- The Theme of the Summit 2023 is “The Next Gen Microfinance – Role of Digital Technology in the evolving roadmap of Microfinance”
Kolkata, 3rd January 2023: The Association of Microfinance Institutions – West Bengal (AMFI-WB) will be organizing the 7th Edition of Eastern India Microfinance Summit 2023 in Association with PwC, MFIN & Sa-Dhan. This year the theme of the Summit is “The Next Gen Microfinance – Role of Digital Technology in the evolving roadmap of Microfinance”. The 7th Eastern India Microfinance Summit 2023 will be held on 13th January 2023 from 9.30am onwards at The Lalit Hotel, Kolkata.
A Team consisting of Dr. Alok Misra, CEO & Director, MFIN, along with Mr. Pranab Rakshit, MD, Sarala Development Microfinance Pvt. Ltd. and Mr. Ganesh Chandra Modak, MD, Grameen Shakti Microfinance Services Pvt. Ltd. briefed the media about the Summit at the Press Conference at Kolkata Press Club on 3rd January.
The 7th Eastern Indian Microfinance Summit is being organized to re-evaluate the strategic roadmap necessary for the microfinance industry to build products taking advantage of digital tools and technologies to serve their clients in a robust and client friendly manner. The recent RBI-released guidelines for the microfinance industry have unleashed the competitive forces in the industry pinning greater responsibility on Boards of individual companies and SRO and the sector is well placed to take advantage of these regulations in reaching out to the vast underserved and unserved market [As per MFIN, the current market potential is Rs11 lakh 42 thousand crore as against current outreach of around 3 lakh crore]. Key principles of fact sheet and limit on maximum possible indebtedness introduced under the new regulatory framework will foster transparency and enable the clients to make informed decisions related to credit. As the regulations are now “legal form” agnostic, it will lead to sustainable and responsible growth of microfinance. The Next Gen Microfinance Summit will facilitate the discussion of various trends and scenarios in the microfinance industry with special reference to West Bengal and the Northeast region; addressing the challenges and possible solutions to overcome them.
The recent RBI-released guidelines for the new regulatory framework in microfinance are expected to bring traction and flow in the steady demand and asset quality improvement. The industry has witnessed a robust rebound post COVID in 2022-23 with a growth of 79.7% in loan disbursement during the first quarter of FY 23 on a year-on-year basis. This growth is likely to continue because of the conducive policy, pent-up demand and branch network expansion.
This year’s session is expected to be attended by the MFI practitioners, regulators and funders to discuss most pertinent issues facing the sector. The Summit aims to bring together the national and global community of stakeholders, particularly lenders and Investors, to discuss current and future aspects of financial inclusion, and how digital aspect can be integrated in a client friendly manner.