Process Evolution of Rural Microfinance - an Operational Excellence story

PROCESS
EVOLUTION IN
RURAL
MICROFINANCE
Chronology of transforming Financial Inclusion-
Embracing the India Stack (Cashless, Paperless,
Aadhar and eKYC)
ABSTRACT
The paper traces the journey undertaken by BFIL in
transforming its field operations from manual to
digital Process Evolution journey.This is a real-world
account by the practitioners themselves. Based on the
initiatives taken and results obtained in the India’s
remotest hinterlands by making the phenomenon of
‘cashless’ and ‘paperless’ work in non-conducive
environment, This document allows the reader to
experience the journey first-hand.
Ritesh Chatterjee, Animesh Anand, Anil Singh
BHARAT FINANCIAL INCLUSION LTD

BHARAT FINANCIAL INCLUSION LTD. 1
PROCESS EVOLUTION IN RURAL MICROFINANCE
Table of Contents
Foreword.......................................................................................................................................................2
List of Abbreviation.......................................................................................................................................6
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................7
Modus Operandi...........................................................................................................................................8
Digitization of Microfinance and Financial Inclusion: Paperless...................................................................9
E KYC and Instant Approval: Way towards Cashless...................................................................................11
Key elements...........................................................................................................................................11
Benefits for Members.............................................................................................................................11
Benefits for the Organization..................................................................................................................12
Digital Ecosystem: Customer Service Point ................................................................................................13
Elements of Digital Ecosystem in a village:.............................................................................................14
Enablers of a Digital Ecosystem in a village: ...........................................................................................14
Digital Ecosystem for Financial Inclusion:...............................................................................................16
Digital Operational Control, the B-NAVI Framework..................................................................................17
Digital Operational Control:....................................................................................................................17
Geo spatial data as a variable in the dataset:.....................................................................................17
B-NAVI FRAMEWORK (BFIL Navigation System Framework)..............................................................17
Rollout status and Benefit realization.................................................................................................19

Foreword
BFIL is a microfinance company with spread across various corners of the country. The company works on
the JLG model of Microfinance pioneered by ‘Grameen-Bank’ of Bangladesh. It works through creating
“Joint Liability Groups” of women in rural and urban areas and providing them with financial and non-
financial services. As of Mar 17, the company has over 6.5 million members, spread across 16 states of
the country. All transactions are done only in weekly center meetings which typically consists of all the
members of JLG which falls under the gamut of the center (usually around 30 members). Through this
process, each one of the 6.5 million borrowers of BFIL are met every week by its staff. Thus, the business
model is highly people intensive and has one of highest customer connects in the financial services
industry.
Due to the nature of business model, the company spends substantial time, energy and resources in
managing the routine operations. There are more than 1,250 branches across the country to manage the
operations, which are supported by 27 Regional Offices and the Head office. The sheer volume of the
manpower is roughly around 12,000 and more than 85 percent of these are field staff. Since the
operational methodology was set up and started almost a decade ago, many of the operational
procedures were manual in nature and heavily dependent on the paper based reports and ledgers.
Although BFIL was an early adopter and some semblance of technology was present in form of computers
in every branch and exchange of database from branches to HO for consolidation on monthly basis, there
was still a large gap that technology could fill. BFIL management had its focus on improving the efficiency
and productivity of the Loan Officers (called Sangam Manager or SM) since forever. The beginning of this
transformation was marked by identification of all non-value added activities, which consumed
unnecessary time and caused unproductivity in a SM. Once these were identified, a systematic campaign
based on lean six sigma methodology and use of technology was undertaken for a period of three years
to eliminate the same.
The digitization of the branches was first started with connecting all branches and ensuring seamless
exchange of data on frequent basis in HO. Since the branches are mostly in rural India, connecting them
was a challenge and initial success was achieved using the 1st
generation internet access. However, due
to the limitation of the 1st
generation internet, stability was still an issue. This bottleneck was resolved
With the arrival of 2nd
generation and 3rd
generation internet access. The connectivity became dependable

