Transparent Pricing Initiative in India

UPDATE: MFTransparency will host a national conference to formally launch the India market pricing data on February 25, 2011 in Mumbai. Conference participants will include a range of industry leaders. Please contact Jordan Filko at jordan@mftransparency.org for more information.

Thank you for your participation in this global movement to practice transparent pricing in microfinance.

Participation in the Transparent Pricing Initiative in India
is now part of the selection criteria for
PlaNet Finance India‘s Microfinance Process Excellence Award (MPEA 2010) Read more

Completed Data Submissions:

  1. Equitas
  2. Samasta
  3. Chaitanya India Fin Credit Pvt. Ltd.
  4. Payakaraopeta Women’s MACS Ltd (PWMACS)
  5. Trident Microfinance
  6. Uttarayan Financial Services
  7. Sahara Uttrayan
  8. Saadhana Microfin Society
  9. Asirvad Microfinance Private Limited
  10. Suryoday Micro Finance Private
  11. Sahayata Microfinance Pvt. Ltd.
  12. Ujjivan Financial Services Pvt. Ltd.
  13. Fusion Microfinance
  14. Disha Microfin
  15. Barasat Grameen Society
  16. Arman Financial Services Ltd
  17. HMF Financial Services Pvt Ltd (HELP)
  18. Navachetana Microfin Services Pvt. Ltd.
  19. Action for Social Advancement (ASA)
  20. Center For Development Orientation and Training (CDOT)
  21. VAMA (Bal-Mahila Vikas Samiti)
  22. Sonata Finance
  23. Swadhaar FinServe
  24. Sahara Utsarga Welfare Society
  25. Growing Opportunity Finance
  26. CASHPOR
  27. Lok Biradari Trust
  28. Satin Creditcare Network
  29. Belstar Investment & Finance Private Ltd
  30. PAHAL
  31. We The People
  32. Janalakshmi Financial Services Pvt. Ltd.
  33. Sarala Womens Welfare Society
  34. Asomi Finance Private Limited
  35. Village Financial Services Private Limited
  36. Nano Financial Services India Pvt. Ltd.
  37. Bhartiya Micro Credit (BMC)
  38. Nirantara Community Services
  39. Women’s Empowerment & Microcredit Services
  40. Rural and Urban Innovative Social Enterpreneurship (RISE)
  41. Grama Vidiyal Micro Finance
  42. Shraddha Properties and Finance Limited (Sahayog)
  43. Credible Microfinance Pvt. Ltd.
  44. Prayas
  45. Utkarsh Microfinance Private Limited
  46. Future Financial Services (FFSL)
  47. L&T Finance Ltd.
  48. Saija Finance
  49. NEED
  50. SKS Microfinance
  51. Swayanshree Mahila Samabaya Ltd.
  52. CRESA Financial Services Private Limited
  53. Grameen Financial Services Pvt Ltd (GFSPL)
  54. Yukti Samaj Sewa Samiti (YSSS)
  55. Jaago Samajik Arthik Harit Vikas Sangathan
  56. Arth Microfinance Pvt. Ltd.
  57. Arohan Financial Services Ltd
  58. ESAF Microfinance & Investments (P) LTD
  59. Society for Promotion of Youth & Masses (SPYM)
  60. Anupama Education Society (AES)
  61. People’s Forum
  62. Dibakar
  63. Seba Rahara
  64. The SAATH Savings & Credit Cooperative Society Ltd
  65. Mahashakti Foundation
  66. Hope Foundation
  67. Belghoria Jan Kalyan
  68. Vikas Samiti
  69. Sambhav Social Service Organization
  70. Asmitha Microfin Limited
  71. Anjali Microfinance
  72. Bandhan Financial Services Private Limited
  73. SV Creditline Pvt Ltd
  74. Dovefin Microfinance
  75. SWAWS Credit Corporation India Private Limited
  76. SHARE Microfin Ltd.
  77. Parama Mahila Samittti Kamalpur
  78. Pragathi MAC Credit & Marketing Federation Ltd.
  79. Mimoza Enterprises Finance Pvt. Ltd.
  80. Spandana Sphoorty Financial Limited
  81. NBSAAVS
  82. VFL
  83. Vistaar

Awaiting Final Approval From:

  1. Margdarshak
  2. Bhartiya Samruddhi Finance Ltd.

Submissions In Progress:

  1. Madura Microfinance Ltd.
  2. BWDA Finance

MicroFinance Transparency works with MFIs, Central Banks, and investors to bring about pricing transparency in the microfinance industry. MicroFinance Transparency will enable transparent communication between suppliers and consumers of microcredit products. We are the venue for the microfinance industry to publicly demonstrate its commitment to pricing transparency, integrity and poverty alleviation. Our vision is a microfinance industry operating with healthy free market conditions where consumers and other stakeholders can make informed decisions.

