Social Impact Assessment of Microfinance Programmes - weman

members to make sure that all the information is correct. In case the loan amount for an
applicant is more than Rs.19,000 then the CDO has to physically verify the business as
well. The documents required for the application are papers pertaining to their residence,
utility bills and NIC (National Identity Card) copies. The CDO has to undertake a
complete scrutiny of the applicant’s house, work and income, as well as that of other
household members. If the member was with another MFI earlier, they have to hand in
their record from the last loan as well. Once this process is complete, the CDO passes the
applications to the BM, who reappraises them.
The BM has to look through the papers of all the applicants and physically verify the
applications of the unit committee and one to two members from each of the groups.
Therefore, approximately 50 percent of the applicants are personally verified by the BM.
For the Unit Committee screening the BM and CDO have to ensure that they own a
house, are physically fit and active, responsible, and are economically better than the
other members. Once the BM is satisfied with the unit, he calls the Male Unit
Recognition Meeting, where the male members are explained the whole process and rules
of the organization and are asked to sign on the application form. After this the BM calls
the Female Unit Recognition Meeting, where they are tested on the policies and
procedures of Asasah and sign the application forms. At this meeting, the members also
have to give in the loan processing fee and the insurance premium. This step is followed
by disbursement of the loan within the next 5 days.
Repeat clients also go through a thorough re-screening even though their past record is
available. Asasah wants to make sure they used the loan correctly and that there are other
sources of income for the household in case the business fails so that they can recover
their money.
3.1.4 Loan Products
Asasah’s product mix targets a range of people around the poverty line as shown in
Figure 3.1. The protective loan is for the extreme poor, the productive loan for the
moderate poor, and the other products for those above the poverty line, but nonetheless
still vulnerable – see Appendix.
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