KEY TRENDS

• 36% of the rural households are found to be outside the fold of institutional credit*
• The total annual requirement of credit for the rural poor families would be at least Rs.15,000 crores on the basis of a maximum need of Rs.2000/- per family*
• Financial services to the poor are provided mainly by the 33,000 rural and 14,000 suburban branches of the major banks and RRBs (regional rural banks) and by the 94,000 cooperative outlets**
• Self-help groups are the most common form of microcredit delivery in India.  These informal savings and credit associations cover an estimated 3.5 to 4 million clients.  They often regroup into federations#  
• On an average, there is one Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) for every 6 villages; these societies have a total membership of more than 120 million rural people making it one of the largest rural financial systems in the world##
• As a separate group, 87% of marginal farmers and 70% of small farmers have no formal credit while 70% of marginal farmers and 45% of small farmers do not have deposit or savings accounts with a formal financial institution*#
• The Government of India’s main poverty alleviation programme, the Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP), is “the world’s largest microfinance programme”***
• The Micro Financial Sector (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2007 has two broad objectives: (a) to promote and regulate the micro finance sector; and (b) to permit MFOs to collect deposits from eligible clients****

* Emergence of MFIs and the growth of Microfinance Sector in India, prepared by Sa-Dhan
** Macro Environment and Legal and Regulatory Framework, India, March 2002, prepared by Sa-Dhan
# Macro Environment and Legal and Regulatory Framework, India, March 2002, which has been prepared by Sa-Dhan
## Vaidyanathan Committee of 2004 (for the revival of the cooperative credit system)- http://www.nabard.org/pdf/report_financial/Chap_VI.pdf
*# Micro-credit Rating International Limited, 
http://www.m-cril.com/pdf/M-CRIL-Review-of-Rural-Banking-in-India--Working-Paper-1.pdf
*** Best Practices followed by Leading Indian MFIs, prepared by M-Cril
**** PRS Legislative Research, Centre for Policy Research, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi