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The World Bank, the Small Industries Development Bank (Sidbi) and the UN Women, along with 10 wealth management firms and leading corporates announced the launch of a new social impact bond to offer credit to rural women entrepreneurs.

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• To be raised by SIDBI, the Women's Livelihood Bonds will offer an annual coupon of 3 per cent and will have tenure of five years.
• The fund to be raised through this bond will be around Rs 300 crore in multiple tranches over the next three months and will be transferred through SIDBI into the micro- finance industry for small and medium women entrepreneurs.
• The funds will be used for lending to individual women entrepreneurs in sectors such as agriculture, food processing, services and manufacturing.
• The new bonds will help individual women entrepreneurs in sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, services and food processing to borrow around Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.50 lakh at an annual interest rate capped at around 13% or less, almost half the rate charged currently by microfinance institutes .
• The microfinance institutes have been trying to catering to this segment of people by forming self-help groups (SHGs), however, the credit limit is usually capped at Rs 50,000 or Rs 1 lakh.
  
  

  UN WOMEN A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide. UN Women supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality, and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programmes and services needed to ensure that the standards are effectively implemented and truly benefit women and girls worldwide. It works globally to make the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals a reality for women and girls and stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects, focusing on four strategic priorities: Women lead, participate in and benefit equally from governance systems Women have income security, decent work and economic autonomy All women and girls live a life free from all forms of violence Women and girls contribute to and have greater influence in building sustainable peace and resilience, and benefit equally from the prevention of natural disasters and conflicts and humanitarian action.