India is the largest country to be selected for MicroFinance Transparency’s Transparent Pricing Initiative. Chuck Waterfield and Alexandra Fiorillo recently launched this Initiative with a series of workshops in New Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata where they shared the new industry standard for calculating interest rates for microcredit products with the leading microfinance institutions and banks in India.


MFTransparency would like to thank ACCESS Assist for their contribution to this workshop series and their ongoing support in this Initiative.

Now is your opportunity to actively participate in the Transparent Pricing Initiative in India. During the India project, MFTransparency will be collecting information on all micro loan products offered by MFIs and banks. If your financial institution offers micro loan products, you can participate by submitting specific information on those products. Please follow the instructions below to complete the process.

To submit your loan product data to MicroFinance Transparency, please download and complete the following excel workbook:

MFTransparency-Data-Collection-Tool-v2_14-India

Deadline to submit data: July 30, 2010

When you have completed the Data Collection Tool, please email it to: india@mftransparency.org

Should you have any questions about MFTransparency, the data submission process, or anything else, please email Anjum Khalidi at anjum@mftransparency.org and she will get back to you within 48 hours to answer your inquiries.

Materials to Download

The following materials have been created by MFTransparency to help you understand interest rate calculations, the issues surrounding pricing transparency in microfinance and what the Transparent Pricing Initiative is all about.

For information on current trends in the Indian microfinance industry, please read MS Sriram’s paper ‘Commercialisation of Microfinance in India: A Discussion on the Emperor’s Apparel.’

To submit your loan product data to MicroFinance Transparency, please download and complete the following excel workbook:

MFTransparency-Data-Collection-Tool-v2_14-India

Deadline to submit data: July 30, 2010

When you have completed the Data Collection Tool, please email it to: india@mftransparency.org

Should you have any questions about MFTransparency, the data submission process, or anything else, please email Anjum Khalidi at anjum@mftransparency.org and she will get back to you within 48 hours to answer your inquiries.

News & Updates

The following are articles written about the Transparent Pricing Initiative in India as well as updates on other activity in the Indian microfinance market.

December 27, 2010
MF Focus: Representation to the Malegam Committee on microfinance

December 22, 2010
MF Focus: RBI tells Banks to continue lending to microfinance sector

December 22, 2010
Microcapital Brief: Local Government in Indian State of Andhra Pradesh Considers Additional Microfinance Regulation, Requires Disclosure of Operational Procedures

November 29, 2010
MF Focus: Credit bureau for Indian microfinance ‘High Mark’ gets license from RBI

November 22, 2010
MF Focus: Microfinance regulatory framework after RBI report

November 19, 2010
CGAP Microfinance Blog: Crisis by Invitation

October 29, 2010
MF Focus: RBI Sub Committee to examine microfinance lending practices

October 22, 2010

Read about the Transparent Pricing Initiative in India on the MFT Blog

Hindustan Times: HC allows microfinance cos. to carry out activities in AP

October 21, 2010
MF Focus: Sa-Dhan members propose to cut down interest rates by 0.5-2%

October 7, 2010
CNBC TV18 Young Turks – YourStory.in: Arohan and Ujjivan bag the Srijan 2010 MFI Transparency Award

September 22, 2010
Economic Times: Don’t cap microfinance lending rates

August 31, 2010
Financial Chronicle: Major MFIs Agree to Model Code of Conduct

August 28, 2010
MF Focus: Ujjivan Microfinance and Parinaam Foundation Refund Interest on Education Loan

July 29, 2010
The Economist: SKS Comes to Market. Microfight: can microlenders serve shareholders and the poor?

