New Delhi: In order to increase the scale and coverage, the National Minorities Development & Finance Corporation (NMDFC), a Section 8 not-for- profit public sector undertaking, working under the aegis of the Ministry of Minority Affairs, is planning to introduce Market Linked Lending Programme with funds borrowed from the market.

NMDFC has engaged the services of Care Ratings Pvt Ltd for credit rating to undertake market borrowing. Based on  the assessment of business model, strengths and proposed credit plans of  NMDFC, Care Ratings  Pvt Ltd has accorded ‘A: Stable’ rating to NMDFC, as per an official statement.

NMDFC is one of the few PSUs in the social sector that has received this rating.  Welcoming the rating, CMD Dr Rakesh Sarwal commented that this Credit Rating by CARE will unlock commercial borrowing for NMDFC in a competitive, credible and sustainable manner to benefit the small credit needs of the minority community for market based enterprises.

The prime mandate of NMDFC is to provide concessional finance for self- employment and income generation activities to the backward sections among the Minority Communities, namely, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis  and Jains  with a preference  being given to occupational groups and women. /BI/