The SIJ Transactions on Industrial, Financial & Business Management (IFBM), Vol. 1, No. 2, May-June 2013 Drift in Global Microfinance Industry An Empirical Study Dr. K. Chitra* & S. Sangeetha** *Director, Department of Management Studies, Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, INDIA. E-Mail: profkchitra@gmail.com **Corresponding Author, Assistant Professor, KCT Business School, Saravanampatti, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, INDIA. E-Mail: sangisubramanian@gmail.com Abstract—The growth and performance of microfinance sector in global perspective during the recent years has shown distinctive differences among regions. With a view to capture the direction of movement of the sector among the regions, a comparative analysis of the performance of the sector in regions like Africa, East Asia & Pacific, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Latin America, Caribbean, Middle East & North Africa and South Asia is attempted in this paper. It focuses on loan loss rate, Portfolio at risk, cost factor, yield on gross portfolio, return on assets and equity among varied countries. Mix Market Data for the period 2003-2010 has been the source for this analysis. Keywords—Loan Loss, Microfinance, Operating Expenses, Portfolio at Risk; JEL: B26; G21; G23; G32; N20; N25; N26; N27 Abbreviations—East Asia & Pacific (EAP), Eastern Europe & Central Asia (EECA), Latin America & the Caribbean (LAC), Micro Finance Institutions (MFI), Middle East & North Africa (MENA), Portfolio at Risk (PaR), Return on Assets (RoA), Return of Equity (RoE), South Asia (SA) T I. INTRODUCTION HE economist Intelligence Unit had brought an edition of Global Microscope on the MFI sector for the year 2011. The study covered 55 countries. The countries had been ranked on the basis of various revised parameters which were like overall microfinance business environment, Regulatory framework and practices, Supporting institutional framework and stability. The study findings concluded that in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, microfinance has begun to enter a more mature and sustainable growth phase [James Clark, 2011]. After years of rapid expansion, the focus has turned to accelerating the improvements already underway in corporate governance, regulatory capacity and risk management. Further, risk management, which has become a post-crisis priority for all financial institutions, has improved considerably in the microfinance sector, which is essential, given that it is offering an increasingly diversified range of innovative financial services to the poor. Efforts to strengthen the sector have been stabilized, beside new opportunities; microfinance is well positioned to take further advantage of technological and market innovations and to build on improvements already underway. This progress stands in contrast to the financial crisis period and its aftermath, which had a dampening impact on the sector by exposing structural weaknesses, leading to a deterioration in the quality of some loan portfolios. ISSN: 2321 – 242X Troubling events over the past year highlight the industry’s need to respond to new challenges and changing local conditions. While microfinance continues to shift from a niche product to a globally recognized form of finance, regulatory and market gaps continue to impede the industry’s ability to realize its potential. Data collection and transparency have improved markedly from the early days of microfinance, spurred by the notable efforts of microfinance ratings agencies and organizations, such as the MIX Market and Microfinance Transparency. But the varied product offerings and market conditions globally imply a continuing need for policymakers to adopt a more systematic and robust way of evaluating the sector’s development, while remaining attuned to the nuances of local markets [Venugopalan Puhazhendhi, 2012]. Similar to earlier performance, Peru was ranked first as the country with highest score followed by Bolivia and Pakistan. India and Ghana which were in top 10 lists had an exit (Table 1). On the other end Uganda, Mexico & Panama have made an entry to the top list. Under the overall business category, Bangladesh – the land of microfinance origin had been in 43rd rank and Vietnam finds the last place. This paper focuses on understanding the relative global performance of Indian MFIs and intends to learn the varied cost incurred by the MFIs, the Loan loss rate incurred by them and also traces out the reasons for such losses. © 2013 | Published by The Standard