NABSAMRUDDHI and Water.org came together to host the first WASH Lending Summit of 2023 on 14 September at the Westin, Powai, Mumbai. This is a champion segment for NABSAMRUDDHI under it's Green and Wellness Finance focus area.

Over 60 delegates representing the key stakeholders in the space assembled to dissect the problem statement -financing or the lack of it ( and the nuances around it). It was felt that the outcomes from the summit will be instrumental in moving the needle towards achievement of the nation's sustainable development goals through WASH.

The proceedings of the event started with a keynote address by Ms. Bonani Roychoudhury, Managing Director, NABSAMRUDDHI, who touched upon the whole sentiment guiding the organization's goals in the space. She highlighted the criticality of WASH in health and wellness which can ensure a sustainable ecosystem both in the real and financial sectors. She also mentioned that over 90% of about 40,000 ultimate beneficiaries covered under NABSAMRUDDHI’s WASH program through 22 partners with cumulative credit exceeding Rs. 200 crore, are women. She set the tone by leaving the audience with a laundry list of issues to be addressed in the ensuing forum discussions.

This was ably supplemented by Mr. Manoj Gulati (Regional Director, South Asia at Water.Org) an industry veteran with over 25 years of experience, who spoke about the need to look at WASH financing using a gender lens and thereby adding a whole new dimension to it. Among other topics he spoke about mainstreaming climate resilient models and need to move- steadily and firmly.

A vibrant panel including Mr. Ramesh Ganta GM, NABARD; Mr. Aswini Acharya COO & PSL Head – Inorganic Business, DBS Bank; Ravinder Kumar- National Financial Inclusion Expert, FINISH Society and Mr. Maheep Panwar COO, NABSAMRUDDHI moderated by Shri Gyan Prakash from Water.org touched upon the "Impact of RBI regulations pertaining to WASH financing and ways to strengthen it" . Mr Ganta highlighted the various initiatives undertaken by NABARD in WASH segment and also mentioned the Special Refinance Facility to eligible financial institutions for financing WASH related activities at concessional rates.

Dr. Ravi Modani, Founder & CEO - 121 Finance , an NBFC Factor, emphasised that collateral free, customized financing mechanism through factoring which works well for receivable financing for WASH MSMEs which undertake contracts from ULBs and GPS for setting up FSTPs, STPs, and other community level WASH projects by drastically improving TATs, may be a breakthrough for the stakeholders in the WASH ecosystem.

Mr.Sankar Chakraborti ( MD& CEO- Acuité Group & Chairman – ESGRisk.ai) discussed about best- in -class ESG rating solutions for entities engaged in WASH lending so as to attract impact investments.

Rasika Chopra and Kamal Chhabra of Microsave Consulting( MSC) conducted a masterclass "raising capital for wash sector" which covered instrument types, impact monitoring and assessment related framework and tools needed to define investor approach methodology.

Water.org also showcased sample IEC material being developed for WASH partners of NABSAMRUDDHI in both print and AV formats.

The breakout session in three groups with multi-stakeholder participants came out with concrete action planning and policy advocacy such as carving out a specific WASH sub-target under PSL loans by RBI to give an impetus to the segment, focusing on the supply side of WASH lending to ensure innovations and efficient delivery, need for MFIs to recognise WASH as a qualifying asset under Microfinance post RBI’s revised Microfinance directions removing the ‘income generating loan’ criteria, interest discounting rather than subsidies as a more long term solution to support the segment, sensitizing investor classes to treat WASH loans on par with other segments.

The event concluded with a vote of thanks by Water.org.