Challenges faced by Microfinance Institutions

Milton Friedman once said that "the poor stay poor, not because they're lazy, but

because they have no access to capital." Till date, a huge section of population

remains outside the formal banking system. Microfinance institutions are the only

ones equipped to reach the 'unbankable' or 'unbanked' masses, and make financial

services accessible to them.

 Requirements and challenges faced by Microfinance institutions:-

Microfinance institutions serving retail customers have to face quite a specific set

of challenges, which cannot be addressed with solutions meant for commercial

banks. These challenges include:

Cost of outreach - reaching the unbanked populations of the world means

servicing small loan amounts and servicing remote and sparsely populated areas of
 the planet, which can be dangerously unprofitable without high rates of process

automation and mobile delivery.

Lack of scalability - smaller microfinance systems often struggle to

preserve the profitability and performance in these markets, as FI's experience high

growth rates that result from getting the service delivery right. This results in

thwarting the growth of these organizations.

 Quality of SHGs (Self Help Groups) - Due to the fast growth of the SHG-

Bank Linkage Programme, the quality of MFIs has come under stress. This is due

to various reasons such as:

o The intrusive involvement of government departments in promoting

groups

o Diminishing skill sets on part of the MFIs members in managing their

groups.

o Changing group dynamics.

 Geographic Factors - Around 60% of MFIs agree that the Geographic

factors make it difficult to communicate with clients of far-flung areas which

create a problem in growth and expansion of the organization.

Diverse business models - Supporting the very wide range of features and

lending activities is difficult and requires a considerable amount of cost and efforts.

High Transaction Cost - High transaction cost is a big challenge for

microfinance institution. The volume of transactions is very small, whereas the

fixed cost of those transactions is very high.

KYC and security challenges The customers serviced by Microfinance

instructions are usually the ones having none or very limited official identification

or able to provide tangible security, this makes it extremely difficult for institutions

to offer any banking services.

Limited budgets Making provisions for large upfront investments is not

possible for most of the MFIs which limits their capability to purchase world-class

banking solutions that can help them fulfil their requirements and support their

growth targets.

No doubt, microfinance institutions have shown impressive growth and have been

instrumental in the cause of financial inclusion, but a lot remains to be achieved.

Solutions for Microfinance sector

Nelito's FinCraft Microfinance Solution is an integrated banking software solution

for microfinance institutions (MFIs), active in both group and individual

microfinance lending.

It provides MFIs with world-class banking capabilities that usually are only

accessible to larger commercial banks with significant IT budgets.

Its Agency/DoorStep Banking feature helps agents to do various banking activities

on the field such as Customer On-Boarding, transactions, collecting daily deposits,

EMI collections which were earlier limited to branch networks. Other modules like

Self-Help group help in managing the complete lifecycles of SHG's.

The Reserve Bank of India conducted the first survey of rural indebtedness i.e. All

India Rural Credit Survey in 1947. The survey revealed the truth that landlords

andother informal moneylenders met more than 90% of rural credit needs. The

banks share was only about 1% in total rural household debt. The ratio kept on low

until 1971 when it was 2.4%.However the cooperative banks played a vital role to

increase the share of formal sources of credit in rural areas up to 29%. The

Situation Assessment Survey (NSSO, 2003) indicated that out of the total89.3

million farmer households in the country, 84 percent (750 million) householdswere

small and marginal farmers and more than half (51.4 percent) of the total

households were non-indebted. Further, out of the total 43.4 million

indebtedhouseholds, 20.3 million (46.8 percent) households had availed financial

servicesfrom informal sources. The NSSO survey of farmer households for 2003

shows that45.9 million farmer households in the country that is, 51.4 per cent out

of the total89.3 million households do not access credit either from institutional

and noninstitutional sources. Further, only 27 per cent of the total farm households

areindebted to formal sources; in other words 70 per cent of the farmhouses do

nothave access to formal credit sources. Banking data reveal that credit exclusion

is severe in 139 districts of the country. In these districts, only 10 per cent or less

out of 100 persons have access to credit from the fact that the exclusion is large,

there is also a wide variation across regions, social groups and asset holdings. The

poorer the group, the greater is the exclusion (Rangarajan, 2007). Easy access to

various Micro financial products should be there, accessibility to core poor and

underprivileged people. Approach to these products may rely upon references from

eminent family members.Arrangements, in some cases only abide between the

persons of same ethnic group. Some mutual arrangements are separated by gender

but women may be exploited in access to private sector money lenders.Although

money lenders often offer flexible services, other sources may be less accessible.