International Journals (The SIJ) 40 The SIJ Transactions on Industrial, Financial & Business Management (IFBM), Vol. 1, No. 2, May-June 2013 II. REVIEWS OF LITERATURE Ayi Gavriel Ayayi (2012) in his paper credit risk assessment in the microfinance industry with reference to Vietnamese microfinance institutions has discussed about the assessing risk through conventional and specialised evaluation metrics. The study identified that microfinance institutions could sustain financial sound and good corporate governance through the execution of risk management tools. It also stated that the microfinance institutions’ invariably adopt the same risk management techniques [Ayi Gavriel Ayayi, 2011; Padma et al., 2012]. The researcher has used econometric analysis to assess the credit risk. This study helps to understand the importance of assessing credit risk and enhances on the tools to adopt for assessing the credit risk. Milford Bateman & Dean Sinkovic (2009): This paper focuses on the negative impact of the neo liberal policy on Croatia. It also speaks about the Grameen bank model in promoting the standard of living in poor countries. But this model has proved good; today it is facing a threat, which demands for revision in development policy. In Croatia, the micro finance institutions have seen an extraordinary growth from 1999 upto 2006 [Maitreyee Gaikwad, 2006]. The firm and household loans had excessive demand during the study period. But it also describes the repayment tactics followed by the companies are very aggressive during the last few years of the study period, which made the poor to be even poor. The neoliberal capitalism was dead and the one of the consequence was microfinance. Hence this paper helped in understanding the change in policies and in its negative ill effects on micro funding. K.O. Osotimehin, et al., (2011) in their study focused on identifying the determinants of the outreach capabilities and trends of microfinance institutions in Microfinance in south western Nigeria. The econometric analysis has been performed to understand the trend of outreach of microfinance institutions. The model specifies that the depository microfinance institutions exhibit 2 stage production process, first FOP for mobilising savings and secondly for institutions production process. The results of the has shown that there had been increase in the outreach of microfinance institutions in South western Nigeria which has been driven by factors like effective lending rates, cost of loans disbursed, average loan size and staff salary. The researcher has found there is an existence of negative correlation between real effective lending rates and outreach, because higher lending rates will discourage borrowings and have led to lower outreach. III. OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY The study aimed to explore on the following aspects: To analyze the relative performance of Indian MFIs in Global perspective. To analyse the loan loss rate among varied countries. ISSN: 2321 – 242X To analyze the yield on gross portfolio, the return on assets and equity among varied countries. To analyze the operating, administrative cost incurred in managing the loan portfolio and average borrower among varied countries. The study will enlighten on the trends in the global MFI industry. The study assumes to be descriptive which explores the trends of Global MFI industry. Secondary data has been collected and comparative and trend analysis has been carried out for analyzing the performance among varied regions. Data of microfinance belonging to varied countries for a span of 9 years (ie. 2003-2011) had been used for analysis. IV. DISCUSSIONS Table 1 – Ranking of Top 10 Countries in Microfinance in 2011 Rank Country Score 1. Peru 67.8 2. Bolivia 64.7 3. Pakistan 62.8 4. Kenya 60.3 5. El Salvador 58.8 6. Philippines 58.5 7. Colombia 56.0 8. Ecuador 55.1 9. Uganda 53.7 10. Mexico & Panama 53.6 The relative performance of Indian MFIs in the global context has shown greater downfall during the last three years which needs to be taken serious note while discussing the issues on future perspectives. Table 2 – Relative Performance of Indian MFIs in Global Perspective 2009 2010 2011 Particulars Score Rank Score Rank Score Rank Overall MF business 62.1 4 59.1 8 43.1 27 Environment Regulatory frame work 62.5 13 62.5 14 50.0 22 and Practices Institutional Development / 66.7 3 58.3 7 40.0 20 Supporting framework Investment 51.9 14 53.9 14 Climate Stability 62.5 40 Source: Global microspore on the microfinance business