Inditrade MFI takes over rival Janakalyan

Mumbai, Oct 7 (PTI) The Chennai-based Inditrade Microfinance on Friday announced the takeover and merger of the Kolkata-based rival Janakalyan Financial Services for an undisclosed sum.

The merger of two MFIs will give a push to Inditrade's business as the combined entity, which will be known as Inditrade Janakalyan Microfinance, will have a pan-India presence across 12 states, and one Union Territory.

The merger also involves absorbing all the employees of Janakalyan, the companies said in a joint statement.

Inditrade MFI is part of Inditrade Capital, and is led by group chairman Sudip Bandyopadhyay, while Janakalyan is now led by chairman SK Mitra, but the merged entity will be led by one Alok Biswas as the managing director, the companies said.

The statement did not offer any financial details of the merger or what will happen to the management of Janakalyan, except saying all its employees will be absorbed. The statement also did not offer a merger timeline.

Commenting on the merger, Bandyopadhyay said the combined entity will have a loan book of over Rs 2,000 crore and will be present across 12 states, and one Union territory.

Janakalyan's Mitra said the merger will help the new entity serve around 4 lakh customers who are all women and also reach out to many more with an improved suite of products and services.

As of June, Inditrade Microfinance, founded in 2016 in Chennai, had over 2.8 lakh customers served through its 170 branches spread over nine states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar, Gujarat and the Union territory of Puducherry.

Janakalyan Financial Services, which began operations in March 2017 from Kolkata, had nearly 1 lakh customers as of June, with 75 branches across six states--Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, Assam, and Tripura. PTI BEN MR MR