As suchaccessibility andflexibility of credit should be more convenient. The

interest ratescharged in Micro finance schemes to poor borrowers are higher. Most

Micro finance schemes charge close to market-clearing interest rates such high
rates cannot be afforded by the core poor given their lack of complementary inputs.

In other words, despite having a smaller amount of capital, marginal returns to the

core poor may be lower than for the happier poor. The high interest rates will bring

the result of either not taking up the Micro financial services or if taking it up then

get into financial difficulties.Costs are highly variable in rural areas. Depending

upon the nature of the relationship between borrower and lender, interest rates

range from interest free loans to high interest rates loans. Relationships range from

relatively equitable relations. In some cases women may be charged higher interest

rates than men and/or offered other less beneficial conditions which may also

include sexual harassment and highly exploitative arrangements for domestic

service.In mutual relationships interest rates on loans may be very high in order to

earn more money. In this manner, limited reach to affordable Micro financial

services such as savings, loan and remittance by the large portion of rural

population is believed to be acting as a restriction to the growth stimulus in these

sectors. Access to affordable Micro financial services develop living status and

empowers the underprivileged people to take charge of their lives. The

empowerment so gained will assist social and political stability. We cannot say that

micro financial services have ability to provide better services than conventional

banking services and carry out the needs of the downtrodden people. The important

factor is that external Micro financial services should join hand to the running
system of lending and/or borrowing money in rural areas instead of ejecting or

displanting them. Several ways are there for motivating and inspiring informal

Micro financial services working with informal sector providers to boost their

capital, enhancing efficacy and expanding contacts to poor people for the

improvement of services they provide and cut the prevailing high interest rates. In

this way the poor people especially women who require the fund to run their

business and household activities in an efficient manner will be benefitted more.

The above stated system of money lending and borrowing however problems of

degree of savings security and various types of their deposits. But private micro

financial service providers generally offer good levels of security. Second thing is

accessibility to very poor or especially downtrodden people. Access of Micro

financial servicesto these people is not satisfactory. Core poor have very less

approach to the services. Third is Flexibility of funds. Generally money lenders

provide flexible services but other sources of funds may be less flexible.

Fourthly,pervasive corruption is a concern for the empowerment of poor people.

The society ill with this type of problem cannot stand in a progressive mood. It is a

serious problem in the societywhere different types of patronage and bribery are

extorted to get access to funds sanctioned for poverty alleviation.Diverse

discrimination is also there distinctively against women and downtrodden people.

Fifth is carelessness and inefficiency in delivery of these services. Loans and other
services are transferred at the wrong time and granted only for specific purposes.

The last problemfrom the angle of donors is sustainability.Micro financial services

have been very often subsidized and payments of loan installmentshave generally

been very low.It is a problem of the costs of delivery to very poor people. The

banking industry has shown tremendous growth in volume and complexity during

the last few decades. Despite making significant improvements in all the areas

relating to financial viability, profitability and competitiveness, there are concerns

that banks have not been able to include vast segment of the population, especially

the underprivileged sections of the society, into the fold of basic banking services

(Thorat, 2007a).Banking industry can play significant role in the growth of the

Micro finance schemes by getting the support of more partners. Different

institutions involved in social sector activities (including Micro financial

institutions) are progressing for promotion of these schemes in a confined manner.

Their activities are limited only to a small area or a particular locality. Hence the

banks should come forward to join hands with these institutions for developing

relationships, suggest guidance to such institutions and provide proper financial

management for their financial services. This will enhance the profitability of the

rural branches of the commercial banks and rural banks. It should be kept in mind

