Lendingkart Fin raises $10mn debt from Kotak Mahindra, others
(R provisions of Sebi Act,” said the second person cited above.
“The audit committees of the respective companies have concluded that all applicable corporate governance norms were followed. The respective companies in their annual reports have carried appropriate disclosures that the allegations made by Mr Mistry were incorrect,” said a spokesperson for Tata Sons in an emailed response.
The allegation against Tata Motors pertained to the Nano small car project. Mistry said the company was required to sell the car at ₹1 lakh, below the cost of production. The product consistently lost money, peaking at ₹1,000 crore, he claimed.
“It is correct that the audit committee met in end March 2017 to review amongst others the correspondence exchanged by the company with Sebi and the stock exchanges with respect to Mr Cyrus Mistry’s complaints which alleged corporate governance lapses,” a spokesperson for Tata Motors said in an emailed response.
“The committee generally concluded that it agreed with the management’s responses and had submitted its report to Sebi. The Company would like to categorically deny the references and would like to state that it has robust systems in place to ensure compliance to all regulatory requirements. The Company’s Board exercises its independence, both in letter and in spirit and have always acted and continue to act in the best interests of the Company.”
Allegations against Tata Power pertained to aggressive bidding for the Mundra project, which led to losses of ₹1,500 crore in 2013-14. Mistry said Indian Hotels had sold international properties at a loss and raised the issue of impairments at Tata Steel’s European steel business. The Tata group acquired the business through the purchase of Corus Group Plc in 2007.
Emails sent to Tata Power, Tata Steel and Indian Hotels on Tuesday — followed up by reminders on Thursday — were not answered.
Lendingkart Finance Ltd, the non-banking financial company (NBFC) which is part of the Lendingkart Group, has raised $10 million or ₹67 crore in debt from Kotak Mahindra Bank, Aditya Birla Financial Services and other financial institutions.
The announcement comes shortly after the company raised ₹50 crore (as debt) from Yes Bank Ltd in June.
The corpus will be used to grow its lending programme to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and widen its pan-India presence, the company said on Thursday. Together with its credit scoring unit Lendingkart Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Lendingkart Finance offers collateral-free loans to SMEs for their working capital and other requirements.
“The funds from this round will be used to replenish our loan book and widen our range across the country,” said Harshvardhan Lunia, CEO and co-founder, Lendingkart Technologies.
Lendingkart has borrowed at least ₹250 crore from the market till date excluding the current round. The funds have come from at least two banks and various NBFCs, including IFMR Capital Finance Pvt Ltd, Hinduja Leyland Finance Ltd, Caspian Impact Investments Pvt Ltd, Mannapuram Finance Ltd and Sundaram Finance Ltd.
Lendingkart was founded in 2014 by Lunia and Mukul Sachan. It underwrites loans online to SMEs, lending at an annualized interest rate of 16-24%. It claims to have supported 9,500 businesses across 23 sectors.