Micro Finance And Its Impact

Nawaf Gantare

INTRODUCTION:

Microfinance is a very popular term in today’s financial market

scenario. As the name suggests, it refers to Micro-Credit or Micro-
Loan. It refers to banking or financial service that is offered by banks
or other financial institutions to individuals who belong to low income
or underprivileged sections of the society. It can be in the form of
loans, insurance and savings deposits.

It is very helpful to small-sized enterprise owners as well as

entrepreneurs with low capital. There are many people across the
world, especially in India, who do not have access to proper financial
assistance. They live in rural areas as well as in urban areas of India
and do not have sufficient knowledge and access to take up help
from conventional sources of finance such as banks and investors.

Microfinancing is a great way to help poor individuals to be

financially independent. They can use these funds offered by banks
at very low rates of interest to start their own small venture or to
make their other dreams come true. Many of underprivileged people
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 in the nation do not have any idea about saving money or managing
their finance.

Definition:

Microfinancing is typically defined as the process of providing loans,

credit, savings, and the other necessary financial services and
products to individuals who are extremely poor to get access to the
regular sources of finance such as banks or other financial
institutions. Microfinance is provided to the underprivileged with the
belief that charity or philanthropy is not the solution to poverty.

Lending Process:

1. Geo-Economic Survey of Region

2. Village Appraisal
3. Selection of Village
4. Group Formation
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 5. Training of Borrowers
6. Scrutiny and Underwriting
7. Financial Transactions
8. Near Mandatory Insurance

FEATURES:

Microfinance is typically offered to anyone who does not have a

stable source of income due to unemployment.
It is also given to anyone who does not have a proper credit
history that can be verified.
There are some applicants who may have poor credit history
due to high debts.
Microfinance typically does not require loan applicants to
submit any collateral while applying for the loan.
It is also offered to people living below the poverty line since
they do not have access to other forms of financing.
It promotes simplified and small savings among poor people. It
encourages them to build funds step by step.
It offers repeat loans to applications. This helps borrowers repay
their loan promptly as the repayment tenure is short.
It also intends to assist individuals in securing good medical
treatment when they have health issues.
Generally, Microfinance institutions approach clients instead of
waiting for clients to approach them.
Such institutions have easy and quick loan applications
processes.
The interest rate is very low.
When Micro-Loan is offered, the lender doesn’t ask for the
purpose of lending.
Some Microfinance options also come up with microinsurance.
Microfinance aims at developing financial sustainability among
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 economically downtrodden people.
Microfinance institutions aim to eliminate interest rate ceilings
as they believe that these can restrict poor people from
securing finance.
Microfinance focuses on offering financial transparency by
offering loans to individuals without any hidden costs.
Microfinance believes that poor people need a broad set of
financial services apart from first loans.

OBJECTIVES AND GOALS:

Microfinance primarily works towards making the disadvantaged

population self-determined without having to depend on their friends
and relatives.

It aims to bring financial change among poor people with the

help of a community-based approach.
It intends to organize and conduct simple training programmes
for unemployed people so that they have a means of livelihood.
Microfinance also intends to assist disabled people who are
economically underprivileged. It aims to help them find some
means of livelihood.
It aims to help women of poor families. Institutions that offer
Microfinance loan options specially designed for women.
It intends to enhance operations and activities at the grass root
level.
It aims to raise attaining socio-economic development at the
most basic level of society.
It serves as a great instrument to eradicate poverty.
It aims to offer loans, accounts, and other financial services to
people without asking them to collaborate such as a mortgage
or anything.
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 LIMITATIONS:

Because the cash involved in Microfinance is too low, commercial

banks in many countries are not yet prepared to deal with micro and
small enterprises. Limitations of Microfinance are:

They deal with the low volume of money, there is a limitation on

the amount that they can deal with.
They provide loans against no collateral and at any time, the risk
of no repayment can arise.
Their bad debts are high.
They can’t service more than a certain number of customers.

However, the laws on Microfinance may vary from country to country.

NEED FOR MICROFINANCE IN INDIA:

Financial struggles of poor people in India:

Low-income individuals struggle to meet even the basic necessities

to lead a life. They have very limited funds to get access to food,
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 clothing, shelter, and proper healthcare facilities. Many of them are
unable to send their children to school even for basic education.

Many of these people also cannot open bank accounts or apply for
traditional loan options as they generally do not meet minimum
eligibility criteria. Banks have specific criteria where loan applicants
need to meet certain minimum requirements.

They also need to furnish relevant documents as proofs of identity

issued by the central government.

Microcredit or Microfinance is offered to people keeping in mind

about these above-mentioned requirements for regular bank loans.
You can acquire small or microloans at economical interest rates.
Microfinance institutions chiefly work to help people who cannot
acquire loans at economical interest rates. Hence, they make sure
that loans are provided to the applicants at low rates.

The purpose is to assist low-income people who have the

enthusiasm to make their lives better. It provides the right amount of
capital to low-income people to start a new small business activity or
to finance their child’s education or to buy a small piece of land for
carrying out agricultural operations.

When an individual belonging to an underprivileged section of the

society borrows Microfinance from a bank or an NBFC, he/she can
make use of the funds for being financially independent. It can help
society borrows to be involved in a variety of activities that he/she
could not have done without the Microfinancing.

Many poor adults in the country may not have had sufficient funds
during the early stages of their lives to be educated. Hence, they
tend to miss out on the various employment options that are offered
to educated people. Therefore, many of them remain unemployed.
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 There is another category of poor adults who are not educated but
are involved in unskilled labor. Unskilled labor refers to working in a
segment that requires limited skills and that offer low wages to the
laborers. They have limited qualification such as high school or
diploma or no qualification.

There is also a category of individuals who live in rural areas and

semi-urban areas who are dedicated to farming. They are
agriculturists and many of them earn very low incomes. Many of
these farmers do not earn enough money for the hard work they put
in.

Origin of Microfinance in India:

Microfinance has been quite a popular and effective mode of

financing in the Indian subcontinent. From an early period, people in
India used to be involved in lending and credit operations through
individual money lending, chit funds, and other indigenous financial
institutions. The modern and systematic method of offering
Microfinance started in the 1970s in India.

It chiefly originated when the Grameen Bank was started by

Professor Mohammad Yunus in the year 1976 in Bangladesh. It was a
pilot project of having a unique lending system where microloans are
offered to disadvantaged sections of the society especially the rural
poor sections.

The iconic event let to the conversion of the project into an

autonomous bank. This was done through government legislation
and it came to be known as Grameen Bank.

There was also Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) that

was started by Ela Bhatt. It was set up in Ahmedabad, Gujarat in the
year 1972. It was set up to help women of low-income groups. The
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 Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) were launched in 1975-76. A
microfinance institution (MFI) that was set up in India in the year
1974. The operations of the institution started to pick up only in the
1990s.

How does it work in India?

Both Banks and Non-Banking Financial Corporations (NBFCs) offers

Microfinance in India. There are also Microfinance institutions aimed
at getting people out of poverty. Microfinance institutions target poor
and unemployed people. It is usually procured by loan applicants
through 3 modules ad they include:

Through banks, non-banking financial corporations and

Microfinance institutions.
By establishing good relations with the bank and financial
institutions.

By getting together as a group with the common goal of

obtaining finance to create and develop new small business
ventures or to make a living.

