Microfinance market reports a small rise in early stage delinquency

Kolkata: The share of early stage delinquency in microfinance loans rose in April while the sector’s overall credit risk eased, data from CRIF high Mark showed.

The portfolio at risk (PAR) for the 1-30 day bucket inched up to 0.8% in April from 0.6% a month prior while the ratio for 1-180 days was recorded at 2.5% as compared with 2.6% over the same period.

Head of microfinance lenders said that there is no additional stress while the marginal rise in April reflects the usual slack business trend early in the fiscal.

“The first quarter is always a difficult quarter for business and the rise in early delinquency is only a reflection of this,” Satin Creditcare Network chairman HP Singh told ET. “Till now there is not much uncertainty around macroeconomic conditions and resultant impact on microfinance,” he said.

Delinquency levels in PAR 1–30 inched up slightly across lenders, except for non-banking financial companies, CRIF High Mark said in its latest report published Wednesday.

“In the other buckets, delinquency mostly improved across lender types,” the credit information company said.
The microfinance portfolio outstanding remained broadly stable at Rs 3.31 lakh crore at the end of April while the number of active loans continued to decline in April to 10.6 crore from 10.5 crore a month prior.