MFI sector portfolio rises 21% in FY'23

Portfolio size of the microfinance institutions increased by 21.3 per cent to Rs 3.51 lakh crore in the 2022-23 financial year, an industry body said on Tuesday.

The portfolio of all microlenders was Rs 2.89 lakh crore by the end of the 2021-22 fiscal.

The number of loan accounts in the MFI industry increased to 1,363 lahks in the last financial year from 1,239 lakhs in the previous year, posting a 10 per cent growth, it said.

RBI-recognised self-regulatory organisation, Sa-Dhan ED and CEO Jiji Mammen said the overall growth suggests that the industry has come out of the Covid blues and is now on the growth path.

The new regulatory norms have also created ?a level-playing field? as reflected in the growth of portfolios of non-banking finance companies and NBFC-MFIs, he said.

The total disbursements of all the MFI lenders in the last financial year stood at Rs 3, 19,948 crore, registering a 26 per cent growth from Rs 2,53,966 crore of advances in the previous year, the association said.

The NBFC-MFIs have disbursed Rs 1, 24, 063 crore, followed by banks at Rs 1,16,402 crore in the last financial year, it said.

Regarding portfolio quality, Mammen said there has been a significant improvement measured in terms of the portfolio at risk (PAR).

This had improved to 2.16 per cent in March 2023 from 5.27 per cent in the year-ago month.

The states of Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Karnataka are the top five states, accounting for 55 per cent of the total portfolio of the industry, Mammen added.

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