Potatoes – India

Key Facts

• Client: Iscon Balaji Foods Private Limited (IBF)
• Term: 1-year revolving working capital facility (renewable up to 4 years)
• Guarantee instrument: Pari Passu
• Guarantee exposure: INR 950 Mln (~USD 11 Mln, 50% of total facility)
• Effective date: December 2025

Deal Summary

AGRI3 is supporting the mobilisation of INR 1,900 Mln (~USD 21 Mln) from HSBC India for Iscon Balaji Foods Private Limited (IBF), a vertically integrated Indian agri-processor specialising in frozen French fries and dehydrated potato flakes for domestic and export markets.

The facility finances the three-year potato seed tuber multiplication cycle — a working capital need that traditional lenders have been unable to support due to the absence of borrowing-base collateral. By guaranteeing 50% of the facility on a pari passu basis, AGRI3 enables HSBC to extend a meaningful additional credit line that funds IBF’s critical seed procurement activities, strengthening supply chain resilience and expanding the company’s farmer contracting programme.

Impact Rationale

IBF occupies a unique position as both an anchor buyer and an input provider in India’s potato value chain, supplying contracted farmers with high-quality, disease-resistant G4-stage seed potatoes and providing comprehensive agronomic support through a network of approximately 250 field officers and agronomists. This support includes training on climate-smart practices — drip irrigation, crop rotation, integrated pest management, and optimised fertiliser use — delivered through a defined Package of Practices (POP). The company’s investment in seed tuber supply directly enables yield improvements of 10–20% for contracted farmers compared to non-programme growers.

IBF currently reaches approximately 8,000 farmers through its integration programme, with a target to grow this to 15,000 direct beneficiaries by 2028, expanding the area under sustainable management from 16,000 ha to 24,000 ha (of which 4,000 ha GAP certified). Inclusion of women in the value chain is tracked and is to be more explicitly managed as part of ESAP commitments, with gender-disaggregated reporting introduced across KPIs.

AGRI3 is providing TA support to help IBF develop a formal Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS), align its Package of Practices with SAI FSA standards, and increase the proportion of farmers meeting GAP certification. This will strengthen the transparency and verifiability of impact claims across the supply chain.

Impact Targets

Protection of natural ecosystem (direct and indirect)

Sustainable agriculture

Improved rural livelihoods