Models Rating - Platinum’ rating by GIIRS Ratings for our socially and environmentally focussed products for a second time

2019

• Underwent reorganization pursuant to the Scheme and became a company without any identifiable promoters

• Entered the consumer finance sector

• Facilitated the first successful exit for investors of an AIF managed by NAIM.

• Structured and arranged the country’s first issuance of dual-recourse debentures which enabled funding to an Originator Partner operating in the vehicle finance sector.

• Completed equity raise from IIFL Funds and strategic investment by SMBC, a global systemically important bank

• NAIM’s was accorded ‘Impact Business Models Rating – Platinum’ rating by GIIRS Ratings for its socially and environmentally focussed products 

2020

• Commenced disbursement of microfinance loans under our retail business through Nimbus

• Completed disbursement of 100,000 retail loans in the financial year ended March 31, 2020

• Arranged and structured India’s first securitisation transaction involving trade receivables which enabled funding to 10 vendors

• Shortlisted by NABARD to act as co-guarantor under the “Structured Finance and Partial Credit Guarantee Program to NBFC-MFIs”

• Case study on the Company included in the report on ‘Social Stock Exchanges’ published by a working group constituted by SEBI

• Company’s role in funding MFIs during the 2019 liquidity crunch mentioned in RBI bulletin

• Publication of an article by our former managing director and chief executive officer in relation to microfinance recovery analysis on the blog of World Bank

2021

• Completed disbursement of retail loans of an aggregate amount of ?10 billion through Nimbus in the financial year ended March 31, 2021

• Obtained debt funding from USDFC and Asian Development Bank

• Entered into a project services agreement with a global development institution for collaboration on gender advisory programme

• Incorporation of Pragati with the aim of offering small ticket loans to underserved rural and semi-urban areas of the country

• Launched AltiFi, a retail investment platform that democratizes debt securities for investment opportunities to retail individuals and corporates

• Registration of NAIM with the SEBI as a portfolio manager

• Executed the first offshore pool bond issuance with an international DFI under their COVID-19 response program (Source: CRISIL Report) 

2022

• Acquisition of identified assets and liabilities of S.M.I.L.E. Microfinance Limited, along with its loan portfolio of ?3,180.00 million and 144 branches

• Registration of Northern Arc Emerging Corporates Bond Trust

• Launch of supply chain financing, education loan and MSME loan against property business

• Partnership with a public sector bank in relation to access to our Company’s nPOS platform

• Appointment of Ashish Mehrotra as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer 

2023

• Achieved ?100,000 million assets under management

• Launch of NuScore

• ICRA Rating upgrade to AA-(Stable) for non-convertible debentures, market linked debentures, long-term fund based limits, long-term loans, long term-non fund based credit exposure limits and subordinated debt

• Launched subscription to public issuances of bonds on Altifi

• Expanded our direct presence to 10 of 28 states with approximately 250 branches across India

• Collaboration with a private sector bank for nPOS platform utilization

• Raised over ?1.50 trillion in funding for our clients through our platform

2024

• Completed equity raise from IFC, RJ Corp Limited and Varun Jaipuria

• Impacted over 100 million lives

• Received certificate of registration from the IRDAI to act as a corporate agent (composite)

• Expanded our direct presence to 13 of 28 states with approximately 300 branches across India

• Obtained debt funding of USD 75 million from an entrepreneurial development bank

• Registration of ‘Northern Arc Finserv Fund’ and ‘Northern Arc Fintech NBFC Fund I’ with the SEBI