FAQs

Microfinance refers to a variety of affordable financial services that target low-income clients, living either on or below the poverty line, particularly women. It aims to empower these clients by providing them access to microcredit for income-generating activities, savings and insurance, and remittance services.

A Microfinance Institution (MFI) is an organisation that provides microfinance services such as microcredit and insurance services targeted to the poor. All MFIs share the common characteristic of providing these services to a clientele who are otherwise excluded from formal financial services.

Svatantra is one of the fastest growing MFIs in India. It is the first institution to receive the NBFC-MFI license which was introduced by the RBI in 2012. It is also the only institution that makes 100% cashless disbursements. Svatantra offers one of the lowest interest rates in the industry. Unlike other MFIs, innovation forms the core of business processes and is used as a tool to drive, optimize as well as expand business.

Financial inclusion or inclusive financing refers to delivering financial services at affordable costs to sections of disadvantaged and low-income households in society who are otherwise unable to avail formal financial services.

Microfinance clients are either below or above the poverty line who otherwise do not have access to financial services from formal financial institutions such as banks. They may reside in either rural or urban areas but due to lack of proper documents or insufficient collateral security, are unable to utilise banking facilities.

As rural women are prone to discrimination due to prevalent beliefs and practices, microfinance was designed to improve their status within the family and community by giving them access to financial services, thus financial independence. Women availing microfinance activities tend to be more assertive, confident, own more assets and play a stronger role in decision-making & contributions in the family.

Svatantra Microfin Pvt. Ltd. offers one of the lowest interest rates in the country. Details on our interest rates https://svatantramicrofin.com/what-we-do-svatantra-microfinance.html.

What is the recruitment process at Svatantra?

1. Identify Vacancy
2. Prepare Job Description and Person Specification
3. Publishing of Vacancy & Sourcing of CVs
4. Managing the Response
5. Screening & Short-Listing
6. Arranging for Functional Interview of Shortlisted Candidates
7. Decision Making
8. Reference Check (Except from Current Employer)
9. Compensation Fitment
10. Offer Roll-Out

Clients must meet the following criteria to avail a loan:

1. Client should not have borrowed from more than one other MFI
2. Clients total indebtedness should not exceed 1,00,000
3. Client should have an income generating activity
4. Client should have documents (ID and address proof)
5. Client should have a bank account

Microfinance Institutions in India are regulated by the Reserve Bank of India through its master circulars pertaining to NBFC-MFIs. Based on the RBI Circular No: DNBS (PD) CC No: 395/03. 10. 38/2014-15

Interest rate in MFIs tend to be higher than loans from traditional banks because small loans tend to be more expensive to process than larger ones (as offered by traditional banks). Moreover, MFIs loans are collateral free and require a more hands-on and time-intensive assessment to determine the creditworthiness of a potential client. Microfinance clients tend to reside in remote areas and since MFIs travel to clients, there is also a high cost of operations which is also reflected in the interest rate for MFI loans

Concerns about negative impact of excessive interest rates, abusive lending practices and over-indebtedness and high multiple lending among poor borrowers have all led to the greater attention given to responsible financial practices and developing Client Protection Principles. The three main aspects of these are as follows:

• Customer Protection, Regulation and Supervision to ensure customers are treated fairly and appropriately and that they understand the implications of their actions
• Improve standards and codes of conduct with an emphasis on consistency
• Financial Literacy training to make clients more informed so that they can become more responsible for their own financial welfare.

The company offers affordable and comprehensive Mediclaim to its customer in partnership with a reputed third-party insurance company. This is one of a kind product offered by Svatantra and is tailor-made to the family of 5, including the client, parents, and parent in-laws of the rural household.

Yes, at present Svatantra provides microloans to women for their livelihood earnings.

Banks are financial institutions that provide banking and other financial services such as accepting deposits and providing loans to customers. On the other hand, MFIs’ mainly target underserved households in rural areas to access financial services such as very small loans (micro credit) to help them to invest in or scale up their small businesses.