environment 2009-2011, Economic Intelligence unit Ltd (www.eiu.com) Pakistan, Philippines and Uganda shares first place in the regulatory framework and practices. Trinidad and Tobago had occupied the bottom of the list. Bolivia and Peru shares first rank in Supporting Institutional framework followed by Columbia and Armenia. Costa Rica has topped in the stability © 2013 | Published by The Standard International Journals (The SIJ) 41 The SIJ Transactions on Industrial, Financial & Business Management (IFBM), Vol. 1, No. 2, May-June 2013 factor followed by Uruguay and Chile countries. As like in the overall business category, in supporting Institutional Framework, Vietnam has occupied the back seat. Peru has been rated number one for the consecutive three years. It had an excellent record of legal framework, sophisticated regulators and government commitment which purely focused on making unbanked bankable. Bolivia in second place had better price transparency and disclosure rules. Pakistan in the third place had separate legal framework for microfinance banks and good networking. The Kyrgyz Republic has stepped down from 12th position to 21st rank globally. This is due to change in political regime which halted regulatory overhaul. Latin America and the Caribbean have the largest number of top performing countries in the Global Microscope. The regions have eight of the countries in the top global 12 countries. In addition the first two places are occupied by its countries Peru and Bolivia respectively. This had been possible as they very strong supporting institutional framework category. But Latin American countries are not very strong in regulatory framework and practices inspite of eight countries are in the top list. Arab countries had faced political unrest earlier this year which seriously handicapped the functioning of the Microfinance industry. Yemen is one of the most affected countries which moved from best to worst category. It stepped down from 27th rank to 44th place. This instability has caused many MFIs to reduce their scale of operations. This landed up in closure of banks too. Kenya is one of the strongest and most stable countries in this region. Kenya is placed in the fourth place and Uganda in the ninth place in the global list. But Uganda places itself in the first place globally in the regulatory framework and practices category. Clients are benefitted with the active microfinance markets. India has been pushed to 27th rank with a score of 43.1 in the overall microfinance business environment. It possesses 22nd rank in regulatory framework and practices, 20th place in supporting institutional framework and 40th rank in terms of stability. The Government of India had strongly promoted the Self-Help Group model through the National Rural Year 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Africa 64.65 67.17 64.07 63.78 62.05 65.73 63.97 65.22 72.08 East Asia & Pacific (EAP) 71.97 72.25 72.19 74.58 73.53 75.93 72.88 74.60 102.76 The Gross Loan Portfolio The gross loan portfolio is very high in Latin America & Caribbean (28,66,309). MENA ranks second with loan portfolio of 23,02,788. Africa had less gross loan Portfolio comparatively with other 5 regions, during 2003. But this trend had found to be changing in the next year, where it (Africa-9,01,087) could perform better than South Asia (8,16,720). Year 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Table 3 – Gross Loan Portfolio Gross Loan Portfolio LAC MENA Market Leadership Position 2866309 2302788 LAC 3290834 3319529 MENA 3325504 4257163 4076073 3958660 4730981 4201610 4717270 3523469 LAC 6109115 4234538 8094382 5489360 128007902 16294574 The growth of Gross loan portfolio of LAC had increased by 12,51,41,593 between the years 2003-11. The gross loan portfolio to total assets had been 84.58% than the previous year (2010). Table 4 – Gross Loan Portfolio / Total Assets (%) Gross Loan Portfolio / Total Assets (%) Eastern Europe & Latin America & the Central Asia (EECA) Caribbean (LAC) 82.61 78.28 85.00 79.90 84.01 79.77 86.82 80.15 87.30 80.97 87.56 80.45 81.70 79.39 84.24 81.13 76.14 84.58 Though the industry seems to have growth in Gross Loan Portfolio/ Total Assets invariably for all the countries during 2011, the trend from 2003-11 is fluctuating. Except Eastern ISSN: 2321 – 242X Livelihood Mission by offering cheap funding and also to restrict market-based lending. A perception prevails that the rapid growth had slow down by the local politicians’ ability to use rural credit more. In a study carried out by Microrate MIV