Presence, growth of MFIs uneven, says survey

The next leg of growth for microfinance institutions will come from places such as the north-east, said a report on the state of microfinance in India, released here today.

Southern states lead in share in client outreach, as well as loan disbursement and outstandings.

According to the report, released by Access Development Services, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Karnataka account for 74 per cent of the total outstanding lending in the country. However, microfinance institutions have not spread to states such as Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram. It said gaps also existed in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

“West Bengal, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and Assam have been posting better growth rates. However, growth in states such as Maharashtra has already started decelerating,” it said.

Interestingly, in Karnataka the lending by microfinancing institutions exceeded the volume of bank lending to self-help groups in the state. In Andhra Pradesh alone, 20 million microfinance clients were financed to the tune of Rs 12,300 crore in 2008-09. The number of households in Andhra Pradesh is only 16 million.

Microfinance institutions recorded 60 per cent increase in clients in India, to 22.6 million in 2008-09 , from 14.1 million the previous year. Microfinance lending in the formal banking system, on the other hand, grew only by 15 per cent to 54 million clients from 47.1 million clients in the previous year.

MFI awards:
The first annual Microfinance India awards, instituted by NGO Access Development Services and HSBC, were presented today on the first day of a three-day conference on microfinance.

West Bengal-based MFI Bandhan, which has now spread its wings to northeastern states and metros like Delhi and Mumbai, won the award for ‘institution of the year’. Vijay Mahajan, considered the guru of the microfinance sector, was also awarded for his contribution to the sector.