and a seamless data exchange on real time became possible. Today all our branches are equipped with
high speed internet connectivity.
The next goal of “Going paperless” was achieved by reducing the redundant data entry being done by the
SM. During that time, A SM was spending time in manually filling the collection sheet in the center meeting
and then entering the same information in the branch computer. This issue was resolved by providing
customized android tablets to the Sangam Managers (SMs). The customized software in the tablets
eliminated the need of redundant data entry work, thus improving the efficiency for other important
activities. Major achievement of this was shortening of waiting time for the flow of information and extra
time to an SM to spend on client interaction. This was the first major step in digitization and cornerstone
in becoming ‘Paperless’.
The next step was to leverage the newly setup Aadhar infrastructure, which is the single unique identity
project for the Indian citizen. The Aadhar captures biometric as well digital information of a person. One
can use this information to authenticate and identify transactions. This was further leveraged from the
fact that the RBI has also allowed E-KYC as a legal and digital Know Your Customer tool, thus doing away
with the traditional KYC, i.e. paper photocopy of KYC document with a wet signature of the client. This
enabled BFIL to introduce the process of instant loan approvals using EKYC data to populate a loan
application in the tab (thus eliminating the need for data entry in the tab) as well as instant online
verification with credit bureau to check loan eligibilities. The resultant gravity of change is evident from
the fact that the loan approval TAT has been reduced to 7 mins from the earlier 7 days’ time.
Going “cashless” was the logical next step to significantly reduce the risk element. Cash was used for
disbursing loans as well as for collecting repayments. BFIL started campaign to impart financial literacy
wherever necessary and promoted account opening for financial inclusion of our clients. Once the
accounts were opened, we started disbursing into the accounts directly.
The last piece of the jigsaw was the cashless repayments. For a long time, BFIL has been experimenting
with various tools and technologies available but none of them were found to be suitable to the profile of
the rural customer. We believed that the methodology for cashless repayment should be an “assisted”
model and should not be a mobile number (OTP) based model. This is because bulk of the rural folk use
prepaid numbers, which are changed almost every 3-6 months. Hence it was very difficult to rely on
mobile number as a validation method. Finally post demonetization, saw the advent of the “assisted” +

Biometric Aadhar based model called Aadhar Pay, which was found to be suitable to facilitate
transactions. It was similar to operating an ATM’s, with minimum infrastructure required i.e. just a simple
Android device and biometric dongle. Hence the process evolution came a full circle with the launch of
the “Kirana Bank” (small village grocery stores providing facilities for accessing Banking services). This
model has been used to facilitate the repayments where the client can deposit cash into her account and
BFIL can electronically debit the loan installment.
Our SMs travel long distances every day to meet our customers. The average daily travel per SM is
approximately 40 kms (5 days a week) in which s/he covers 5 to 6 centers per morning. With 9,000 such
SMs travelling 5 days a week, the total distance travelled per month is approximately 82.8 lakh kms. This
is two and a half times the distance between earth and moon and about 207 rounds around the earth.
This is typical transportation problem where (since the center locations are fixed) if the center order and
days was fixed properly, the distance travelled can be substantially reduced by “Route Optimization”. Any
reduction in travel distance allows for more productive time for SM where s/he can spend more time at
the center meeting. This allows more time for member education, application pickup, disbursals, query
resolution etc. This also reduces the risks associated with longer travel duration.
BFIL used the GPS capabilities of the tab (along with the SIM card for data transfer) to solve this problem.
The geocodes of all 2.2 lakh+ centers were captured using a dedicated app. The data was then plotted on
map. BFIL used automated algorithms to identify nearest branches for centers and optimum routes that
the SM should take to reduce the travel distance and time. The efforts have helped reduce the distance
travelled by up to 30% saving the precious morning time for productive activities and reducing risk.
All the above was possible due the mindset shared by the team. The objective was to be a thought leader
in this space and provide genuinely profitability intensive process and enabling technology solutions. BFIL
has invested in a separate Process and Technology team which works together to pilot new initiatives,
provide “proof of concept” and then handover to Operations for scaling up. From concept to process,
design to technology solution and implementation, it has been a fulfilling journey. This modest attempt
to share our journey is what prompted this document and we hope other will benefit from our
experiences.