June 3, 2010
MF Focus: World Bank gives $200m loan to SIDBI for scaling up the Sustainable and Responsible Microfinance Project in India

May 4, 2010
The Economic Times: Bandhan slashes lending rate to 19.1%

April 28, 2010
Live mint: Debate on MFIN Code of Conduct

April 23, 2010
DNA India: Microfinance rates soon a click away

April 21, 2010
Microfinance Focus: Special Report: A Detail overview of Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN)

April 19, 2010
CGAP Technology Blog: India: Agent management to sort winners from losers

April 19, 2010
CGAP Technology Blog: India’s vision for technology and financial inclusion: Interview with Bindu Ananth of IFMR Trust

April 16, 2010
Microfinance Insights: Exclusive Interview with MFTransparency executives Chuck Waterfield and Alexandra Fiorillo

April 16, 2010
Microfinance Insights: Conversations with Delegates at the MFTransparency Workshop in Bangalore 2; V.S. Radhakrishnan, COO, Janalakshmi Financial Services

April 16, 2010
Microfinance Insights: Conversations with Delegates at the MFTransparency Workshop in Bangalore 3; Krishna Morab, Chief Officer, Association of Karnataka Microfinance Institutions (AKMI)

April 16, 2010
Microfinance Insights: Towards an IPO – Reaction to SKS IPO from P.N. Vasudevan, Promoter and Managing Director, Equitas

April 12, 2010
Microfinance Focus: MFTransparency launches Transparent Pricing Initiative for Microfinance in India

April 11, 2010
Livemint: Farm loans to banks by microfinance firms see big spurt

April 10, 2010
Livemint: Profiting from poverty? SKS Microfinance IPO sparks debate

April 9, 2010
Microfinance Focus: Microfinance pioneer Prof Yunus raises concerns over SKS IPO

April 6, 2010
Microfinance Focus: NBFC Microfinance SHARE raises Rs 100 cr ‘Subordinated-debt from SIDBI’

April 5, 2010
Microfinance Focus: Bhartiya Samruddhi Finance Limited raises INR 118 cr. ($26m) Equity with Matrix Partners India, Hivos Triodos and Lok Capital

April 2, 2010
Microfinance Focus: Equifax receives RBI license to commence Credit information services in India

April 2, 2010
Microfinance Focus: Exclusive Interview: “MFIN was necessary for Indian Microfinance: Vijay Mahajan”

April 2, 2010
The Times of India: PE, VCs fear bubble in microfinance

March 30, 2010
Microfinance Focus: IFMR Capital Structures Rs. 264.7 mn Microfinance Securitisation with Grameen Koota

March 29, 2010
Livemint: The business of microfinance

March 29, 2010
Microfinance Focus: Rabo India provides INR 250 mn Term loan to NBFC-microfinance BSFL

March 26, 2010
Microfinance Insights: SKS Microfinance Ends Months of Speculation; Files Draft Red Herring Prospectus

March 17, 2010
Microfinance Focus: SIDBI ready to reduce interest if microfinance institutions pass the benefit: SIDBI CMD

February 18, 2010
The Economic Times: MFI body plans code of conduct

February 9, 2010
MicroCapital Brief: New Microfinance Bill in Indian Parliament Would Remove Microloan Interest Rate Cap

Instructions for Data Collection Process

Instructions Notes
Step 1 Fill out the basic information on the “MFI INFO” sheet Please note the “Number of Incomplete Data Points” counter as you fill in information.
Step 2 Fill out a “LOAN PRODUCT” worksheet for every loan product you have, following instructions on the sheet carefully. If you have questions after reading the instructions, feel free to e-mail us for clarification. The data tool has capacity for up to 10 loan products.  If you have more, simply use multiple copies of the data collection tool.
Step 3 Collect sample repayment schedules for EACH product using the guidance contained in the tool. Please note: The data tool indicates how many samples are needed, and what loan amounts they should be for. They should be loans that were disbursed within the past two months.
Step 4 Double check your work, perhaps with a colleague, to ensure accuracy of the data. Verify that there are no incomplete cell errors or the data approval process will fail.  You will be able to save the incomplete file, however.
Step 5 Email india@mftransparency.org to request a confidential authorization code.  This code is needed to insure that the data is being submitted by an authorized representative of the organization.  Please include the name and email address of your Executive Director (or equivalent) in this request. The confidential code will only be sent via email to the Executive Director / General Manager (or equivalent) of your institution.
Step 6 MFTransparency will email the Executive Director (or equivalent) the confidential authorization code. We strive to return this code within 24 hours.
Step 7 Have the Executive Director (or equivalent) of your institution do a final review of the data and APPROVE its submission on the “Approval Sheet”, with the confidential authorization code. Once approved, all data in the tool will be LOCKED and nobody can make any changes. If you notice changes that need to be made after you lock the worksheet, please contact us.
Step 8 Email this workbook and the repayment schedules to india@mftransparency.org .  If you cannot email the repayment schedules, please contact india@mftransparency.org to obtain a fax number you can use.
Step 9 MFTransparency will contact you and your Executive Director (or equivalent) if we have any questions regarding the data. Please contact india@mftransparency.org with any questions or concerns you may have throughout the process.

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