that the role of rural banks in this regard is more important than commercial banks
Role, Functions and Working Mechanism of Financial Institutions
ICICI Bank
ICICIs microfinance portfolio has been increasing at an impressive speed. From
10,000 microfinance clients in 2001, ICICI Bank is now (2005) lending to 1.2
million clients through its partner microfinance institutions, and its outstanding
portfolio has increased from Rs. 0.20 billion (US$4.5 million) to Rs. 9.98 billion
(US$227 million). A few years ago, these clients had never been served by a
formal lending institution.
There is an increasing shift in the microfinance sector from grant-giving to
investment in the form of debt or equity, and ICICI believes grant money should be
limited to the creation of facilitative infrastructure. We need to stop sending
government and funding agencies the signal that microfinance is not a
commercially viable system, says Nachiket Mor, Executive Director of ICICI
Bank. As a result of banks entering the game, the sector has changed rapidly.
There is no dearth of funds today, as banks are looking into MFIs favorably,
unlike a few years ago, says Padmaja Reddy, the CEO of one of ICICI Banks
major MFI partners, Spandana.

Partnership Models
A model of microfinance has emerged in recent years in which a microfinance
institution (MFI) borrows from banks and on-lends to clients; few MFIs have been
able to grow beyond a certain point. Under this model, MFIs are unable to provide
risk capital in large quantities, which limits the advances from banks. In addition,
the risk is being entirely borne by the MFI, which limits its risk-taking.
The MFI as Collection Agent
To address these constraints, ICICI Bank initiated a partnership model in 2002 in
which the MFI acts as a collection agent instead of a financial intermediary. This
model is unique in that it combines debt as mezzanine finance to the MFI
(Mezzanine finance combines debt and equity financing: it is debt that can be
converted by the lender into equity in the event of a default.
This source of financing is advantageous for MFIs because it is treated like equity
in the balance-sheet and enables it to raise money without additional equity, which
is an expensive financing source.).The loans are contracted directly between the
bank and the borrower, so that the risk for the MFI is separated from the risk
inherent in the portfolio. This model is therefore likely to have very high
leveraging capacity, as the MFI has an assured source of
funds for expanding and deepening credit. ICICI chose this model because it
expands the retail operations of the bank by leveraging comparative advantages of
MFIs, while avoiding costs associated with entering the market directly.
Securitization
Another way to enter into partnership with MFIs is to securitize microfinance
portfolios. In 2004, the largest ever securitization deal in microfinance was signed
between ICICI Bank and SHARE Microfin Ltd, a large MFI operating in rural
areas of the state of Andra Pradesh.
Technical assistance and the collateral deposit of US$325,000 (93% of the
guarantee required by ICICI) were supplied by Grameen Foundation USA. Under
this agreement, ICICI purchased a part of SHAREs microfinance portfolio against
a consideration calculated by computing the Net Present Value of receivables
amounting to Rs. 215 million (US$4.9 million) at an agreed discount rate. The
interest paid by SHARE is almost 4% less than the rate paid in commercial loans.
Partial credit provision was provided by SHARE in the form of a guarantee
amounting to 8% of the receivables under the portfolio, by way of a lien on fixed
deposit. This deal frees up equity capital, allowing SHARE to scale up its lending.
On the other hand, it allows ICICI Bank to reach new markets. And by trading this
high quality asset in capital markets, the bank can hedge its own risks.
Beyond Microcredit
Microfinance does not only mean microcredit, and ICICI does not limit itself to
lending. ICICIs Social Initiative Group, along with the World Bank and ICICI
Lombard, the insurance company set up by ICICI and Canada Lombard, have
developed Indias first indexbased insurance product. This insurance policy
compensates the insured against the likelihood of diminished agricultural
output/yield resulting from a shortfall in the anticipated normal rainfall within the
district, subject to a maximum of the sum insured. The insurance policy is linked to
a rainfall index.

Technology
One of the main challenges to the growth of the microfinance sector is
accessibility. The Indian context, in which 70% of the population lives in rural
areas, requires new, inventive channels of delivery. The use of technologies such as
kiosks and smart cards will considerably reduce transaction costs while improving
access. The ICICI Bank technology team is developing a series of innovative
products that can help reduce transaction costs considerably. For example, it is
piloting the usage of smart cards with Sewa Bank in Ahmedabad. To maximize the
benefits of these innovations, the development of a high quality shared banking
technology platform which can be used by MFIs as well as by
cooperatives banks and regional rural banks is needed. ICICI is strongly
encouraging such an effort to take place. Wipro and Infosys, I-Flex, 3iInfotech,
some of the best Indian information technology companies specialized in financial
services, and others, are in the process of developing exactly such a platform. At a
recent technology workshop at the Institute for Financial Management Research in
Chennai, the ICICI Bank Alternate Channels Team presented the benefits of
investing in a common technology platform similar to those used in mainstream
banking to some of the most promising MFIs.