Acknowledgement:
M.R. Rao : CEO& MD, BFIL
Ritesh Chatterjee : Chief Operational Excellence, BFIL
Srinivas Peddada : Chief Technology Officer, BFIL
Animesh Anand : Sr. VP, Contiguous Digital Planning
Anil Kumar Singh : VP, New Initiatives & Pilots, BFIL

List of Abbreviation
BFIL- Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd.
B-NAVI- BFIL Navigation System Framework
CSP- Customer Service Point
CPP- Client Protection Principles
EWI-Equated Weekly Installment
EKYC- Electronic Know Your Customer
GPS- Global Positioning System
HO- Head Office of BFIL (Situated at Hyderabad)
JLG- Joint Liability Group
KYC- Know Your Customer
OTP- One Time Password
RBI- Reserve Bank of India (Regulatory central Bank of India)
SIM- Subscriber Identity Module
SKS – SKS Microfinance Ltd. (old name of BFIL)
TAT- Turn Around Time

Introduction
Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd. (BFIL) is a leading microfinance institution in India. It has been recognized
as best microfinance institution of 2014 by Microfinance India Award. It has presence in 19 states with a
6.5-million-member base. The core business of the company is to provides small size loans ranging from
$140 to $750. Keeping the “Grameen Bank Model” as a base to provide access of finance to financially
excluded section, It follows a disciplined weekly customer interaction model for its microfinance
operations. To put a perspective on the scale at which the organization operates, consider meeting 6.5
million people on a weekly basis. The works in BFIL is highly people intensive in nature.
The tedious tethering to the daily activity and the repetition of work makes it imperative for an
organization such as BFIL, which deals with such volume, to automate many of its processes. Failing any
thought in this regard would mean heavy workload and reduced efficiency of the field staff. Fortunately,
the management of the BFIL believes in the human values and strives towards maximum efficiency with
minimum workload on the field staff, and thus over the period taken many initiative in that effect. BFIL
has a dedicated team contributing to this goal and worked towards removing many of the bottlenecks
which were plaguing it in the past.
BFIL leveraged on technology to make drastic change in its working and subsequently a major shift in
efficiency was observed. Whether it was a shift from paper based entries of the transaction to using
customized tablets or leveraging on the GPS functionality of the tablets to optimize something considered
as trivial as travel, it did all. Moving from the paper based voluminous work to a tiny tablet, it started a
journey on which its still travelling. It has streamlined many of its processed using lean six sigma
methodology and reduced the redundancy. The various initiative has resulted in BFIL becoming
“Paperless” and reduced its dependency on using cash for various transactions. It has been optimally
utilizing its existing assets to maximize output. Once such example is using the GPS functionality to capture
the geocodes of its centers/Branches and using algorithms to optimize the route for center meeting. This
initiative has resulted in saving distance and time spent on travelling for conducting center meeting. The
details of these initiative are discussed further in this document.

Modus Operandi
All 6.5 million of the customers of BFIL meet once a week in center meetings. All transactions are done
only in these weekly center meetings which typically consists of all the members of JLG which falls under
the gamut of the center (usually around 30 members). The Loan Officer of BFIL is responsible for
conducting these center meetings and usually conducts 5-7 of such meetings every day. The agenda of
these meeting is to conduct all the financial transactions and have a conversation with the members (our
clients), i.e. Collection of EWI, Disbursements, Member Education on CPP etc.
The center meeting is an integral part of BFIL way of operating. It helps is connect to our customers and
understand their point of view. It also helps us understanding the need for which they are taking the loan
and their capacities to repay. We also announce our various CSR initiatives (which includes free ye
operation, scholarship to girl child etc.) to our customers during the center meeting. Following is a
pictographic representation of the center meetings.
Center meeting duration:
45 Mins
Avg. Distance:
• Bank: 2 -5 KM
• ATM: 1-3 Km
Bank / ATM

Digitization of Microfinance and Financial Inclusion: Paperless
Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd. has taken up the dual objective of digitizing its Microfinance operations,
which essentially eliminates time spent on superfluous admin paper work. In the earlier days of BFIL the
information against loans were entered on a printout created for that purpose and then the same
information was entered in the branch’s computer. The digitization of the branches first started with
connecting all branches and ensuring seamless exchange of data on frequent basis in HO. But there still
was a lag time since the branches are mostly in rural India and hence connecting them was a challenge.
Once the information would come to HO, the humongous and tedious task of collating the information
would begin.
The initial success in reducing the information flow time was achieved using the 1st
generation internet
access. However, due to the limitation of the 1st
generation internet, stability was still an issue. This
bottleneck was resolved with the arrival of 2nd
generation and 3rd
generation internet access. The
connectivity became dependable and a seamless data exchange on real time became possible. Today all
branches are equipped with high speed internet connectivity.
Once the connectivity issue was solved, the next goal of “Going paperless” was achieved by reducing the
redundant data entry being done by the SM. The issue of wastage of time due to a SM manually filling the
collection sheet in the center meeting and then entering the same information in the branch computer
was resolved by providing customized android tablets to the Sangam Managers (SMs). The customized
software in the tablets eliminated the need of redundant data entry work, thus improving the efficiency
for other important activities. A SM need not do any calculations any more regarding any aspect of the
financial transaction. He gets all this information in the Tablet he carries. Major achievement of this was
shortening of waiting time for the flow of information and extra time to an SM to spend on client
interaction. This was the first major step in digitization and cornerstone in becoming ‘Paperless’.

