インドSEWA協同組合銀行にみる低所得層向け小口金融：地域の金融仲介機関として

抄録

Small scale credit schemes have attracted much attention as an effective tool to alleviate poverty by helping low-income people expand and improve their businesses and production. However, a safe and convenient saving facility is also needed to decrease their vulnerability in unforeseen crisis and to deal with their urgent and social needs. Such a facility helps secure the living standards of poor people by smoothing their consumption.

The purpose of this report is to analyze the system of the SEWA Cooperative Bank of India, which was voluntarily started by low-income women themselves, and which mobilizes voluntary savings from those women, provides unsecured loans for their businesses and houses, and functions as a financial intermediary, while attaining a high degree of financial viability.

The SEWA Bank system is characterized by the following.

1) A “savings first” approach, which requires women to save regularly before receiving loans.

2) Linkage between the deposit amount and the advancement of loans

3) A wide range of savings facilities

4) A guarantor requirement for individual unsecured loans

5) Utilization of information on non-financial market in sanctioning loans and the provision of non-financial assistance through other related organizations

Interviews with customers of the SEWA Bank indicate:

1) A need for and an ability of low-income women to save their money

2) An incentive effect of the linkage between deposits and loans in mobilizing savings

3) A consumption smoothing effect of deposits

However, the SEWA Bank has a problem in that the poorest still have limited access to credit. Still, it shows the possibility that a small savings and credit scheme can grow to a sustainable financial intermediary institution which serves the needs of low-income people.