2. ASA India International
Eastern India Lions Leadership Academy
June 2013

3. MICROFINANCE AND ITS RELEVANCE IN
POVERTY ALLEVIATION
 Microfinance helps poor households meet basic needs and protects
them against risks.
 Provide with working capital for income generating activities.
 Provide with additional capital for expanding running business.
 Helps in asset creation and opens up more employment
opportunities in the rural areas.
 Save poor from the trap of money lenders.
 Increased access to quality education for children, access to better
health facilities and access to information on the government
schemes and programme.
 Micro credit has the potential to effectively contribute to the
empowerment of women and development of children.

4. RELEVANCE IN POVERTY
ALLEVIATION(CONTINUED)
 Linkage building with resource agencies as well as input output
markets.
 Social Protection through Micro insurance-life & general insurance.
 The use of financial services by low-income households leads to
improvements in household economic welfare and enterprise
stability and growth.
 Provides access to financial services to financially excluded.

5. About ASA
 ASA India has been incorporated under the Indian
Companies Act and registered with RBI as NBFC
(applied for MFI-NBFC ).
 The company is part of ASA International Group that
has operations in Philippines, Pakistan, Sri
Lanka, Ghana, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Cambodia.

6. ASA’s global operations

7. 71` `
ASAInternational
ASA India-Operational Areas
Number of
Branches
Apr’13”
State
West
Bengal
127 Fifteen District-
1) Darjeeling
2) Cooch Behar
3) Jalpaiguri
4) South Dinajpur
5) Malda
6) Murshidabad
7) Birbhum
8) Nadia
9) Burdwan
10) North 24 Pgs
11) South 24 Pgs
12) Howrah
13) East Midnapore
14) Hooghly
15) Kolkata
Assam 4 One District – Kamrup
Tripura 4 One District – Agartala
Bihar 2 One District – Kishanganj

8. Operational Snapshot (India)
Sl. No Particulars As on 30.04.2013
1 No of states 4
2 No of Districts 18
3 No of branches 137
4 No of total members 2,27,528
5 No of active clients 1,18,308
6 No of loan officers 423
7 No of total staff 631
8 Portfolio Rs in Crores 65.07
10 PAR>30 days (%) 1.45
11 Repayment rate (%) 99.37%

9. ASA’s Innovation in Microcredit
 Flexibility of group formation/No bindings on group guarantee
 Simplicity and transparent system
 Low-costs management
 Standardization
 Delegation of authority in the field level
 Innovative staff recruitment and on-the-job (each one-teach one)
training
 Simple and shorter loan processing, less waiting time for the borrower
 Written manual
 Strong monitoring and supervision
 Standard and low cost structure on furniture, fixture and overall
management costs
 Donors free sustainable growth, high ROA and ROE

10. International Recognition and Awards
 “Banking at the Bottom of the Pyramid” Award by
Financial Times and International Finance Corporation
(IFC) UK (2008)
 Selected as the best MFI worldwide by Forbes (Dec 2007)
 “The Ford Motor Model of Microfinance” Asian
Development Bank
 Best International Technical Service Provider for UNDP
Micro Start Program in the Philippines and Nigeria
 Placed in all the six categories with exceptional best
result: MIX Report 2005
 Empowerment of Women Award

11. Microfinance – Social Impact

12. Microfinance Plus-Social Impact

13. Impact Study
ASA India – Impact through Microfinance
Client Basanti Sarkar Activity: Papad Manufacturing
ASA Group: Deep First Loan Rs.10,000/-
Current Loan Rs.12,000/-
Basanti’s success story goes back to 4 years ago when her husband suffered a huge loss in his Saree business. The family
was pushed towards scarcity, getting out of such situation became a major challenge in absence of finance.
She approached ASA India and narrated her situation and sought support. With funding from ASA India she decided
to go into Papad making for her livelihood activity. The activity not only supported her family, provide good education
to her children, she could repay the loan as also expand her business. She continued to avail loan from ASA after
repayment of the previous cycle.
Presently her annual turnover exceeds Rs 4 lakhs with annual profits of around Rs 1 lakh.
What started as a small self-employed unit now provides employment to 8 to 10 families in the locality.
“I used to spend sleepless nights worrying about my family and
children when my husband’s business failed. ASA has given me a
new of life and now I am able to provide my family a good living
standard.”

14. Impact Study
Client Mala Paul Activity: Clay modeling
ASA Group: Nandini
First Loan : Rs. 8,000 Current Loan: Rs. 15,000
“ASA support in addition to the financial security has provided us
and our art recognition.”
She is an empowered woman from Kumartuli area of North Kolkata who now successfully running the business
venture and assisting her husband to shoulder the responsibility of her family. Her 13 year old daughter could be
educated at one of the reputed schools at Kolkata.
Apart from the income her talent has been recognized at state and national level through:
Various awards, recognitions, cash rewards.
A documentary on her talents and achievements, the documentary being selected as 4th best out of 350 documentary.
A contract from Howrah Municipal Corporation for Rs. 1,40,000/- to make clay model depicting scenes from Hindu
religious epic Ramayana to be displayed at Bellilious Park.
Life has been a struggle for Mala Paul and her husband Bhanu Rudra Paul
before they approached ASA India. The meager Rs. 3000 income was
inadequate to make ends meet. Mala Paul approached ASA India, with ASA
India’s support activity expanded; orders started flowing-in thereby the
turnover and income. She kept repaying the loan in a disciplined
manner, again approaching for next cycle of loan. Her business now has a
annual turnover of over Rs.4 lakhs with her income more than Rs. 1 Lakh.

15. ASA – Eastern India Lions Leadership Academy
Joint endeavor towards Poverty alleviation.
 Sharing the common objective of serving the
community, ASA and LIONS is jointly reaching
Microfinance to the bottom of pyramid. The strength
of both the organization is providing impetus to bring
about development and poverty alleviation.
 The joint intervention is in the form of:
a) ASA identifying specific branches for deployment
of funds provided by LIONS and earmarking the
branch and clients as beneficiaries of LION’s
funds.

16. ASA – Eastern India Lions Leadership Academy
Scope for joint endeavor towards Poverty alleviation.
 The strategy is self sustaining and cost effective model.
 Lions routing the funding through the SBLC route i.e.
 Fixed deposit in Bank offering highest interest
rate.
 Provide a guarantee on the lien of this fixed
deposit for Bank’s funding to ASA India
whether through a cash credit.
 An agreement has been entered into between
ASA India and Lions detailing out the modus-
operandi and the terms of tie-up.

17. ASA – Eastern India Lions Leadership Academy
Impact of tie-up
 Microfinance and its benefits reaching the bottom of
pyramid.
 Lions deploying its resources for its objective not as one-
time grant or donation but as a growing corpus.
 Lions reaching the collective through its other social
relevant activities.
 ASA availing funding at reasonable rates for onward
lending.
 ASA increasing its outreach and expanding territories.
 Banks increasing its deposit and Priority sector loan
portfolio.

18. – Eastern India Lions Leadership Academy
Joint endeavor towards Poverty alleviation.
Other social intervention by LIONS
integrated into the Microfinance
activity.
Microfinance ++ activities also
integrated into the scheme.

19. ASA International
 Our thanks to LIONS for the opportunity to make this
presentation.
 We look forward to meeting you again, as also a
binding and long term relationship to bring about
development at the bottom of pyramid.