Sustainable Finance in Emerging Markets: A Venture Capital Investment Decision Dilemma

Divya Aggarwal and Varun Elembilassery

South Asian Journal of Business and Management Cases, 2018, vol. 7, issue 2, 131-143

Abstract: This case is crafted to highlight the dilemma faced by two senior executives of Softbank Asia Infrastructure Fund (SAIF) Partners. It showcases their approach towards an impact investment and an analysis of the same, keeping in perspective the uncertainty in an impact investment resulting due to Indian government regulatory provisions. Lack of standardized tools in measuring impact investment returns hinders the commercial funds to assess the true implications of an impact investment. Sustainable finance is directed towards benefiting both client and society by integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria, either in a business practice or in an investment decision. Investing in an MSME lending enterprise has elements of impact investment in it and is best catered by sustainable funds and not commercial funds. Impact investment, sustainable funds and microfinance are some of the typical activities falling under sustainable finance. SAIF Partners is evaluating an opportunity to invest in an Indian MSME lending enterprise. The key concern is, can commercial funds like SAIF Partners see matching return opportunities in an impact investment? This case provokes the target audience to examine the nature of social impact investments and the nuances in aligning the same with the objectives of commercial investments.

Keywords: Venture capital; sustainable finance; MSME; NBFC; impact investments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2277977918774651 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:sajbmc:v:7:y:2018:i:2:p:131-143

DOI: 10.1177/2277977918774651

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in South Asian Journal of Business and Management Cases
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().