survey 2011 [Luis A. Viada, 2011], Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and Europe and Central Asia continue to account for the majority of microfinance investments receiving a combined total of 73% of all microfinance investment in 2010. JP Morgan’s CGAP Global Equity Valuation Survey 2012 has reported that LAC has more than half the investment followed by Asia [Global Microfinance Equity Valuation Survey, 2012]. India is the major contributor with more than 92% of Asian’s investment levels. Middle East & North Africa (MENA) 71.69 67.06 74.98 79.05 76.85 75.21 76.75 79.29 80.57 South Asia (SA) 74.41 77.32 76.22 78.62 78.03 77.23 77.34 82.01 - Europe & Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean all other countries had a dip during 2007. But Latin America and the Caribbean had experienced a light fall in the subsequent © 2013 | Published by The Standard International Journals (The SIJ) 42 The SIJ Transactions on Industrial, Financial & Business Management (IFBM), Vol. 1, No. 2, May-June 2013 year 2008 while regions like Africa, East Asia & pacific and Eastern Europe & Central Asia were incrementally growing. During the year 2011 a significant data of Eastern Asia & Pacific makes the world to observe them, as it had 102.76% from 74.6% comparatively with other regions. The borrowings have reduced by 5.48% from 3,35,59,161 to 3,17,21,406 in Bhutan during 2009 & 2010. The number of MFIs count decreased from 100 to 94 in India and found to be common scenario in all other countries except Pakistan. Portfolio at Risk (90 days) For the country like India PaR has reduced considerably to 0.13% during 2007. Thereafter it seems to be inconsistent; it is hiking year after year. During 2010 the PaR had been 0.64% from 0.16% the previous year. This sort of hike in PaR has not been experienced by this industry earlier. It is also evident that Bhutan being the leader the depositors, the loans outstanding will be naturally high and the PaR seems to be very high comparatively with other nations ie 11.7%. But the land of microfinance origin is under promising side where their PaR has come down to 4.47 % (2010) from 5.34% Year Africa 0.34 0.54 1.11 0.50 0.40 0.31 0.23 0.26 0.31 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 East Asia & Pacific 0.45 0.13 0.07 0.00 0.04 0.07 0.06 0.33 0.41 previous year. It is also noticeable that Nepal has the lowest PaR with 0.63% (2010). The PaR weighted average 30 days of India had been very alarming with 24.86% amounting to Rs.3, 42, 76,696 loans outstanding out of gross loan portfolio of Rs. 5,25,11,14,052. The active borrowers in India (2010) is 3,17,09,335, while in Bhutan it is just 24, 476. The deposit sum during the year 2010 for India had been Rs. 30,07,60,871, whereas in Bangladesh it is Rs. 2,17,12,20,435 which tops among all the 7 nations. The deposit sum is just Rs. 3,26,45,020 for Bhutan whereas Srilanka has considerable deposits of Rs. 49,41,30,770 which is higher than India, inspite Srilanka comparatively having less active borrowers (13,34,744). The gross loan portfolio of India is considerably increasing from the year 2006-10. ie. (46,15,10,391 to 5,25,11,14,052). Though Bhutan’s entry was from 2008, it also has tasted the growth in its gross loan portfolio ((5,14,66,128 to 7,93,89,045 (2010)). The number of depositors in India has increased in a large way. But it has experienced an exponential increase during the 2010 (65,01,658) while considering the previous year (20,36,591). Table 5 – Loan Loss Rate Loan Loss Rate Eastern Europe Latin America & the & Central Asia Caribbean 0.27 0.85 0.07 0.65 0.00 0.62 0.04 0.56 0.00 0.58 0.00 0.95 0.06 1.05 0.19 1.19 1.83 Middle East & North Africa 0.04 0.06 0.06 0.07 0.21 0.02 0.03 0.02 6.38 South Asia 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 The loan loss rate is found to be very high in MENA than other regions which accounts to 6.38% of the loan portfolio during the year 2011. Inspite of having large loan portfolio LAC has only 1.83 % extent of loan loss rate which promotes additional portfolio growth. Year 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Africa 26.85 27.73 30.39 30.81 31.32 31.45 29.99 31.42 59.40 ISSN: 2321 – 242X Table 6 – Operating Expenses / Loan Portfolio Operating Expenses / Loan Portfolio (%) East Asia & Eastern Europe Latin America & the Pacific & Central Asia Caribbean 29.44 20.67 22.85 21.76 18.11 22.88 23.90 16.73 22.14 23.28 17.19 20.48 19.96 14.89 19.02 20.35 14.30 22.23 20.04 14.89 19.76 18.97 16.10 21.42 22.71 01.34 14.09 Middle East & North