During one of the meetings in 2013 with the senior management, Mr. M.R Rao (CEO & MD BFIL) said,
“We need to significantly reduce the time required to input information and reduce fatigue among the
loan officers while accommodating growth while simultaneously improving our efficiencies”
Thus, keeping this in mind the team started brainstorming solutions. A dedicated team of professionals
was identified, who would use the lean six sigma methodology and explore whether technology can be
leveraged in our business model to eliminate wastage and improve operational efficiency. The team
went on extensive branch visit to identify the bottlenecks and noticed the wastage of time while
queuing for redundant data entry in the branch. In those days’ transactions entry were done based on
a collection sheet and use to take up a lot of time. It was then envisioned the need to eliminate the
paper based operations. When the team came back and discussed these, 4 branches were identified
for tryst with technology. The first set of android tablets purchased were basic one and an application
to capture the entries was developed internally. After going through the initial hurdle, i.e. adoption of
technology in field officers (which was solved through training), we noticed that the results were
phenomenal. We could suddenly finish the meetings in 20 % less time. With the great response, we
had, we selected 20 branches with extremely high work load for a pilot and this time high quality
Samsung tablets were procured from IBM with ‘Mobile first Services’ to protect the client data. These
tablets also had much better battery and sunlight legibility. The pilot had a resounding success and
anything which add values to the field operations gets adopted with open arms. By 2015 we adopted
to the ‘Tablet’ in all our branches and started a digitization journey by turning completely paperless.

E KYC and Instant Approval: Way towards Cashless
There was a time when a member would have had to wait for 7 days to find out her loan eligibility status.
The focus on technology has helped create significant process keeping in mind the technology innovations
to make adaptions to make ‘live’ loan approvals a reality. eKYC and Credit Bureau checks now happens in
real-time as soon as a Member/ Borrower swipes a biometric device. Within seconds, the Member/
Borrower can know her KYC details on the ‘Tablet’ along with her loan eligibility limit. The time has been
reduced to 7 minutes from the earlier of 7 days.
Key elements
• The process has been made possible through leveraging together of following key components
o Mobility Device for Loan Officers
o e-KYC powered by data warehousing and Aadhar-based biometric authentication.
o Instant Credit Bureau checks
o Training for colleagues at the grassroots.
Benefits for Members
• Members experience the loan approval process on real time basis and can verify their name,
photograph, and Aadhar instantly on the tab.
• Members receive their loans on the same day, directly into their bank accounts and thus no
opportunity lost for them by waiting for 7 days (earlier time)
• The instant loan approval process has eliminated the need for time-consuming and cumbersome
paper work.
• Cashless disbursals allow borrowers to withdraw only as much of the loan amount as needed,
keeping the rest of their money safe in the bank – and earning a little interest income.
• Members are informed about their eligibility or ineligibility to receive a loan instantly (earlier had
to wait for seven days).

Benefits for the Organization
• Bigger boost for efficiencies: BFIL has been able to reduce the time taken for processing loan
applications and granting loan approvals from seven days to just seven minutes.
o The significant time saved has given one additional day per Sangam Manager per week
for growing the business/ providing service to more Members.
o Member acquisition could be faster – because the pull factor in view of instant approval
(no longer the seven-day ambiguity of whether they would receive the loan).
• Risk mitigation: Estimated reduction in multiple/ overlanding by 75%-80% post the nationwide
rollout of the initiative.
o 100% reduction in multiple/ overlanding if the entire Financial Inclusion sector adopts the
model (to be deleted from final draft).
o Loans can now be disbursed directly into the bank accounts of Members, eliminating the
risk of fraud.
o Presently 87% of members have Aadhar. Fake clients/ loans can be avoided to a large
extent on account of the physical presence of the client (biometric scan and real-time
verification of KYC, Credit Bureau status). As and when the Aadhar number touches 100%,
fake clients/ loans can be avoided completely.
• Customer satisfaction: Immediate loan approvals lead to better customer satisfaction as this
enables them to plan their working capital requirements better.
o Company is able to secure the client
• Bank-ready operations: Seamless integration with national infrastructure makes Bharat Financial
Inclusion Limited and its borrowers bank-ready, enabling delivery of multiple financial inclusion
products/ services.
• Data/ Data Analytics: Quality data would enable/ support informed decisions on areas of
operations. Using Data Analytics, customer acquisition opportunities could be identified and the
operations could be alerted.

