Alternative ways of managing supply side in microfinance: Study of rrbs, Cooperative societies, Chit Funds and informal lenders

Abstract

Ideation of Microfinance happened when formal finance failed to make a dent inpoverty. But this self-proclaimed panacea for poverty, ‗microfinance‘, has also failed in manyinstances questioning the feasibility of microfinance institutions. Though microfinance is a recentphenomenon in India, there have been many institutions created with the mission of helping poor andalleviating poverty. We look at some of these institutional mechanisms like cooperative societies andRegional Rural Banks that Indian government tried for poverty reduction. Decades of these effortson poverty reduction has not succeeded well, and informal finance still exists and continues as amajor source of support for poor. We would closely look at the aspects which can be adopted widely,hence helping the overall poverty reduction efforts.