Officers of the International Finance Corporation were in Pune recently to talk to the companies in the city about their finance needs. During their visit, we spoke to Per Kjeerling, who is a Senior Investment officer of the Corporation for the South Asia region. We got his first hand views about the Corporation's view on business in the country and what are their main objectives.

As an offshoot of the W/*orld Bank, which are your Corporation's major Priority lending areas?
Though we come under the World Bank's umbrella and we share the Board of Governors, our major focus is to finance the private sector only. Our focus is different from our parent corporation. We do not lend to the social sector primarily, but try to bring a change in the social life of the people by making sure that the corporates we lend to keep certain social principles in mind./*c-

Which are the major sectors you lend to?
Putting my answer in a nutshell, I would say that we lend money to all companies or projects that do not fall in these three broad categories - Liquor, Tobacco and those that employ children. Another matter of importance is that the human rights of the worker are not violated and also that the project is environmentally friendly.

If an entrepreneur comes to you for a loan, what are the facts that you keep in mind while sanctioning the loan?
We provide loans and equity for viable projects. We are open to all types of project proposals. If the promoter is confident that the project will earn a profit of say Rs 50 -100 crore in nine to ten years of the project commencing operation, we would be happy if the project meets our already stated objectives.

What is the maximum extent of the corporation's exposure in a project? 
Our maximum extent is 25% of the actual amount needed. Let me add this - once other lenders know that we are lending money to a project, the promoter is able to raise the other amount easily from the market. We try to share the risks equally with other investors, so that no one particular investor's exposure is large.

How do you make sure that the company management sticks to the promises it makes?
Our team of consultants and engineers regularly visit the project and update themselves on the progress. In our ten years we have had just 2 bad loans out of the 300 odd that we have granted.

Can you give us the name of at least one of your success stories?
Three years ago, we had loaned money to Moser Baer, which at that time was a small player in the manufacture of floppy disks. Today the company has a national presence and is preparing to expand its operations in the international arena.