Social Impact Assessment of Microfinance Programmes - weman

the gender of the borrower is not a major determinant. Most of the loans taken by
women are actually utilized for the male family member’s income generation
activities.
• The majority of the NRSP loans are used for agriculture and livestock purposes,
with 60 percent of the loans for agriculture purposes, 19 percent for livestock and
21 percent for entrepreneur development. More than 50 percent of the NRSP
programme area comprises arid zones and rain fed areas of the country taking in
view the main mandate of the organization to eradicate poverty.
• The habit of saving is a prerequisite for CO membership, as is regular attendance
in the fortnightly meetings. Once the members’ savings (which are deposited in a
bank account in the name of the CO) reach a substantial amount the process of
internal lending begins with the unanimous will of the CO. The CO then forms a
credit committee, which appraises the loan requests. The CO extends credit to its
members from its saving pool on its own terms and conditions. NRSP trains the
COs in accounting and financial management.
• From our sample, we observe that about one-fifth of NRSP clients are in the
fourth and greater loan cycle. A large majority of NRSP Active Borrowers are
involved in Agriculture in Crop Production, as well as in Livestock Management.
Active Borrowers have higher average Income Per Capita and Expenditure Per
Capita than other categories. Both the Expenditure Per Capita and Income Per
Capita for Active Borrowers is higher than it is for Pipeline and Non-Borrowers
and this difference is statistically significant. Similarly, the Value of Household
Assets and the Household Asset Score are both greater for Active Borrowers and
here again, this difference is statistically significant. Both these sets of data may
suggest that NRSP Active Borrowers are ‘better-off’ than the new clients and
non-clients.
• In most urban MFIs, we observe in the case of Women’s Economic
Empowerment, that Active Borrowers were far ‘better-off’ than new clients and
Non-Borrowers. In the case of NRSP, we do not get this result perhaps due to
greater rigidity in the social structure in rural Punjab where women are less
physically and socially mobile.
• Our results show that NRSP is having a positive and significant effect on income
and total expenditure. Young borrowers have 26 percent higher income than other
respondents -- overall their household income is 32 percent higher and the per
capita income is 24 percent higher, however these variables are not significant in
the single difference estimation. We can see a positive impact on old borrowers
on all measures of income in both single and double difference estimations. In the
DID estimations, active borrowers have 90 percent higher income, household
income is 48 percent higher and per capita income is 40 percent higher.
• The results on the income variables do show a positive impact on NRSP clients,
however this impact has not translated into higher spending on education and
saving. Higher spending on these latter variables is important to develop human
capital and reduce vulnerability.
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