Governance Practices Among Microfinance Institutions in India
Governance has assumed increasing importance in the Indian microfinance sector over the last few years. With the growth in portfolio and outreach of MFIs, intense competition and stricter regulations, the governance practices of MFIs needed to adapt quickly. Strong governance not only contributes to robust growth of the institution but also avoids the possibility of mission drift. There is a need for prudent corporate governance structure to prevent MFIs from committing the same mistakes they made earlier, which led to a crisis-like situation in the Indian microfinance industry in 2010.
In the light of this context, SIDBI’s PSIG programme wanted to assess the “as-is” status of key corporate governance models followed by Indian MFIs, boards’ roles and responsibilities, executive management and oversight, level of involvement in policy development, corporate oversight and strategic planning process and so on. Through the study, PSIG aims to highlight issues and gaps faced by Indian MFIs with specific reference to corporate governance and at the same time document best practices, if any.
The study has the following three objectives:
- To scan the corporate governance models adopted by MFIs in India;
- To evaluate involvement of board;
- To analyze the current scenario, identify gaps and recommend actions.
