NEDFi

Pick the right door

• You need a loan to set up or grow a business in the North East: one of the four loan products, depending on whether it is a new project, an existing business, working capital or a women-led venture.
• You are a startup raising equity-style investment in the North East: the North East Venture Fund.
• You are a Manipur-based startup: the Manipur Startup Venture Fund.
• You are a DPIIT recognised private limited startup interested in the refinery-linked angel fund: apply on that fund's own portal, not through NEDFi.
• You want a grant: none of NEDFi's pages describe one. These are loans and investments.

Check the location first

• The loan application form only accepts the eight north-eastern states.
• The working capital loan requires a business based in North East India.
• The Manipur fund also expects the founder to be a Manipur domicile by birth.

How applications work

• Loans: fill in the online loan application form and verify your mobile with the OTP.
• NEVF: email the fund team at nevf@nedfi.com.
• Manipur fund: apply on the Startup Manipur portal.
• NRL fund: apply on the Numaligarh Refinery Ideation portal.
• Smaller loans do not need a detailed project report. Larger loans do, so keep one ready.

What the venture funds look for

• An entrepreneur with an innovative vision and the ability to carry it out.
• A strong, committed management team.
• A business model that can grow sustainably, with room to scale.
• A product that fits the market and already shows traction.
• A realistic route to an exit for the investors.
• For the Manipur and NRL funds, DPIIT recognition and a private limited company structure.

Before you commit

• Rates and fees on the working capital and women entrepreneurs pages are shown differently in different places. Ask NEDFi which terms apply to you.
• Two of the general loan pages also repeat a line about skilled women entrepreneurs aged 18 to 50, although they list the general entity types. If you are unsure whether a loan is open to you, ask before applying.
• Plan for your own contribution to the project cost. Every loan product requires one from the promoter.

The North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd, known as NEDFi, is a development finance company based in Guwahati, Assam. It lends to micro, small, medium and large enterprises for industrial, infrastructure and agri-allied projects in North East India, and it also provides microfinance through MFIs and NGOs. For startups it matters because its wholly owned subsidiary, NEDFi Venture Capital Limited (NVCL), manages venture funds for the region, including the North East Venture Fund (NEVF).

What NEDFi offers

Most of what NEDFi offers is debt, not grants. Its website describes four loan products: Project Finance, Loan for Existing & New Business, Working Capital Loan and Loan for Women Entrepreneurs. All four are term loans with interest charged on a reducing balance, repayment of up to 84 months, and a part of the project cost that the promoter has to fund personally. Each page says no detailed project report is needed for smaller loans. NEDFi lends to sole proprietors, partnership firms, LLPs and private limited companies.

Project Finance and Loan for Existing & New Business are both for setting up a new unit or for expansion, diversification or modernisation, in manufacturing or services. Both allow an implementation period of up to 18 months and a moratorium of up to 12 months. They differ in how much of the project cost NEDFi will lend: the Existing & New Business loan covers a larger share, so the promoter puts in less. Sectors named across the loan pages include agriculture and allied activities, healthcare, textiles, food processing, education, hospitality, manufacturing, trading, retail, infrastructure, food and beverages, handloom and handicraft.

The Working Capital Loan is a one-time core working capital loan for existing trading businesses, such as wholesale and retail. It applies to existing businesses only, and the business must be based in North East India.

The Loan for Women Entrepreneurs is for skilled women entrepreneurs aged 18 to 50 who are starting a venture or expanding, modernising or diversifying an existing one. It covers new and existing MSMEs in manufacturing and services, the project cost including working capital is capped, and its moratorium is up to 6 months.

For the working capital and women entrepreneurs loans, NEDFi's own pages show different interest rates and processing fees in different places on the same page. Confirm the current terms with NEDFi before you apply.

Venture funds for startups

NEDFi Venture Capital Limited was incorporated in August 2016 under the Companies Act 2013 to act as investment manager to venture funds. NVCL manages three funds that take applications from startups, each registered with SEBI as a Category I fund.

The North East Venture Fund is sponsored by NEDFi, with the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (M-DoNER) and NEDFi as anchor investors. It invests in startups, early stage and growth stage companies. The fund looks for an entrepreneur with an innovative vision and the ability to execute, a strong management team, a viable business model with sustainable growth, large scaling opportunities, a market-fit product with good traction, and a realistic exit. Applications go by email.

The Manipur Startup Venture Fund is for Manipur-based startups. Its nodal agency is the Department of Planning, Government of Manipur. The startup must be recognised by both the Government of Manipur and DPIIT, registered as a private limited company, and the founder must be a Manipur domicile by birth. Applications go through the Startup Manipur portal.

The NRL Ideation Angel Fund is an angel fund that NVCL manages as investment manager. It is named for Numaligarh Refinery, and applications go through the refinery's own Ideation portal, not through NEDFi. It is for DPIIT recognised startups registered as private limited companies. NEDFi's pages do not describe NEDFi as its sponsor or owner, so treat it as a fund NVCL manages rather than a NEDFi programme.

Who can apply

The loans and the NEVF are for businesses in North East India. The online loan application form only offers the eight north-eastern states in its state list: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim. The Working Capital Loan page states that the business must be exclusively based in North East India. A startup outside the region should not expect to qualify.

Who runs it

NEDFi is a public limited company registered under the Companies Act 1956 on 9 August 1995. Its origin lies in the 1994 I. K. Borthakur Committee report, which proposed a development bank for the North East, and in the March 1995 budget speech that announced one. It was formally inaugurated on 23 February 1996. It is notified as a Public Financial Institution under Section 4A of the Companies Act 1956 and was registered as an NBFC with the Reserve Bank of India in 2002.

NEDFi is not a government company. Its shareholders are IDBI, SBI, LICI, SIDBI, ICICI, IFCI, SUUTI and GIC and its subsidiaries. It was first placed under the Ministry of Finance for administrative purposes and has been under the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region since that ministry was formed in 2004. NEDFi is also the designated nodal agency for disbursing Government of India incentives to industry in the North East under the North East Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy 2007.

How to apply

Loan applications are made through the online loan application form on NEDFi's website, which verifies your mobile number with an OTP. For the NEVF, email the fund directly. For the Manipur and NRL funds, apply through the portals named above. The general contact address is mail@nedfi.com.