Africa 21.41 23.80 22.26 20.93 19.42 20.40 20.33 20.27 19.67 © 2013 | Published by The Standard International Journals (The SIJ) South Asia 15.60 15.44 13.99 13.30 13.88 13.84 14.19 14.06 - 43 The SIJ Transactions on Industrial, Financial & Business Management (IFBM), Vol. 1, No. 2, May-June 2013 Year Portfolio 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 646614 901087 869392 937462 1578846 1955964 2463203 2929689 1754993 Table 7 – Operating Expenses / Total Assets (%) Operating Expenses / Total Assets (%) Africa East Asia & Pacific Operating Expenses Gross Loan Portfolio / Operating Expenses / Gross Loan Portfolio Portfolio / Loan Portfolio (%) Total Assets Loan Portfolio (%) / Total Assets 26.85 15.31 965457 29.44 20.69 27.73 16.12 1124755 21.76 15.63 30.39 17.79 1325123 23.90 16.74 30.81 16.60 1520924 23.28 16.16 31.32 17.23 1767032 19.96 13.99 31.45 18.77 1948487 20.35 14.51 29.99 18.33 3673460 20.04 14.40 31.42 18.68 4418928 18.97 14.63 59.40 28.03 36128828 22.71 23.99 The operational expenses / portfolio had been comparatively very high for EAP (19.64%), though it has slightly decreased from the previous year. East Asia & pacific had very high gross loan portfolio/ total assets during the year 2010. But the operational expense/ portfolio was surprisingly low during 2010 for that region. But the very next year the operational expenses / portfolio & operational expenses had been very high, as the portfolio size had a larger hike by 8.18 times. The African region is facing upside down situations where the portfolio size has declined (2011), but the operating expenses have nearly the double the times with reference to the previous years. The EECA had an effective control over its operating expenses. It could manage its portfolio with just 1.34%, though the portfolio has expanded by 13.8 times. Year 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Africa 20.96 25.18 19.76 19.61 21.73 16.41 22.10 22.56 - Table 8 – Yield on Gross Portfolio (Real) Yield on Gross Portfolio (Real) (%) East Asia & Eastern Europe Latin America & the Pacific & Central Asia Caribbean 36.71 30.90 26.07 28.12 26.48 27.42 28.50 22.09 25.75 23.35 21.22 25.11 24.57 17.92 25.30 19.13 15.20 21.80 26.19 21.23 25.21 24.05 22.67 24.83 18.55 - Middle East & North Africa 31.55 31.54 25.98 23.54 21.62 15.29 27.40 22.28 - South Asia 20.60 15.49 13.83 15.04 13.89 10.46 14.73 13.34 - It is notable that all the regions have experienced a downfall during the year 2009, largely due to the impact of economic slowdown. Thereafter the scenario has improved the very next year (2010) to a large extent. LAC tops in the yield on gross loan portfolio comparatively with 24.83% (2010). It is closely followed by regions like EECA, Africa & MENA. But EECA had experienced a dip in yield during the year 2011. Year 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Africa -0.53 0.76 0.44 0.55 0.74 1.06 0.35 0.81 7.08 Table 9 – Return on Assets (Median) (%) Return on Assets (Median) (%) East Asia & Eastern Europe & Latin America & the Pacific Central Asia Caribbean 3.31 3.60 3.70 3.03 3.50 3.61 2.59 3.19 3.20 3.12 3.29 3.22 2.76 3.20 2.92 2.85 2.83 2.24 2.19 1.34 1.46 2.83 2.34 1.60 8.93 4.60 1.87 Middle East & North Africa 2.06 3.49 2.96 3.65 4.22 3.13 4.09 4.69 6.44 South Asia 0.68 0.83 1.25 0.87 0.77 1.00 1.11 1.47 - The Return on Assets (RoA) of African region have shown as tremendous improvement from -0.53% (2003) to 7.08% (2011), inspite of large fluctuation during the course of time. Similarly East Asia and Pacific have improved and tops in RoA with 8.93% during the year 2011. Though LAC has higher gross loan portfolio, it has picked a very low RoA comparatively to an extent of 1.87% (2011) though it has improved from the previous year. The RoA of LAC had not been attractive with respect to the portfolio size it holds. ISSN: 2321 – 242X © 2013 | Published by The Standard International Journals (The SIJ) 44 The SIJ Transactions on Industrial, Financial & Business Management (IFBM), Vol. 1, No. 2, May-June 2013 Year Africa 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 0.23 2.95 2.12 1.76 3.50 6.68 3.86 4.55 -10.6 2010 2011 4.46 26.85 Table 10 – Return on Equity (Median) Return on Equity (Median) (%) East Asia & Eastern Europe Latin America & the Pacific & Central Asia Caribbean 10.06 9.82 12.62 15.64 10.43 12.62 12.82 18.65 11.61 16.07 20.77 12.36 14.27 16.51 11.66 13.42 14.64 8.82 11.22 3.80 6.26 11.98 7.85 6.94 42.55 22.97 12.14 Profit Margin 15.48 13.54 8.59 27.66 25.26 12.83 Middle East & North Africa 2.38 4.87 10.00 18.01 19.56 