Credit, Where It Is Due

Despite the strides made by Jan Dhan Yojana, last mile connectivity continues to pose a problem for rural banking; new ventures are trying to solve that by leveraging technology and partnerships.

- Varsha Meghani

Tall, slender and all of 26, Vennila Ganesan emerges from her concrete hut, two toddlers in tow. Behind her, a row of similar, white-walled huts stretch into the distance. Goats graze nearby; a stray dog follows them about.

Here in Kanurpudur, a village 40 km north of Coimbatore, the sun shimmers but a crisp breeze is in the air. Ganesan, dressed in a pink, printed nighty with a dupatta neatly pinned on either shoulder, has just returned from a day in the sugarcane fields nearby, pocketing `250 for the day. She took a loan of `25,000 from Samasta, a micro finance institution (MFI) with outposts in the area, about two years ago, and bought eight baby goats. Later this year she plans to sell the goats at a `20,000 profit. “It will help me take care of my children,” she says. “Especially in the [summer] months when there is no agricultural work.”

Asked if she uses her bank account regularly, she lifts her hand to her mouth to hide a giggle and shakes her head in denial. “I opened it five years ago to get the government subsidy for the birth of my first child,” she says. Since then she has only used it when necessary; when she had to access Samasta’s monies that were credited to her account. Or to take care of the monthly interest payments that are directly debited from her account, in which case she makes the threehour long trek to the closest bank branch—compromising on a day’s wages—to deposit just enough money.