Bihar overtakes Tamil Nadu to become biggest MFI market in India

Bihar has overtaken Tamil Nadu to emerge as the state with the highest microlending borrowings as of March 2023, a report said on Wednesday.

Bihar achieved the growth courtesy of a 13.5 per cent growth in the gross lending portfolio in the March quarter as compared with the preceding quarter, the report by a credit information company said.

The report by Crif High Mark has put the overall Microfinance (MFI) borrowings in Bihar at Rs 48,900 crore as of March, which represents 14.5 per cent of the overall portfolio, while the same in Tamil Nadu stood at Rs 46,300 crore, representing 13.7 per cent of the overall outstanding.

The overall MFI portfolio outstanding grew by 17.9 per cent to Rs 3.37 lakh crore at the end of March, the report said, adding that there was an improvement in the asset quality as well.

The proportion of MFI loans overdue for over 90 days came down to 1.1 per cent as of March 2023, as against 2 per cent in December 2022, the report said.

The top ten states now account for 85 per cent of the outstanding portfolio and also include Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Kerala.

The average exposure per borrower was also higher at Rs 27,200 in Bihar as against Rs 26,600 in Tamil Nadu, the report said, adding that the eastern region of the company dominates the overall MFI landscape accounting for a third of the outstanding.

The dedicated Non-Banking Finance Companies (microfinance institutions) continue to dominate the market, commanding 37.3 per cent of the overall MFI loans, and are followed by banks at 33.1 per cent and small finance banks at 16.6 per cent.