Bonding with rural poor

CHANDRASHEKHAR GHOSH recalls a time when moneylenders would threaten him and his team as they went about disbursing loans to poor women in the villages.

- SHOBHANA SUBRAMANIAN

Complaints would be filed with the local thana, alleging that the microfinance institution (MFI) was a chit fund out to cheat people. It was never easy to deal with these situations and Ghosh recalls how the women customers themselves often came to their rescue.

Things got better as the MFI grew bigger and the villagers realised that they were actually getting a much better deal.

But in the beginning, it was real hard work. The MFI started out in Konnagar, West Bengal, in 2001 with just 2 lakh collected from Ghosh's mother, wife and cousins. He had been troubled by the usurious rates of 7.5% a month charged by moneylenders. The original team with just three or four members worked out of his home. Later, offices came up in Dunlop and Dakshineshwar, and five years after setting up the MFI, an NBFC was acquired in 2006.