OVERVIEW

Micro-finance refers to small savings, credit and insurance services extended to socially and
economically disadvantaged segments of society. In the Indian context terms like "small and
marginal farmers", " rural artisans" and "economically weaker sections" have been used to
broadly define micro-finance customers.
Microfinance sector has covered a long journey from micro savings to micro credit and then to
micro enterprises and now entered the field of micro insurance, micro remittance, micro pension
and micro livelihood. This gradual and evolutionary growth process has given a great boost to
the rural poor in India to reach reasonable economic, social and cultural empowerment, leading
to better life of participating households. Financial institutions in the country have been playing a
leading role in the microfinance programme for nearly two decades now. They have joined hands
proactively with informal delivery channels to give microfinance sector the necessary
momentum.

Scope of the project

1. State of the sector

This would cover topics on SHG federations, evaluation of social performance, urban
microfinance, developments in technology and perspectives on regulatory issues.

2. Indian microfinance models and functioning

2.1 Difference between Grameen Bank Groups and Self Help Groups: This would
explain each system and compare their sustainability, their outreach and impact on the poor,
including their empowerment impact and their feasibility within their respective environments.

2.2 Self Help Group Model: This would identify key financial policy parameters that
influence the performance of self-help groups

2.3 SHG Bank Linkage Program: The performance review of the program in different
states of India and across three major institutions—commercial banks, cooperatives and the
regional rural banks.

2.4 Acceleration Model: This would explain the SKS Acceleration Model, which applies
principles from Starbucks, Coca-Cola, and McDonald’s to reduce transactional costs and
replicate rapidly.
 2.5 ICICI Partnership Model: Based on an analysis of traditional financing model and
ICICI Bank’s experience in India, this analyses the partnership model of financing microfinance
institutions (MFIs) and its potential for rapidly increasing outreach and unlocking large amounts
of wholesale funds available in India’s commercial banking sector.

3. SKS Microfinance and its IPO which is coming up.

4. Legal forms of MFIs and regulations

5. Scaling up microfinance: issues and challenges