Microfinance Institutions in India:

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 In our country, there are a number of institutions that offer
Microfinance exclusively:
Annapurna Microfinance Pvt Ltd.
BSS Microfinance Pvt Ltd.
Asirvad Microfinance Pvt Ltd.
Disha Microfinance Pvt Ltd.
Fusion Microfinance Pvt Ltd.
Arohan Financial Services.
Cashpor Micro Credit.
Grama Vidiyal Microfinance.
ESAF Microfinance & Investment.
Equitas Microfinance Pvt Ltd.
Mdura Microfinance Ltd.
Satin Creditcare Network Ltd.
M.I.L.E. Microfinance Pvt Ltd.
Grameen Financial Services.
Janalakshmi Financial Pvt.
SKS Microfinance Ltd.
ASA International India Pvt Ltd.
Sonata Finance Pvt Ltd.
Shree Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Deveopment Project.
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 RGVN Microfinance Ltd.
Swadhaar Finserve Pvt Ltd.
Belstar Investment & Finance Pvt Ltd.
Suryoday Microfinance Ltd.
SV Credtline Pvt Ltd.
Future Finance Services Ltd.
Ujjivan Financial Services Ltd.
Utkarsh Microfinance Ltd.
Adhikar Microfinance Pvt Ltd.
Uttrayan Financial Services.
Chaitanya India Fin Credit.
Indian Cooperative Network for Women.
Growing Opportunity Finance Pvt Ltd.
M Power Microfinance Ltd.
Rashtriya Seva Samithi.
IDF Finances Ltd.

There are many more Institutions for Microfinance in India.

How Microfinance Helps Borrowers in India?

There are many impoverished people in the country who do not have
any knowledge about alternate sources of Finance apart from
conventional bank loans. They also do not know that they can
engage in other sources of employment to earn a livelihood.
However, they don’t know their need for funds to meet their
requirements. With Microfinance, they learn to procure inexpensive
forms of credit for a short period and also learn to manage their
expenses. They will understand how to allocate money for different
purposes and save a particular amount for emergencies.

Microfinance for Farmers:

There are exclusive Microfinance loans that are provided to marginal

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 farmers who need funds for enhancing their productivity of crops.
This can be done when they invest in superior quality fertilizers,
excellent farming tools, quality check processes, marketing of their
crops, packaging of their output, transportation of their output,
storage in safe and hygienic warehouses and proper sales technique
in order to secure profits that they are entitled to after putting in so
many efforts for several months.

Microfinance for Women:

There are many households that have irresponsible male members

who do not contribute to saving money for the family. They tend to
use money senselessly on things that are absolutely not required. In
such households, female members are more responsible about
money. Keeping this in mind, there are money banks, NBFCs and
Microfinance institutions that extend Microfinance options for
women to handle money. However, there are many households
where men do not permit women to do anything other than domestic
household work. But, the truth is that many women in several
households have proved to be more responsible, financially.

When women take Microfinance for various needs, they will ensure
that the funds are utilized for a good purpose. One thing is for sure
that women repay their loans on time. Microfinance loans can be
repaid through equated monthly installments (EMIs) promptly.
Moreover, women will make well-planned decisions for the
household. There are many SHGs in Indian Rural places made by
women, for women.

CONCLUSION:

Microfinance is used to supply credit to the very poor section of

society that is unable to access the traditional, economical, and
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 financial institutions such as banks. It helps them in acquiring
finances to expand their tiny businesses. Microfinance helps in
improving the contribution of women in economic activities by
providing economic resources. We can conclude that the weak
sector of the Indian economy is in dire need of money lending
methods to earn credits. So Microfinance programs should be an
important area of focus to provide these people the chance to
improve their standard of living via means of economic growth.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT:

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my teacher

as well as my principal who gave me the opportunity to do this
wonderful project on Microfinance and its impact which also helped
me in doing a lot of research and I came to know about so many
things. I am really thankful to them. Secondly, I would like to thank
my parents and friends who helped me a lot in finalizing the project.

CERTIFICATE:

This is to certify that the project is an outcome of my own efforts and

my indebtedness to other words publications has been duly
acknowledged, at relevant places.

This project is made as per the guidelines issued by CBSE.

Teacher’s
Signature
Examiner’s Signature
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