NepalPSW-Nirdhan Utthan Bank Limited (IFC-40193)

Countries
  • Nepal
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • International Finance Corporation (IFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
C
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Jun 20, 2019
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
Nirdhan Utthan Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Finance
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 10.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Jun 19, 2019

Disclosed by Bank May 15, 2019

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the bank website, the proposed project involves a debt investment in Nirdhan Utthan Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited (“Nirdhan” or the “Bank”, formerly known as Nirdhan Utthan Bank), operating in Nepal with a borrower base of more than 338 thousand women borrowers and a loan portfolio of approximately US$155 million as of January 2019. Nirdhan is a leading retail Microfinance Institution (MFI), and provides microfinance services such as loans, deposits, micro-insurance and remittance services to low income households of Nepal. Nirdhan follows the Joint-Liability Group (JLG) lending model. IFC’s proposed investment will help the company to expand microfinance, including to Very Small Enterprises (VSEs), in the underserved regions and population segments in Nepal.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

According to IFC, Nirdhan was set up in 1998 by Dr. Harihar Dev Pant. The Bank is a listed entity, listed on Nepal Stock Exchange and 49% shareholding is held by public. Institutional investors and promoters hold 51% shareholding in the Bank, including 3 commercial banks- Nabil Bank Limited, Himalayan Bank Limited, and Everest Bank Limited that together hold 24.62%, Nirdhan NGO and Grameen Trust Bangladesh (11.01%), IFC (7.54%) and the remaining 7.83% by private individuals.

Financial Intermediary
A financial intermediary is a bank or financial institution that receives funds from a development bank. A financial intermediary then lends these funds to their clients (private actors) in the form of loans, bonds, guarantees and equity shares. Financial intermediaries include insurance, pension and equity funds. The direct financial relationship is between the development bank and the financial intermediary.

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

Nirdhan Utthan Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited
Janardan Dev Pant, CEO
+977-1- 4413711
info@nirdhan.com.np
Nirdhan Bhawan Bhagwatibahal, Naxal -1 Kathmandu, Nepal
www.nirdhan.com.np

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an IFC or MIGA- financed project. If you submit a complaint to the CAO, they may assist you in resolving a dispute with the company and/or investigate to assess whether the IFC is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. If you want to submit a complaint electronically, you can email the CAO at CAO@worldbankgroup.org. You can learn more about the CAO and how to file a complaint at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org/

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