The reduction in the number of loan accounts and the outstanding amount during the last financial year is a cause of concern and stress for microfinance institutions (MFI), Secretary, Department of Financial Services, M Nagaraju said on Thursday, highlighting "inefficiency" in MFIs that leads to higher rates of interest.
The Reserve Bank of India's 2024 norms for the voluntary conversion of Small Finance Banks (SFBs) into universal banks, particularly the subjective 'diversified loan portfolio' criterion, are proving to be a significant hurdle, with Ujjivan SFB and Jana SFB having their applications returned.
The asset quality of microfinance portfolios worsened in the quarter ending June 2024 due to the impact of heatwaves on borrowers' incomes and collections, coupled with rumours of loan waivers, according to Sa-Dhan. Jiji Mammen, executive director and chief executive officer of Sa-Dhan, said loans with 90+ days past due (dpd) rose to 1.2 per cent in June 2024, compared to 0.9 per cent in June 2023. The 90+ dpd also increased from 1.16 per cent in March 2024.
The banking sector could see better loan growth in the third quarter of financial year 2026 (Q3FY26) with improved net interest margins (NIMs), though the full impact of latest rate cuts will be largely felt in the fourth quarter. There may be lower slippage in unsecured loans and microfinance institutions (MFIs) along with steady recovery trends, which should lower credit cost.
The Indian banking sector could be due for a rise in profitability after several quarters of net interest margin (NIM) compression. The Q2FY26 results suggest NIMs have bottomed out.
Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor M Rajeshwar Rao on Wednesday said while the central bank will foster growth in the microfinance (MFI) sector, the lenders in the space should not throw caution to the wind to achieve higher asset growth and returns. MFIs should not try to mimic the strategies of mainstream finance, as those serving the microfinance borrowers have a greater need to balance the social objectives with their lending operations, he said.
Commercial banks have turned cautious in lending to smaller microfinance institutions (MFIs), which has compelled the latter to borrow from non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) at much higher rates. Recently Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor M Rajeshwar Rao slammed micro lenders for increasing their margins "disproportionately" and said these lenders were quick to pass on the increased cost to the borrowers but reluctant to pass on the benefits under the new regime, where margins are not capped.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has barred four non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), including two microfinance institutions (MFIs), from sanctioning and disbursing loans for charging exorbitant interest rates to the borrowers. These four entities are Asirvad Microfinance, Arohan Financial Services (also an MFI), DMI Finance, which provides personal, consumption, and micro, small and medium enterprises loans, and Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal's Navi Finserv, which offers home and personal loans. The ban will take effect on October 21 to "facilitate closure of transactions in the pipeline", the regulator said in a statement.
Industry fears waiver of interest on interest would distort credit culture, may encourage borrowers who can pay to defer repayment.
A vast majority of borrowers are in the essential services' supply chain with tiny and micro businesses, and this has sprung back.
In the backdrop of questions on functioning of microfinance institutions (MFIs), Chief Economic Advisor to the government of India, Kaushik Basu, has called for regulating MFIs for more transparency in their loan contracts with the beneficiaries. However, he also warned that over-regulation of MFIs could imperil their survival.
The ensuing liquidity crisis has prompted many MFIs to seek a moratorium on loan repayment to banks.MFIs raise 75-80 per cent of their funds via bank borrowings, 15 per cent from equity and another 10 per cent from other sources like cash securities.
Increased bank interest rates and new capital adequacy norms of the Reserve Bank of India will soon weigh heavily on the poorest of the poor as microfinance institutions are also contemplating raising interest rates.
One of the factors behind the rise in securitisation deals was State Bank of India's (SBI) decision to buy portfolio worth Rs 45,000 crore from NBFCs
In a bid to stop stop micro-finance institutions (MFIs) from charging usurious rate of interest, the Finance Ministry has asked state-owned banks to ensure that such institutions do not charge a loan rate of above 24 per cent.
Towards the end of February, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) restored the risk weighting on banks loans to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs; including to microfinance institutions, or MFIs) to 100 - back to its November 2023 position - from 125. It is only a partial relief though. "Higher risk weighting on unsecured lending continues to be in place while the same on bank funding to NBFCs has been done away with. "This is a positive step by RBI," says Rajiv Sabharwal, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO), Tata Capital.
"Bank loans to all MFIs, including NBFCs working as MFIs on or after April 1, 2011, will be eligible for classification as priority sector loans if, and only if, they conform to the regulations formulated by the Reserve Bank," RBI Governor D Subbarao said in the 'Monetary Policy Statement for 2011-12'.
Micro-finance institutions (MFIs) are planning to take legal action against YES Bank's move to recall a part of its loans to them.
