1、 1 原文 Microfinance and Economic Growth Reflections on Indian Experience 1.Introduction Achieving balanced and inclusive economic growth is a key challenge faced by policymakers in countries around the world. The gains of economic growth are accessible to a greater extent by the relatively advantaged
2、, who find it easier to participate in the growth process. Poorer people, who are separated by distance from the urban areas where economic activity is concentrated, have to wait much longer to reap the benefits of economic growth. Engaging these sections of society in the economic mainstream is ess
3、ential to achieve balanced growth, which is critical for the long-term sustainability of social development and economic prosperity. Access to financial services is a key element of the process of socio-economic empowerment. Only by delivering financial services to people in rural areas and lower in
4、come strata can they be brought within the ambit of economic activity. Only then can the full potential of the countrys physical and human resources be realised. The rural economy represents a large latent demand for credit, savings and risk mitigation products like insurance. Governments and regula
5、tors the world over have articulated the expansion of financial service delivery to this segment of the population as a priority objective. 2.The Importance of Financial Services The delivery of financial services to lower income households in rural areas, however,presents a unique set of challenges
6、. This customer segment has a high volume of low value transactions and requires doorstep services, flexibility in timing as well as simple procedures and documentation . These require a set of skills completely different from those deployed by mainstream financial intermediaries. At the same time,
7、traditional modes of outreach, like physical branch networks, prove to be inappropriate because of their high costs. Microfinance is a model which seeks to provide financial services to the rural population in a viable and sustainable manner. 2 3.Microfinance Microfinance encompasses the provision o
8、f a broad range of services such as deposits,loans, payment services, money transfers and insurance products to poor and low-income households and microenterprises. Microfinance allows replacement of high-cost debt from informal sources, thereby increasing disposable income.It inculcates financial d
9、iscipline, resulting in ownership of assets, and enhances the ability to withstand shocks due to access to savings products, credit and insurance. In lower income countries with inadequate institutional infrastructure, microfinance is an important development tool and has helped expand the depth of
10、financial services. 4.The Indian Context With a population of over 1 billion and estimates of the number of poor people ranging from 300 to 400 million, India is one of the largest markets for microfinancial services. It is estimated that a large part of the demand for credit in this stratum is curr
11、ently met by informal sources. The twentieth century saw large-scale efforts to improve the quality of life in rural India. Different approaches were adopted by government agencies and nongovernment organisations (NGOs) to improve the condition of the rural population.These included land redistribut
12、ion, building economic and political awareness, technology transfer and delivery of a variety of services. Credit in the rural sector was largely supplied by co-operative societies till the mid-1960s with the commercial banks rural operations centered around agri-businesses and marketing. One of the
13、 objectives of bank nationalisations in 1969 and 1980 was to increase the flow of rural credit. However, merely expanding physical presence in rural areas did not achieve the desired results, given the need to overlay mainstream financial service delivery models with the social mobilisation skills t
14、hat were essential to meet developmental objectives. The self-help group (SHG)-bank linkage programme was the initial microfinance initiative launched by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in 1992. While this model of partnership between the banking sector and voluntary
15、 organisations achieved reasonable success, it continued to depend on the creation of an extensive banking network. Challenges in scaling up this model led to 3 the introduction of financial intermediation by microfinance institutions (MFIs) that provide microfinance services to the poor, especially
16、 in rural areas. 5.Microfinance Institutions MFIs borrow from commercial sources and on-lend to clients (groups/individuals). Most MFIs in India started with grants and concessional loans and gradually made the transition to commercial funding. While much of the growth in the initial years was finan
17、ced by concessional loans from funding agencies, this was followed from 2001 onwards by raising equity from domestic as well as international agencies and by borrowings from the banking sector. MFIs have been observed to administer risks better than the traditional banking sector. There may be two e
18、xplanations for this: MFIs have developed specialised systems of evaluation, supervision, administration and recovery of credits attuned to their clientele, and the clients have developed an appropriate financial culture.Since 2003, several banks have entered the microfinance sector with innovative
19、scaling-up strategies. In addition to term loans, some of the innovative structures offered by banks in India to create access to financial services in the rural areas are: Partnership: Several MFIs have an excellent base and infrastructure in their specific markets. However, they lack access to pro
20、duct knowledge, funding and technology platforms. In the partnership model, the bank provides mezzanine equity and technology to the NGO/MFI and lends directly to clients with risk-sharing by the NGO/MFI. The bank also provides loan funds for the MFIs own investment requirements. The MFI undertakes
21、loan origination, monitoring and collection. The advantage of this structure is that it separates the risk of the MFI from the risk of the portfolio. Here the intermediary or the MFI assumes a fraction of the credit risk (to the extent of risk sharing), leading to a reduction in capital required. It
22、 combines the core competence of NGOs/MFIs with that of banks social mobilisation skills with finance. Securitisation: In this model the commercial bank identifies a portfolio based on fulfillment of minimum criteria and past portfolio performance. Though the MFI continues to collect receivables from the borrowers, its leverage is reduced which