6.27 10.62 8.23 9.40 23.61 17.83 South Asia 4.90 6.63 7.45 6.25 7.32 8.84 10.36 9.61 - Though the return on assets (RoA) was very promising for African region RoE had found to be negative. But EAP, EECA regions had good ROE of 42.55% & 22.97% which has exponentially grown from 11.98% & 7.85% respectively for the years 2010 & 11. LAC has also enjoyed increase in RoE from 6.94% to 12.14% for the years 2010 & 11. Profit Margin The profit margin had improved in a larger way to all regions except MENA which had steeply declined from 23.61% to 17.83% during the years 2010 & 11. Year 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Africa 924394 1751191 2575013 4080546 5548788 7114175 6291261 5035715 33867 Table 11 – Number of Loans Outstanding Number of Loans Outstanding East Asia & Eastern Europe Latin America & Pacific & Central Asia the Caribbean 752436 275513 1825806 1056165 367794 4306171 1544024 1160416 6539412 7026395 1748260 10088166 8757888 2487778 13121763 11174803 3170175 14362030 14123042 2815314 15886925 16257342 2868191 16989423 632317 290892 30525592 Middle East & North Africa 410301 593236 885741 1586393 2292119 2521780 2504037 2245047 28450 South Asia 6727748 9614728 20834249 27011352 35561112 44002404 54604003 61040324 - The loans outstanding had been found to be very high for South Asia which had been consistently growing over the years. Africa & MENA regions have tactically reduced their loans outstanding. The noticeable fact is that MENA have reduced outstanding loans with less operating expenses. Year Africa 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 183 183 241 255 284 280 266 196 6 East Asia & Pacific 95 119 131 159 183 182 149 123 3 Table 12 – Number of MFIs Number of MFIs Eastern Europe Latin America & the & Central Asia Caribbean 157 166 189 218 237 280 256 304 323 370 314 392 255 386 213 369 4 40 Middle East & North Africa 31 38 42 49 59 68 70 64 2 South Asia 132 197 214 207 196 222 219 208 - The number of MFIs has gone up for LAC, MENA & SA regions, while in other regions, it is observed to have larger winding up of MFIs from 2007 onwards. This is crucial to understand, as the globe was experiencing recession during the same session. But even the LAC, MENA & SA regions had tasted the bitter of closing down MFIs 2009 onwards. ISSN: 2321 – 242X © 2013 | Published by The Standard International Journals (The SIJ) 45 The SIJ Transactions on Industrial, Financial & Business Management (IFBM), Vol. 1, No. 2, May-June 2013 Year Africa 205 170 174 216 249 302 378 363 269 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Table 13 – Average Loan / Borrower Average Loan / Borrower East Asia & Eastern Europe Latin America & the Pacific & Central Asia Caribbean 200 1091 514 156 1315 609 204 1083 641 245 1693 659 288 2222 746 317 2002 838 312 1788 917 305 1691 1050 123 1571 2629 Middle East & North Africa 270 267 248 259 321 388 463 611 1151 South Asia 72 76 92 107 138 124 141 142 - The average loan/ borrower had been reduced from 2009 onwards in Africa, EAP and EECA regions. Inversely LAC, MENA & SA have increased the average loan / borrower in their regions during the same period. LAC has doubled the average loan/ borrower between 2010 & 11; whereas the EAP has reduced by half during the same period. Year Africa 6.29 7.73 8.10 8.42 9.67 10.67 10.60 9.53 13.40 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Table 14 – Administrative Expenses / Total Assets Administrative Expenses / Total Assets East Asia & Eastern Europe & Latin America & the Pacific Central Asia Caribbean 8.82 8.23 7.14 7.37 7.10 7.59 8.72 6.01 7.00 8.34 5.84 7.48 6.39 5.21 7.14 6.74 4.99 7.42 6.30 4.91 6.79 6.20 4.94 7.20 8.51 0.88 4.71 Middle East & North Africa 5.55 5.97 6.42 5.30 4.98 4.88 5.01 5.30 5.91 South Asia 5.12 5.32 3.79 4.23 4.12 3.99 3.97 3.85 - It is understood that EECA and LAC has taken measures to curtail the administrative expenses significantly inspite of increase in portfolio size. The administrative expenses have drastically increased in African, EAP regions and have incrementally increased in MENA during 2011. Year Africa 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 44,48,059 57,05,409 75,54,102 91,91,585 1,16,96,536 1,71,37,730 2,05,72,668 1,70,60,833 57,975 Table 15 – Number of Depositors (Sum) Number of Depositors (Sum) East Asia & Eastern Europe Latin America & Pacific & Central Asia the Caribbean 13,04,673 8,90,716 9,43,675 15,42,817 11,86,099 32,10,057 20,97,382 15,87,235 63,50,983 65,93,152 27,14,996 76,40,896 32,55,613 39,11,986 97,10,388 46,14,980 52,44,592 