Credit Information Bureau India Limited has entered into an agreement with 31 leading micro finance institutions to set up a credit information bureau for MFIs.
The loan by the banks to MFIs for on-lending to small borrowers will fall under 'priority sector' category if the RBI guidelines are met.
At a time when the Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) have drawn flak due to steep interest rates charged by them, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty has categorically stated that such institutions cannot play any role in financial inclusion.
The Bill's 2007 version covered only MFIs not regulated by the Reserve Bank of India.
At Economic Editors' Conference in New Delhi, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said he has suggested to the Andhra Pradesh Government to address some stringent provisions of its recently promulgated ordinance to rein in MFIs.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday ruled out changes in tax laws for micro-finance institutions and allowing foreign equity in the sector, but kept options open for a separate fund for them.
MFI tactics have even prompted Andhra Pradesh Cabinet to approve an ordinance to rein them in.
In mid-March this year, the finance ministry asked state-run banks to review their gold loan portfolio for the two-year period between January 1, 2022, and January 31, 2024. This business had grown at a fast clip. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data has it that it grew 15 per cent to Rs 1 trillion in FY24. Now, in recent times, any kind of exuberance in financial services has seen the authorities swoop down - be it pushing the lines on governance or unsecured credit.
In December 2016, RBI had granted additional 60 days for repayment of certain loans
TDP President N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday asked women not to repay loans they secured from Micro-Finance Institutions (MFIs) till the government brought in a regulator to keep a tab on the financing business.
'We need to be far more careful given the fact that while this is group lending, it's essentially unsecured.'
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced the doubling of the upper limit of Mudra loans to Rs 20 lakh to promote entrepreneurship in the country. "The limit of Mudra loans will be enhanced to Rs 20 lakh from the current Rs 10 lakh for those entrepreneurs who have availed and successfully repaid previous loans under the 'Tarun category', she said while presenting the Budget in the Lok Sabha.
IFMR Capital previously pioneered the multi-originator securitisation.
India has a huge untapped population which doesn't have facilities for financial aid and insurance, and it is perhaps plausible to look at the option of having niche players catering to smaller sectors akin to non-banks and microfinance institutions in lending, said Rakesh Joshi, member (Finance & Investment), Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai). Speaking at the Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit, Joshi said, "Today, most of our insurance companies operate at a national level. There is arguably a case for having differentiated operations, which cater to niche sectors the same way we have non-banking financial companies (NBFC) and microfinance institutions in lending." "The capital requirement for niche players may not be as large as those having national ambitions. "Enabling these niche players, which require lower capital, will enhance the penetration in areas which hitherto had not seen traction from large players," he said.
The top 50 exposures, amounting to Rs 7.8 trillion, of government-registered non-banking financial companies (G-NBFCs) constitute about 40 per cent of corporate credit within the NBFC sector, indicating concentration risk, according to the Reserve Bank of India's report "Trend and Progress of Banking in India 2022-23". Notably, all the 50 are tied to the power sector, a domain fraught with inherent challenges, the report said. The report highlighted recognising the escalating systemic importance of G-NBFCs, the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework had been expanded to include G-NBFCs excluding those falling within the base layer.
Every political party loves to use the bait of loan waiver to woo the electorate. If their hearts bleed for the poor, they can always use the party funds to pay off the lenders, suggests Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) latest order on unsecured loans is set to hit the banking sector's growth in the near-term, cautioned analysts, as they see banks slowing down on aggressive retail lending. Besides, cost of funds for non-banking finance companies (NBFC) is expected to inch up as banks will pass on higher capital charge to NBFCs. "We believe the fallout of the RBI action will be mainly on growth, given the rising dependence on unsecured retail loans and lending to NBFCs for growth.
It is 10 years since Bandhan Financial Services became the first microfinance institution (MFI) to receive the universal bank licence. A year later, in 2015, it started operations. Bandhan's entry into banking was seen as a vote of confidence by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for the country's microfinance sector. Subsequently, the RBI awarded small finance bank licences to nine MFIs.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday allowed microfinance lenders to fix interest rates on loans with a rider that those should not be usurious for the borrowers. A microfinance loan is defined as a collateral-free loan given to a household having an annual income of up to Rs 300,000. Each regulated entity (RE) should put in place a board-approved policy regarding pricing of microfinance loans, said the 'Master Direction - Reserve Bank of India (Regulatory Framework for Microfinance Loans) Directions, 2022'. In the past, the central bank used to announce the rates on quarterly basis.
You can't ask a current borrower to finance your growth, says RBI memeber Yezdi H Malegam.
According to a report by rating agency Fitch, different sets of regulations imposed by different regulators may result in an uneven playing field.
For smaller MFIs, resuming operations is more difficult because they haven't got any fresh bank credit sanctioned from their lenders.
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