Top 10 States have 83% Penetration of Outstanding Portfolio: Equifax-SIDBI Study

“Microfinance Plus”, a quarterly publication by Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and Equifax revealed growth in overall volume in loan disbursement by 20% in FY18. From the overall industry’s gross loan portfolio, 83% was contributed by top 10 states, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu being the highest by contributing 35% of the top 10 states.

Key highlights:

•          As of March 31, 2019, MFIs provide micro credit to over 6.40 crores clients
•          The microfinance portfolio represents a growth of 40% over FY18. NBFC-MFIs account 37% of total portfolio having the largest share of portfolio in micro-credit followed by banks.
•          40% NBFC-MFIs have the highest number of unique live customers; loan disbursement saw 20% growth from FY18 to FY19 while an average ticket size per loan has increased by 13% Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y) to reach Rs. 31,623.
•          Portfolio outstanding as of March 31, 2019 grew by 40% while NBFC-MFIs witnessed the highest growth at 49% across sectors.
•          25% of portfolio outstanding was comprised by top 30 districts out of 619.
•          Puducherry has the highest concentration of active MFI borrowers by population at 14% followed by Tripura at 11% and Tamil Nadu at 9%

On the launch, Mohammad Mustafa, IAS, Chairman & Managing Director, SIDBI said, “The second volume of Microfinance Pulse is continuation of strong collaboration between SIDBI and Equifax to bring the latest Microfinance sector trends to industry and policy makers alike. The growth in the overall microfinance portfolio is encouraging.”

KM Nanaiah, Managing Director, Equifax Credit Information services Ltd. and Country Leader, Equifax India and MEA said, “Microfinance is systemically important to Indian financial services industry. It is interesting to see penetration trends across states with top 10 states having 83% market share of outstanding portfolio. We are glad to partner with SIDBI for a report that looks into the future prospects in the microfinance sector.”

The SIDBI-Equifax quarterly study revealed 20% growth of volume in loan disbursements.  Highest number of loans as of FY19 are disbursed in 20,000-30,000 ticket size category followed by 30,000-40,000 ticket size category whereas ticket size category of 50,000-60,000 saw the highest increase by 67% from FY18 to FY19.

“Microfinance pulse” also states geographical concentration that reported 83% growth in disbursed amount of top 10 states by the microfinance industry’s gross loan portfolio. West Bengal and Tamil Nadu contribute 34.7% of the top 10 states. Amongst the top states, West Bengal, Tami Nadu, Bihar, and Karnataka are having portfolio of more than 15,000 crore, indicating a highly concentrated market.

Microfinance Pulse aims to provide insights on trends in the Indian Microfinance industry – from disbursements to delinquencies to top growing states and top loan categories.