Government asks banks to submit MFI loan, NPA data

Two months after the crisis in the microfinance industry broke out, resulting in the possibility of bank loans to the sector becoming non-performing, the government now wants to do a reality check.

Last evening, the finance ministry dashed off a letter to public sector banks, Small Industries Development Bank of India and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, asking them to furnish data on how much exposure they have to the MFI industry, how much is re-paid and what is the amount of non-performing loans. Banks have to submit data till November 30 on all the microfinance institutions (MFIs) they lend to. The state-level bankers’ committees have also been asked to furnish loan details.

Following the problems in MFIs, which broke out in October, banks had stopped lending to MFIs, especially those having bulk of the business in Andhra Pradesh, fearing building up of non-performing assets (NPAs). MFIs’ collection of debt dropped below 10 per cent in Andhra Pradesh due to an ordinance issued by the state government.

The Andhra Pradesh Micro Finance Institutions (Regulation of Money Lending) Ordinance, 2010, which came into effect on October 15, stipulates that MFIs should register with the project director of the district rural development agency. MFIs are also banned from weekly collection in the state.

MFIs raise 75-80 per cent borrowings from banks, 15 per cent from equity, and another 10 per cent from other cash flows like cash securities. Interest rates charged by MFIs could be as high as 32 per cent, bankers said. Earlier, the government had asked banks to ensure that the interest rates charged by MFIs were capped at 24 per cent.

Following the crisis, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) set up a committee under Y H Malegam, a senior member on its board of directors, to study the issues in the sector and come out with suggestions for making interest rates charged by MFIs reasonable.

RBI regulates only those MFIs, which are registered as non-banking finance companies. The RBI-regulated MFIs cover more than 80 per cent of the microfinance business. But in terms of number of companies, they constitute a small percentage of the total number of MFIs in the country. The central bank, however, does not prescribe lending rates for MFIs.