2008 Asia Microfinance Analysis and Benchmarking Report
The microfinance sector in Asia continues to evolve with consistent emphasis on efficiency and strong growth in outreach. Loan portfolios grew faster than at the global level, topping 90 percent growth in Cambodia and India, at the same time that India and Pakistan witnessed 50 percent growth in the number of borrowers served. Even as efficiency improvements slowed, MFIs in the region served borrowers at the lowest cost level of any region globally, less than half the next most efficient region at 37 USD per borrower. Asian MFIs relied increasingly on commercial financing, whether through commercial borrowings or equity investments, to fund this growth. Commercial borrowings alone provided more than 75 percent of new loan funds in 2007, bringing total financing from commercial borrowings to nearly 50 percent across both South Asia and East Asia and the Pacific. The growth of regulated, for profit models also garnered large pools of equity funding, with Indian MFIs taking in 100 million USD in new capital in 2007. Positive, stable returns and strong growth opportunities in large markets across the region continued to attract new funding for MFIs.
The Asia Microfinance Analysis and Benchmarking Report 2008 draws on fiscal year (FY) 2007 data of 244 MFIs submitted for benchmarking analysis and data from a total 313 MFIs with published profiles on MIX Market. The data cover 16 countries across South Asia and East Asia and the Pacific (EAP): Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka from South Asia and Cambodia, China, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Thailand and Vietnam from EAP. A smaller panel of 184 MFIs provided sufficient data for analyzing performance trends over the 2006 – 07 period. Table 1 presents a snapshot of the region, serving close to 47 million active borrowers with more than 10 billion USD in loans and sourcing more than 7 billion USD in deposits.