When ‘Demonetization’ of 1000 and 500 valued currency note was announced on 8th
Nov 2017, little
did anyone thought that it will have such an impact on ‘Microfinance Industry’. The industry which had
more than 99 percent repayment rate went down to as low of 87 Percent. At the same time the
government was focusing on a cashless economy with minimal dependence on cash. Luckily, since a
while the management in BFIL was talking about doing cashless disbursement. As microfinance is
primarily a cash based business, the risk associate with cash come inherent with the business model.
While our initial attempt to the cashless disbursement were slowed due to lack of bank accounts. The
“Jan Dhan Yojna” came as a much-needed respite. The next issue which cropped up was validation of
the bank account, but we overcame the challenge by creating a change in the internal software platform
and the same was supported by the branch staff on the war footing.
For the initial days we faced delay in transferring of the money to the client’s account, as there was a
lag in post center meeting information sharing with the head office, But we solved that by tweaking the
internal sync software. Today BFIL does cashless disbursements to most of its client by using Aadhar
based biometric authentication framework.

Digital Ecosystem: Customer Service Point
Working with the rural customer requires lot of customization, e.g. Aadhar use OTP to be one of the
mechanism of authentication. But in a typical rural setting people change their number as often as every
2-3 months. So most of the OTP based mechanism for cashless transaction validation were rendered
useless for us. Finally post demonetization, saw the advent of the assisted + Biometric Aadhar based
model called Aadhar Pay, which was found to be suitable to facilitate transactions. It is similar to operating
an ATM’s, with minimum infrastructure required i.e. just a simple Android device and biometric dongle.
Hence the process evolution came a full circle with the launch of the “Kirana Bank” (small village grocery
stores providing facilities for accessing Banking services). This model has been used to facilitate the
repayments where the client can deposit cash into her account and BFIL can electronically debit the loan
installment. The “Digital Ecosystem” envisioned by BFIL has the following essential elements and enablers:
Elements of Digital Ecosystem in a village:
• Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd. intends to become a Banking or Business Correspondent for a Bank
• BFIL will appoint agents for the Customer Service Points (CSP) which will be referred to as KIRANA
BANK
• The KIRANA BANK profile will be an existing “Kirana Store” (small grocery store) from the local
village
• These small store owners are existing customers who avail BFIL’s microcredit to manage their
business
• The KIRANA BANK will act as the monetization point for all cash in and cash out transactions.
• The customer will be able to pay loan installments of microcredit loans, deposit into savings
account, and withdrawals from savings account, remit money to other accounts etc.
Enablers of a Digital Ecosystem in a village:
• The KIRANA BANK is enabled with a mobile device supported essential tools like biometric
device/card reader/printer

• The KIRANA BANK is appointed, trained and managed by Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd.
• The technology is “assisting” the customers initially, moving gradually to self-sufficient mode over
a period with introduction of self-use mobile wallets
Customer
Dist. <0.5 KM
Friendly
Neighborhood
Bank
KIRANA BANK
Center meeting duration:
20 Mins

Digital Ecosystem for Financial Inclusion:
• Cost Reduction to Customer
o Moving cash out of the center meeting reduces the engagement time between loan
officer and customer from 1.5 minutes per customer to less than 45 seconds per customer
o The Loan Officer is now able to manage more customers per day (higher efficiency) which
translates into cost reduction and subsequent lowering of interest rates, thereby reducing
cost to customer
In Addition
• Customer Convenience and Financial Inclusion
o With the advent of a digital ecosystem, customer will now be able to access Bank
accounts, make loan repayments, remit money, etc. in digital form
o Local village digital payments for bills, purchases can be made
o Reduction in Centre meeting time, means more time available for income generating
activities for the customers
o Easy access to Direct Benefit transfers from Government Financial support programs
Figure: Kirana bank enables a host of product and services availability at the doorsteps.
Leveraging
distributio
n strength
Last mile for
leading
retailers

