India's 112 most under-developed districts becomes credit-worthy

Access to credit in the country’s most under-developed districts has grown rapidly following the introduction of the government’s aspirational district programme with microfinance loan outstanding in these districts rising 2.6-fold in the three-and-a-half years.

Microfinance portfolio outstanding in 112 of such districts stood at Rs 28,737 crore at the end of June, compared with Rs 11,175 crore as just before the launch of the programme in January 2018, a joint report by Equifax and Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi) showed.

Nearly 43% of the loans were given by banks, the data showed. Small finance banks contributed 13% and NBFc-MFIs accounted for 37% of the loans.


Niti Aayog had identified 112 most under-developed districts across the country in January 2018 under this programme with an aim to improve the standard of living through sustainable development assistance under five broad socio-economic themes - health & nutrition, education, agriculture & water resources, financial inclusion and skill development and infrastructure.

The Equifax-Sidbi report on microfinance has a segment on how access to credit grew in these districts.

The report showed that the number of active micro borrowers almost doubled to 8.1 million by the end of June from 4.2 million before the government intervention.