1,35,64,741 48,99,512 27,99,959 1,71,68,351 58,30,700 28,32,014 1,54,49,440 6,34,999 10,114 41,19,481 Middle East & North Africa 6,886 5,539 13,589 87,664 81,397 97,489 63,748 89,552 0 South Asia 1,34,03,380 1,59,41,327 1,91,36,200 2,64,38,711 3,01,71,105 3,20,18,765 3,23,06,744 2,67,69,982 0 The number of depositors’ (sum) statistics shows an alarming picture throughout the world invariably. There had been huge decline in the number of Depositors (sum). Year 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Africa 26,06,07,065 52,05,64,877 85,97,01,224 1,34,28,72,904 3,25,76,11,106 4,00,24,07,301 5,28,21,32,767 4,88,27,93,790 94,20,885 East Asia and the Pacific 3,30,75,49,344 10,57,19,602 3,96,67,65,831 5,34,71,92,014 6,01,01,40,130 6,15,99,25,668 8,44,20,68,436 11,77,51,31,989 3,64,35,971 Table 16 – Deposit (Sum) Deposit (Sum) Eastern Europe Latin America and and Central Asia The Caribbean 13,10,88,591 75,74,81,525 3,53,98,226 2,21,84,87,228 1,24,80,03,627 5,04,44,25,869 2,24,06,02,281 6,79,95,66,116 5,04,03,90,748 8,71,83,52,564 6,16,45,05,179 10,00,99,71,646 5,23,56,99,452 13,35,25,83,689 6,42,28,31,882 15,26,39,26,637 2,80,64,933 7,25,14,12,544 Middle East and North Africa 69,147 1,72,475 2,48,514 12,51,398 6,29,38,252 7,50,47,789 11,88,54,318 12,19,64,001 0 South Asia 17,35,93,793 22,38,44,342 65,95,07,361 89,78,61,876 1,18,93,12,415 1,99,85,11,287 2,54,50,11,110 3,29,98,39,062 0 As like the number of depositors, the Deposit sum also has declined unusually during 2011 than ever from 2003 onwards. ISSN: 2321 – 242X © 2013 | Published by The Standard International Journals (The SIJ) 46 The SIJ Transactions on Industrial, Financial & Business Management (IFBM), Vol. 1, No. 2, May-June 2013 Table 17 – Number of Deposit Accounts (Sum) Number of Deposit Accounts (Sum) Year 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Africa 17,26,637 23,22,956 51,06,264 72,73,651 1,13,26,263 1,73,55,114 1,94,56,799 1,84,71,894 62,017 East Asia and the Pacific 6,95,896 10,60,147 16,77,336 63,56,632 33,14,652 47,10,330 52,68,279 67,48,727 7,55,281 Eastern Europe and Central Asia 91,284 68,487 16,71,455 26,64,091 39,25,301 53,61,769 54,65,615 59,62,453 11,307 Latin America & The Caribbean 7,11,282 32,17,151 66,61,154 83,05,769 1,02,16,212 1,53,18,807 1,92,76,038 1,89,50,966 45,04,558 Middle East and North Africa 6,886 754 12,752 59,940 81,973 1,03,735 75,749 89,552 0 South Asia 73,41,485 85,63,272 1,86,66,384 2,55,56,618 2,24,92,769 3,37,75,156 3,47,82,370 3,11,31,807 0 Large number of deposit accounts has been closed during the year 2011 in all the economies. But it has started earlier during the year 2010 itself for economies like Africa, LAC and SA. Year 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Africa 24,96,988 33,24,066 42,81,183 52,79,867 61,87,181 70,99,295 82,08,512 51,22,529 33,867 Table 18 – Number of Active Borrowers Number of Active Borrowers East Asia and the Eastern Europe Latin America and Pacific and Central Asia The Caribbean 44,93,322 6,90,076 34,64,294 54,08,477 9,72,016 47,42,094 94,68,511 12,89,100 78,05,509 1,07,25,120 18,45,936 94,43,992 87,83,244 24,47,050 1,20,53,183 1,54,56,165 30,62,732 1,30,58,610 1,39,11,940 27,87,687 1,43,05,288 1,57,94,001 27,73,436 1,57,24,890 6,29,458 2,87,611 40,29,773 Middle East and North Africa 5,07,120 8,03,425 12,41,019 17,36,626 22,55,182 24,84,605 25,00,362 22,15,603 28,450 South Asia 1,35,12,280 1,78,82,185 2,43,83,439 2,99,60,927 3,63,93,712 4,24,61,106 4,99,96,298 5,85,94,977 0 The decline in active borrowers has reflected in reduction in deposit too. Though LAC (2011) is comparatively good than other regions, when compared with the yester years it had experienced a steep fall in its accounts. Table 19 – Cost per Borrower Cost per Borrower Year Africa 65 71 68 77 96 129 145 148 87 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 East Asia and the Pacific 43 36 42 51 58 66 63 61 26 Eastern Europe and Central Asia 204 214 209 229 286 320 259 268 - Latin America and The Caribbean 124 120 144 146 146 177 175 199 357 Middle East and North Africa 58 68 63 68 62 69 86 128 141 South Asia 11 12 11 12 16 17 18 19 0 Table 20 – Cost per Loan Cost per Loan (Median) Year Africa 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 ISSN: 2321 – 242X 71 77 87 100 127 132 132 0 East Asia and the Pacific 32 37 57 65 68 61 61 26 Eastern Europe and Central Asia 177 177 226 285 288 240 257 0 Latin America and The Caribbean 137 126 132 140 164 169 189 339 Middle East and North Africa 67 62 60 63 69 84 99 144 © 2013 | Published by The Standard International