Digital Operational Control, the B-NAVI Framework
Digital Operational Control:
BFIL has a network of 2.4 lakh centers spread across 16 states in the country. We have 1,253 branches
and about 9,000 Sangam Managers who travel from these branches to the centers 5 days a week. The
travel of a Sangam Manager was recorded in the “Movement Register” of the branch and the
reimbursement against fuel was made from the branch itself. Additionally, since all the data was in excel
and SQL databases, there was no visibility on the physical locations of these centers except the addresses
recorded in the center database.
To digitize the information from databases to maps, BFIL captured the geocodes for all its centers and
branches. Next, the physical location of the center meeting on the google map using the geocode data
collected from the center meeting locations was plotted on map. The maps with various layers is
substantially enhancing the potential for planning and control using visual and geo spatial analytics.
Geo spatial data as a variable in the dataset:
With addition of the geo spatial data, the physical spread of the branch gets visible on a map and the
location of branches and centers can be identified. With the added distance variable, the routes followed
by the SMs can be optimized and the growth of centers can be targeted scientifically using algorithm
written for this purpose. Additionally, the geocode data set can be mapped with population, competition
status and demographic data to create various layers on the maps, to be used for expansion planning
among others features. One can also classify the operational geography, ranging from most suitable to
least suitable to focus the resources accordingly.
B-NAVI FRAMEWORK (BFIL Navigation System Framework)
Keeping the above in mind, the B-Navi framework for use of geo spatial data has been developed. Here
we have proposed a five-step implementation framework to get the desired benefits from the process.
Below is the pictorial representation of the same.

Figure: BFIL Navigation Framework (5 step implementation process)
There are substantial operational benefits that can be derived from implementation of the above
framework, which are as below:
1. Time saving of 30 minutes per day per SM, which means more time for centre meeting activities
2. One additional centre per SM per day can be added- Potential of additional 50,000 centre
meetings without adding new manpower, which in turn would mean adding approximately
150,000 clients
3. Cashless and paperless – Direct fuel reimbursement payment to SM’s account
4. Geofencing of operational area resulting in risk reduction and operational control, thus no more
cannibalising into our own branch operational area
5. Lower travel resulting in lesser fatigue
6. Targeted branch and centre formation

The benefits of the individual steps of the framework are as below:
Figure: Benefits from the B-NAVI framework
Rollout methodology and Benefit realization
The rollout of the first two stages has been completed and automated payment of fuel reimbursement is
underway for all 9,000+ SMs across the country. We have been able to plug the leakages from the system
by following the lean six sigma methodology. The next step of center optimization and route optimization
is being piloted in one area of Karnataka as per the following methodology.

BFIL has a dedicated team for identifying areas where an intervention can result in improved
operational efficiency. During a discussion with a branch, the team realized that the routes of the SM
are spread in a very haphazard manner. During the same discussion, the centers of the SM was marked
on a physical map based on the discussion with them. The exercise further bolstered the hypothesis by
the team. It was then the activity of manual route optimization came into existence. However, it was
noticed that after a month or two of optimizing routes, the situation kept going back to the same. This
was primarily because the new centers kept getting formed and there was no one to optimize the route
for them.
The solution for this came in form of an application which used the internal GPS of the tablet available
with the SM and the center locations to map the best possible route. In fact, the application also made
manually capturing the distance travelled by SM redundant. During the initial testing, we found that
the application was draining the battery very fast, had sync and logout issues. But once these issues
were solved we found that there is a potential to reduce the distance travelled by 40 percent in some
places. At present, we have the customized application to do the same in 100 percent of our branches.

Conclusion
In an industry, which is associated with rural populace and has heavy dependency on people for its day to
day operations, the initiatives BFIL has taken to digitize its operations has been quite a feat. The initiative
to go paperless has implications not just on improving efficiency but also on sustainability*. The reduction
in loan eligibility TAT to 7 mins from earlier of 7 days and using the biometric information of client using
the existing asset of the organization for transactions are way ahead to a cashless economy. The use of
spatial tools available with us to assist the field staff is a logical way of expansion planning, and is
supported by robust data for taking informed decision. Finally, BFIL-Navigation framework has potential
for improving operational efficiency to such, that one additional centre per SM per day can be added. This
means potential of additional 50,000 centre meetings without adding new manpower, which in turn
would mean adding approximately 150,000 clients.
*Consider this: Approximately 9,000 SM conduct 5 meetings a day and each meeting
requires 5 pages of paper, we save approximately 54 million pieces of paper every
year, rough calculation would be 10,000 odd trees

Process Evolution of Rural Microfinance - an Operational Excellence story

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