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Source: Live Mint
Synopsis: The proposed framework for microfinance regulation by RBI is a great leap forward and reflects bold thinking. Yet, expanding it to cover other elements can usher in responsible retail lending that includes but transcends microfinance.
Background
- The Malegam Committee Report of 2011 helped establish micro- finance as a legitimate asset class,
- After 10 years then, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had released its Consultative Document on Regulation of Microfinance in June 2021. This has several bold and fresh elements.
- Public policy would take a huge leap forward if other policy institutions adopt a similar approach on archaic laws and rules.
Evaluation of RBI’s major proposals?
- First, RBI is considering to remove the following
- Limits on loan amounts, tenures
- Limits on the number of non-bank finance company-microfinance institutions (NBFC-MFIs) lending to a borrower,
- Its minimum 50% income-generation requirement,
- its pricing cap for NBFC-MFI loans.
- These are welcome, given the maturing nature of the sector.
- Second, RBI is considering a common definition for ‘microfinance’ to mean ‘collateral-free’ loans to households with annual household incomes of ₹125,000 and ₹200,000 for rural and other areas, respectively.
- The feature of equal monthly repayments seems to have been left out.
- However, it’s not clear whether all other loans to these households, such as agriculture, Agri-equipment and gold loans, housing and two-wheeler loans, will fall outside this definition.
- Third, the idea of assessing household income and formal debt and not lending beyond a debt-to-income cut-off needs more deliberation.
- According to Dvara Research study of Indian household income, Expenditure as a proportion of income is quite high for the bottom three quintiles.
- So, providing consumption credit may be unsuitable for a household with, say, 30% debt as a proportion of income.
- Additionally, factors such as high informal debt, or a high likelihood of health or weather shocks, can render debt unsustainable for households that lack insurance, liquidity buffers, etc.
- In such a scenario, the 50% cut-off might be too low and push such borrowers towards expensive informal debt.
- One idea is to define a ‘debt-to-disposable income’ cut-off, lending beyond which will need to be substantiated by lenders.
- Determining income ranges for various customer segments with the support of industry bodies and using combined bureau reports for loan pricing can lend momentum to sector-wide solutions by the private sector.
- Finally, an overarching set of principles to prevent mis-selling by retail lenders is missing in our regulatory lexicon.
- The European Banking Authority’s Guidelines on Loan Origination and Monitoring, 2020, have clear lender obligations for consumer credit and prohibitions on unsuitable outcomes. These are worth considering for India.