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Has reached out to over 2 lac households with collateral-free loans

•  To reach out to 5 lakh households by March 2009
•  To extend operations into 3 new districts of Bhandara, Buldhana and Washim
• 52 new branches to be added to existing network of 86  
• Looks at nearly doubling rural recruitment drive this fiscal

Nagpur, May 7, 2008: SKS Microfinance, India's largest microfinance institution, is planning to launch microfinance in urban colonies of Nagpur and Pune this fiscal. The company has conducted a successful pilot in Nandanvan branch in Nagpur where 3695 members have opted for loans worth Rs.4.5 crore since November, 2007.

In Maharashtra, the company started operations in July 2006 and currently has 86 branches across 23 districts of Ahmednagar, Amrawati, Aurangabad, Beed, Chandrapur, Dhule, Hingoli, Jalgaon, Jalna, Latur, Nagpur, Nanded, Nashik, Osamanabad, Parbhani, Pune, Sangli, Satara, Solapur, Wardha, Akola, Kohlapur and Yavatmal. In all, 2 lac women in Maharashtra have received collateral-free loans.  In Nagpur alone SKS has over 50,000 members. By March 2009, the company plans to extend operations in three new districts of Bhandara, Buldhana and Washim and add 52 new branches.

Announcing the company's growth plans for the State, Mr K V Rao, Vice President, Member Services, SKS Microfinance, said, "Our intent is to extend financial services to all unbanked sections of society.  We have extended collateral-free loans to 2 lac women in rural and semi-urban Maharashtra. Our urban pilot has been a success and we are ready to roll it out across urban colonies in Nagpur and Pune."

"In the coming year we will open 9 new urban microfinance branches in Nagpur and 12 in Pune. On an average, 5000-8000 members are covered by every urban microfinance branch," he added.

Maharashtra has over 55 lakh households living below poverty line, with a credit demand over Rs 11,624 crore.  SKS has so far provided collateral free loans worth Rs 243 crore.  In all, 32% of the SKS portfolio is in trade, 31% in services, 20% in livestock, 10% in production and 1.5% in agriculture. 

Rural Recruitment Opportunity

SKS Microfinance is a large recruiter of matriculation-pass boys and girls in rural India. In order to better understand the needs of the poor, SKS hires from the sections of society it serves.  It has 500 such staff hired as Field Assistants who handle the transactions and clients directly.  In the coming year, 400 more Field Assistants would be recruited.  A Field Assistant is paid Rs.3735/- as gross salary and with incentives they would take home approximately Rs.7000/-.