INTERNATIONAL EXPOSURE

OF MICROFINANCE THEIR
MODELS AND CRITICAL
ANALYSIS
SUBMITTED BY : SIMAR
MADHOK
ROLL NO. : 29
CLASS : M.COM (H) SEM 2
RUSSIA

https://www.findevgateway.org/sites/default/files/mfg-en-paper-microfinance-in-russia-
benchmarks-and-analysis-2006-feb-2008.pdf

The microfi nance sector in Russia is home to more than

2000 microfi nance institutions (MFIs), scattered across
different regions. Most of these institutions are relatively
small, although there is a small group of large-scale
providers. Growth has been rapid in the aggregate, but
is still often slow at the institutional level. In part, this
structure is due to the legislative environment in Russia,
which allows for several different legal forms, some with
limitations on their expansion; and in part it is due simply
to the demographics and geography of Russia, with the
most underserved populations often far outside major
urban centers, spread across 11 time zones and a territory
of 17 million square kilometers. Nonetheless, about 8-
10 percent of the microfi nance institutions in Russia
operate effi ciently with loan portfolios in excess of one
million USD.
Loan portfolios have grown by 20 percent annually, with
3.5 times expansion of the sector between 2003 and 2006,
as shown in Figure 1. Due to the presence of hundreds of
credit unions in the sector, much of this growth has been
fi nanced through savings, although commercial banks
and international investors are beginning to take a larger
role. However, sustainability has also been a challenge as
well and one primary cause is the high cost of savings
for Russian MFIs. Almost half of Russian MFIs do not
cover their adjusted costs, with some paying deposit rates
in excess of 20 percent.
This report looks in detail at Russian microfi nance
institutions by type, size, age, and other factors driving
their development. The report uses two data sets: 1) a
broad set of high-level trend data for approximately
183 microfi nance providers in Russia provided through
the Russian Microfi nance Center (RMC) and 2) a more
detailed sampling of performance data for 20 institutions
participating in annual benchmarks with RMC and the
Microfi nance Information Exchange (MIX). The report
also provides an analysis of Russian legislation regarding
microfi nance, development tendencies within the sector,
and the major characteristics of Russian microfi nance
institutions. This analysis helps to identify the factors
infl uencing the development of the microfi nance industry
in Russia and leading to broader access to fi nancial
services for the population.

COLOMBIA

https://www.marketplace.org/2016/05/02/world/using-microfinance-escape-loan-sharks-colombia

In developing countries like Colombia, microloans — loans of $25 to $1,500 or more — are big
business. The idea is to give loans to people who can’t get credit and who can't get access to
traditional financial services offered by banks.

One such person is Elizabet Abella. She's in a steamy cinder block kitchen in Barranquilla, a gritty
port city on Colombia's Caribbean coast. She's preparing the food she sells to owners of street-side
stalls.

"I’m preparing beans in a pressure cooker," she said in Spanish as sweat coated her hands and steam
enveloped her.

She received her microloan from Opportunity International, a Christian organization that operates in
28 countries.

“We sell in the central market," Abella said in Spanish. She said the loan she'd received had greatly
changed her life for the better, allowing her to expand her business.

In Abella’s case, collateral for her microloan of approximately $150 came from others in a group of
loan recipients. The concept is known as a "trust group." If someone defaults, everyone else is
supposed to pick up the tab. The concept is also used by other microlenders across the world.

“Microfinance is one of those ideas that sounds really good in theory," said Noel Maurer, an
international business professor from George Washington University.

Microlending has had undeniable successes, but Maurer said it can be complicated. The landscape of
microfinance is littered with stories of people who can't repay a loan and who can't escape the cycle
of debt. One Mexican microbank was slammed for charging more than 100 percent on its loans. A
study at Yale found that one microlender in Africa charged its poor clients 200 percent.
Another study at Stanford concluded that microcredit does not significantly alleviate poverty in
developing nations and that meaningful job creation is a better long-term solution to combat
poverty. Other studies suggest that in some instances, microcredit makes life at the bottom worse.
Part of the difficulty in understanding microlending's impact is a serious lack of reliable data on what
works and what doesn't.

"It is not an easy panacea, nor is it one of these motherhood issues that I think everyone should just
sort of blindly get behind," Maurer said. "If it goes wrong, it can go really wrong.”

Colombia is a crucible of microlending. There are seven for-profit microfinance banks here. And the
World Bank’s microfinance office for all of Latin America is located in Bogota. The World Bank has
invested in one those banks, Bancamia.

"Helping people at the bottom of the pyramid," translates into profits, Bancamia's Senior Vice
President Margarita Correa Henao, said in Spanish in her office in Bogota. She said that without
generating profits, microlending cannot be sustainable.

"This is a business, period," she said in Spanish. Collateral is put up by foundations or agricultural
cooperatives. The bank serves its clients one to one. You file a business plan and if you make the cut,
you’re paired with a formally trained banker.

"There are some people who are delinquent," Correa said. But as is typically the case in
microfinance, the default rate is low — about 4 to 6 percent and often lower.

However, when you speak with people here, they don't just talk profit and loss. They also talk about
avoiding loan sharks.

“Up to 20 percent per day is the rate that loan sharks get here, which is stupidly high," Boris Lozano
said, an analyst at Bancamia. He said that the chance to escape the world of predatory loan sharks is
one reason why microfinance clients typically pay their loan repayments on time.

Bancamia's Correa said there isn't one solution to poverty and economic development. She said
many small solutions are needed to propel social development, and that microcredit is one of them.

KENYA

http://www.pyrexjournals.org/pjbfmr/pdf/2016/february/maengwe-and-otuya.pdf
LATIN AMERICA

http://inctpped.ie.ufrj.br/spiderweb/dymsk_4/4-6S%20Bateman-
Microfinance%20in%20Latin%20America.pdf
CHINA
https://www.microfinancegateway.org/sites/default/files/mfg-en-paper-microfinance-in-china-mar-

2010.pdf