The Centre for Microfinance Research

ICICI bank has created the Centre for Microfinance Research (CMFR) at the
Institute for Financial Management Research (IFMR) in Chennai. Through
research, research-based advocacy, high level training and strategy building, it
aims to systematically establish the links between increased access to financial
services and the participation of poor people in the larger economy. The CMFR
Research Unit supports initiatives aimed at understanding and analyzing the
following issues: impact of access to financial services; contract and product
designs; constraints to household productivity; combination of microfinance and
other development interventions; evidence of credit constraints; costs and
profitability of microfinance organizations; impact of MFI policies and strategies;
peoples behavior and psychology with respect to financial services; economics of
micro-enterprises; and the effect of regulations.
Finally, the CMFR recognizes that while MFIs aim to meet the credit needs of poor
households, there are other missing markets and constraints facing households,
such as healthcare, infrastructure, and gaps in knowledge. These have implications
in terms of the scale and profitability of client enterprises and efficiency of
household budget allocation, which in turn impacts household well-being. The
CMFR Microfinance Strategy Unit will address these issues through a series of
workshops which will bring together MFI practitioners and sectoral experts (in
energy, water, roads, health, etc). The latter will bring to the table knowledge of
best practices in their specific areas, and each consultation workshop will result in
long-term collaboration between with MFIs for implementing specific pilots

Bandhan
Bandhan is working towards the twin objective of poverty alleviation and women
empowerment. It started as a Capacity Building Institution (CBI) in November
2000 under the leadership of Mr. Chandra Shekhar Ghosh. During such time, it
was giving capacity building support to local microfinance institutions working in
West Bengal.
Bandhan opened its first microfinance branch at Bagnan in Howrah district of West
Bengal in July 2002. Bandhan started with 2 branches in the year 2002-03 only in
the state of West Bengal and today it has grown as strong as 412 branches across 6
states of the country! The organization had recorded a growth rate of 500% in the
year 2003-04 and 611% in the year 2004-05. Till date, it has disbursed a total of
Rs. 587 crores among almost 7 lakh poor women. Loan outstanding stands at Rs.
221 crores. The repayment rate is recorded at 99.99%. Bandhan has staff strength
of more than 2130 employees.

Operational Methodology
Bandhan follows a group formation, individual lending approach. A group of 10-25
members are formed. The clients have to attend the group meetings for 2
successive weeks. 2 weeks hence, they are entitled to receive loans. The loans are
disbursed individually and directly to the members.
Economic and Social Background of Clients
Landless and asset less women
Family of 5 members with monthly income less than Rs. 2,500 in rural and Rs.
3,500 in urban
 Those who do not own more than 50 decimal (1/2acre) of land or capital of its
equivalent value
Loan Size
The first loan is between Rs. 1,000 Rs. 7,000 for the rural areas and between Rs.
1,000 Rs. 10,000 for the urban areas. After the repayment, they are entitled to
receive a subsequent loan which is Rs 1,000 - 5,000 more than the previous loan.
Service Charge
Bandhan charges a service charge of 12.50% flat on loan amount. Bandhan initially
charged 17.50%. However from 1st July 2005, it has slashed down its lending rate
to 15.00%. Then it was further reduced to 12.50% in May 2006. The reason is
obvious. As overall productivity increased, operational costs decreased. Bandhan,
being a non profit organization wanted the benefit of low costs to ultimately trickle
down to the poor.
Monitoring System
The various features of the monitoring system are:
A 3 tier monitoring system Region, Division and Head Office
Easy reporting system with a prescribed checklist format
Accountability at all levels post monitoring phase
Cross- checking at all the levels
The management team of Bandhan spends 90.00% of time at the field
Liability structure for Loans
When a member wants to join Bandhan, she at first has to get inducted into a
group. After she gets inducted into the group, the entire group proposes her name
for a loan in the Resolution Book. Two members of the group along with the
members husband have to sign as guarantors in her loan application form. If she
fails to pay her weekly installment, the group inserts peer pressure on her. The sole
purpose of the above structure is simply to create peer pressure.
Grameen Bank
The Grameen Model which was pioneered by Prof Muhammed Yunus of Grameen
Bank is perhaps the most well known, admired and practised model in the world.
The model involves the following elements.
! Homogeneous affinity group of five
! Eight groups form a Centre
! Centre meets every week
! Regular savings by all members
! Loan proposals approved at Centre meeting
! Loan disbursed directly to individuals
! All loans repaid in 50 instalments
The Grameen model follows a fairly regimented routine. It is very cost intensive as
it involves building capacity of the groups and the customers passing a test before
the lending could start. The group members tend to be selected or at least strongly
vetted by the bank.
One of the reasons for the high cost is that staff members can conduct only two
meetings a day and thus are occupied for only a few hours, usually early morning
or late in the evening.
They were used additionally for accounting work, but that can now be done more
cost effectively using computers. The model is also rather meeting intensive which
is fine as long as the members have no alternative use for their time but can be a
problem as members go up the income ladder.
The greatness of the Grameen model is in the simplicity of design of products and
delivery.
The process of delivery is scalable and the model could be replicated widely. The
focus on the poorest, which is a value attribute of Grameen, has also made the
model a favourite among the donor community. However, the Grameen model
works only under certain assumptions. As all the loans are only for enterprise
promotion, it assumes that all the poor want to be self-employed. The repayment of
loans starts the week after the loan is disbursed the inherent assumption being
that the borrowers can service their loan from the ex-ante income.

