Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and Equifax, collaborated to launch a first-of its-kind newsletter “Microfinance Pulse” to track the trends in the microfinance sector viz. disbursements delinquencies, state-wise distribution, top loan categories etc.

This data will act as a lighthouse helping the microfinance industry and policymakers navigate through crests and troughs of lending cycle, so as to ultimately facilitate responsible lending.

Key newsletter (October 2019 edition) highlights:

1. Microfinance Industry Overview: The Microfinance industry has total loan portfolio of `1,89,069 crore as on June 30, 2019, which represents a growth of 38% over June 2018. Geographically top 5 states contribute 55% to pan India loan portfolio as on June 30, 2019. Across lender categories,

   NBFC-MFIs continue to dominate the industry in terms of portfolio outstanding with 37% market share as on June 30, 2018, which increased to 38% as on June 30, 2019. Among lenders, Banks have highest average ticket size as on June 30, 2019.

2. Institutional Exposure: As on June 30, 2019, Microfinance space comprises of 152 institutions. NBFC–MFIs account for 55% of the industry players, in terms of numbers. These institutions are distributed among portfolio outstanding buckets ranging from less than `10 crore to greater than `5000 crore. NBFC–MFIs and NBFCs contribute to all portfolio outstanding buckets ranging from less than `10 crore to greater than `5000 crore.

3. Disbursement Trends: Loan disbursal in terms of volume registered 4% growth from AMJ’18 to AMJ’19. Most prevalent ticket sizes for lending during this period are `20k-`30k ticket size, followed by `30k-`40k ticket size loans across institutions. There is also a spike in disbursements from January 01, 2019 to March 31, 2019.

4. Industry Risk Profile:_Industry_risk profile shows an improvement in 90+ delinquency from 0.51% in June 2018 to 0.40% in June 2019. Among states, Tamil Nadu and Bihar feature in top 5 states in terms of outstanding portfolio and low delinquency; other such states are Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh.

5. New To Credit Customer view: This edition gives a view on the New to credit (NTC) penetration on pan India basis with quarterly NTC rates ranging between 23% and 28%. NBFC-MFIs contributed highest to the NTC population in AMJ’19. The edition gives a further peek into zone wise NTC sourcing across institutional categories; SFBs and NBFCs have their highest NTC sourcing from the South zone at 32% & 42% respectively.

6. State Profile: A comprehensive state profile of West Bengal showcases the trends/ behavior of the state in contributing highest to pan India Microfinance outstanding portfolio as on 30thJune 2019. Overall, the state has a portfolio of `27,649 crore spanning over 1.01 crore live loans. North 24 Paraganas, Murshidabad and Nadia contribute 27% of the portfolio outstanding of West Bengal while overall delinquency of the state is 0.20%.