Journals (The SIJ) South Asia 20 18 12 15 16 18 18 0 47 The SIJ Transactions on Industrial, Financial & Business Management (IFBM), Vol. 1, No. 2, May-June 2013 The cost per borrower and cost per loan has inflated twice for LAC during 2011, thrice while comparing it from 2003. MENA also has experienced the inflation in maintaining a borrower. But African and AEP regions have felt a dip due to large decline in their active borrowers. The cost per loan has multiplied 1.5 times for MENA regions. The EAP has declined during 2011 more than half the cost. [7] [8] [9] V. CONCLUSION The global scenario is not promising for the MFI industry as such. Though some economies had booked portfolio, it is found that they are struggling hard to manage their expenses. State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report 2012 had said that number of initiatives like values of responsibility, corporate ethics and social performance management have emerged to address the field’ challenges. MFIs have to adopt new strategies to bring back their customers and as well reduce their operating and administrative expenses. REFERENCES [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Maitreyee Gaikwad (2006), “Micro Finance – Emerging Concerns and Policy Implications”, All India Women's Democratic Association (2006-07). Milford Bateman & Dean Sinkovic (2009), “Global Financial Crisis and Related Country-Level Financial Sector Disasters: The Case of Microfinance in Croatia”, 8th International Conference on Challenges of Europe: Financial Crisis and Climate Change, Pp. 03–29. K.O. Osotimehin, Charles.A Jegede & Babatunde Hamed Akinlabi (2011), “Determinants of Microfinance Outreach in South-Western Nigeria: An Empirical Analysis”, Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, Vol. 3, No 8, Pp. 780–797. Xavier Reille & Daniel Rozas (2011), “Discovering Limits Global Microfinance Valuation Survey 2011”, Global Equity Research, Pp. 3-29. James Clark (2011), “The Microfinance Movement Benefits Canada”, Vol. 35, No. 7, Pp. 55. Ayi Gavriel Ayayi (2011), “Credit Risk Assessment in the Microfinance Industry, Economics of Transition”, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Blackwell Publishing Ltd, USA, Pp. 37-71. ISSN: 2321 – 242X [10] [11] [12] Global Microscope on the Microfinance Business Environment (2011), URL: http://www.eiu.com/Handlers/WhitepaperHandler.ashx?fi=EIU _Microfinance_Eng_2011_WEB.pdf&mode=wp&campaignid= microscope2011. Pp. 6-73. Luis A. Viada (2011), “MicroRate’s 6th Annual Survey & Analysis of MIVs”, The-State-of-Microfinance-Investment2011-MicroRate, Pp. 4-13. Venugopalan Puhazhendhi (2012), “Microfinance India: State of the Sector Report 2012”, SAGE Publications, India, Pp. 149158. Ayi Gavriel Ayayi (2012), Associate Professor of Financial Economics, “Economics of Transition”, Vol. 20, No. 1, Pp. 37– 72, DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0351.2011.00429.x. Global Microfinance Equity Valuation Survey 2012, URL: https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!msg/casei3stud ents/OPE3eFsbAos/m-_28RlToIIJ, Pp. 3-22. K.M.S. Padma, A.M. Suresh & L Vijayashree (2012), “Micro Finance and its Risk Management Practices in India: A Conceptual Study”, Synergy (January, 2012), Vol. X, No. I, Pp. 13-24. Dr. K. Chitra is the Director of Department of Management Studies, Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College, Coimbatore. Her research domain is marketing. She has published 25 articles and 3 books. She is a Reviewer for 4 International Journal, Member in Board of studies, Chairperson for Conferences conducted in India and abroad, Interacted with academicians in Singapore, Malaysia and Newyork. She is a Member in All India Management Association; Member in education & Industry Institution Interaction, Panel of (CIII); Executive Committee member Coimbatore Management Association (CMA); National Institution of Personnel Management (NIPM); Management Teachers Consortium (MTC). S. Sangeetha has 10 years of experience to her credit and specializes in Finance. Currently she is pursuing her doctoral degree in Management at Anna University, Chennai. Her research domain is microfinance. She received “Excellent grade” in the field study viva voce. She is an alumnus of Indian institute of Management, Kozhikode. She has presented more than 19 empirical papers in International and National Level Conferences in reputed institutes like IIMA, IIMB and also has published papers in journals. © 2013 | Published by The Standard International Journals (The SIJ) 48