The overall microfinance industry's gross loan portfolio (GLP) surged by 11.9 percent to Rs 2,59,377 crore as on March 31, 2021 from Rs 2,31,787 crore as on March 31, 2020, says a report. The growth was driven by an addition of 4 lakh borrowers during the pandemic-struck 12-month period ending March 2021, according to a report Micrometer, released by Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN).

MFIN is an industry association comprising 58 NBFC-MFIs and 39 associates including banks, small finance banks (SFBs) and NBFCs. As on March 31, 2021, the microfinance industry served 5.93 crore, unique borrowers, through 10.83 crore loan accounts, the report said.

It said 13 banks hold the largest share of the portfolio in micro-credit with a total loan outstanding of Rs 1,13,271 crore, which is 43.67 percent of total micro-credit universe. Non-banking financial companies-microfinance institutions (NBFC-MFIs) are the second largest provider of micro-credit with a loan amount outstanding of Rs 80,549 crore, accounting for 31.05 percent of the total industry portfolio, the report showed.

Small finance banks (SFBs) have a total loan amount outstanding of Rs 41,170 crore with a total share of 15.87 percent. NBFCs account for another 8.36 percent, and other MFIs account for 1.05 percent of the total microfinance universe, it said.

The report further showed that the gross loan portfolio of NBFC-MFIs increased by 11 percent to Rs 81,475 crore as on March 31, 2021, compared to Rs 73,412 crore as on March 31, 2020. This GLP on NBFC-MFIs includes owned portfolio of Rs 68,894 crore and managed portfolio of Rs 12,581 crore, it said.

The association said its NBFC-MFI members disbursed Rs 57,891 crore of loans in fiscal 2020-21 through 1.70 crore accounts. The average loan amount disbursed per account during FY20-21 was Rs 35,726, an increase of around 20 percent in comparison to last financial year, the report said.

During FY2020-21, NBFC-MFIs received a total of Rs 40,797 crore in debt funding which is 9.2 percent higher than FY2019-20. Total equity of the NBFC-MFIs grew by 15 percent to Rs 18,663 crore as on March 31, 2021.