Microfinance sector grows at 26.5% in October-December quarter

The microfinance sector grew by 26.5 per cent in the October-December quarter of 2019-20 with portfolio outstanding at Rs 2.12 lakh crore, says a report. The sector witnessed a growth of 8.5 per cent on a sequential basis.

"Both rural and urban geographies witnessed steep growth as compared to the second quarter of FY20, with rural sector growing at a phenomenal 10 per cent as against 1.6 per cent in the previous quarter and urban sector at 6.6 per cent against 1 per cent in the previous quarter," according to Crif Microlend, a quarterly report on the micro-lending industry in the country.

Disbursements in the third quarter stood at Rs 62,043 crore, 22 per cent higher than same quarter previous year.

Total loans disbursed (volume) in the period stood at 178 lakh, up by 1.05 per cent from Q2 and 10 per cent higher than same quarter previous year.

Disbursed amount in the third quarter of FY2019-20, from the eastern region stood the highest at 36 per cent. Southern region occupied 25 per cent share, followed by West at 15 per cent, North at 11 per cent and Central at 8 per cent, the report showed.

"Disbursed amount in the North-east saw a decline of 33 per cent over the previous quarter, possibly due to the recent unrest between microfinance lenders and borrowers over increasing loan defaults in Assam," it said.

In the quarter, delinquencies witnessed by the microfinance sector 20 were higher than the previous quarter. Early delinquency remained lower than December 2018 but increased from 1.3 per cent to 1.9 per cent over the previous quarter.

The overall write offs as of December 2019 stood at 1.4 per cent of the portfolio, 10 bps higher than the previous quarter, the report said. Active customer base at 6.2 crore expanded by 3.6 per cent over September 2019 and by 21 per cent year-on-year as of December 2019.