SKS Microfinance
Many companies say they protect the interests of their customers. Very few
actually sit in dirt with them, using stones, flowers, sticks, and chalk powder to
figure out if they will be able to repay a $20 loan at $1 a month. With this
approach, this company has created its own loyal gang of over 2 million customers.
Its borrowers include agricultural laborers, mom-and-pop entrepreneurs, street
vendors, home based artisans, and small scale producers, each living on less than
$2 a day. It works on a model that would allow micro-finance institutions to scale
up quickly so that they would never have to turn poor person away.
Its model is based on 3 principles-
1. Adopt a profit-oriented approach in order to access commercial capital-
Starting with the pitch that there is a high entrepreneurial spirit amongst the poor to
raise the funds, SKS converted itself to for-profit status as soon as it got break even
and got philanthropist Ravi Reddy to be a founding investor. Then it secured
money from parties such as Unitus, a Seattle based NGO that helps promote micro-
finance; SIDBI; and technology entrepreneur Vinod Khosla. Later, it was able to
attract multimillion dollar lines of credit from Citibank, ABN Amro, and others.
2. Standardize products, training, and other processes in order to boost
capacity-
They collect standard repayments in round numbers of 25 or 30 rupees. Internally,
they have factory style training models. They enroll about 500 loan officers every
month. They participate in theory classes on Saturdays and practice what they have
learned in the field during the week. They have shortened the training time for a
loan officer to 2 months though the average time taken by other industry players is
4-6 months.
3. Use Technology to reduce costs and limit errors- It could not find the software
that suited its requirements, so it they built their own simple and user friendly
applications that a computer-illiterate loan officer with a 12th grade education can
easily understand. The system is also internet enabled. Given that electricity is
unreliable in many areas they have installed car batteries or gas powered
generators as back-ups in many areas.
Scaling up Customer Loyalty
Instead of asking illiterate villagers to describe their seasonal pattern of cash flows,
they encourage them to use colored chalk powder and flowers to map out the
village on the ground and tell where the poorest people lived, what kind of
financial products they needed, which areas were lorded over by which loan
sharks, etc. They set peoples tiny weekly repayments as low as $1 per week and
health and whole life insurance premiums to be $10 a year and 25 cents per week
respectively. They also offer interest free emergency loans. The salaries of loan
officers are not tied to repayment rates and they journey on mopeds to borrowers
villages and schedule loan meetings as early as 7.00 A.M. Deep customer loyalty
ultimately results in a repayment rate of 99.5%.
Leveraging the SKS brand
Its payoff comes from high volumes. They are growing at 200% annually, adding
50 branches and 1,60,000 new customers a month. They are also using their deep
distribution channels for selling soap, clothes, consumer electronics and other
packaged goods.
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