Samasta Microfinance Limited

NEWSLETTER June 2017

Empowering Individuals, Enriching Communities

From the MD’s Office

congratulate all of you on closing the Financial Year 2016-17 on a strong note. While, the entry of IIFL as a strategic investor

in the year gone by filled us with more enthusiasm. On the other hand, we had to deal with after effects of Demonetization in

a few areas of our operations. The crisis tested our current model of lending and exposed our limitations. So, our lending

model requires review, rework and reboot towards a robust model.

Many changes have to be incorporated to our business strategies keeping “CUSTOMER” in forefront. Towards this end, we will adopt a two-pronged strategy: 1. Continue Current Model

2. Test New Models in selected branches & measure effects. In addition, Housing and MSME loan products of IIFL will be added to the bouquet of our financial

products. Consumer Product Loans will be re-introduced based on customer requirements. We will grow N. Venkatesh our overall portfolio to Rs 750 Crores by end of this financial year. This will open up a whole new world of opportunities to everyone this financial year. Talented internal staffs will be considered for any new positions prior to hiring from outside. Samasta will endeavor to provide one of the best work environment in the industry. We need to align our activities towards achieving the annual plan. Let us all commit to the success of the organization. Wish you all the very best in the new year!

Message from the Director

s we accelerate our growth significantly this year, it is critical that we work methodically and do things right the first time. It is important that we apply our detailed processes stringently in every activity. Over the years, we have fine-tuned our processes and have optimized the workflow. Following these will improve efficiency significantly.

For example: 1. If we identify, select and service the customer as per our policy, the happy customer will make sure that she makes the loan repayment on time. But a wrong customer selection might lead to delinquency and more effort from your side in terms of following up with the customer, thereby disrupting your regular activity.

2. If we can capture the customer details and loan details accurately at the first time itself, then the number of interactions up and down with the central team will come down; the turnaround time will improve; the customer will receive the loan quicker.

D. Shivaprakash So, remember to practice the following three rules to ensure doing things right the first time:

1. Follow Right Process

2. Capture Right Customer Data

3. Select the Right Customer.

Your effort makes a crucial difference to the success of the organization. Let each of us ensure that we work methodically and

meet our individual goals in an efficient manner. Wishing you the best in all your efforts in the coming year!

Significant Investment Partner

he acquisition of Samasta by IIFL is the most exciting

news this year. After coming under the IIFL umbrella,

Samasta will be part of a larger organization and

eventually be thrust into the league of big MFIs. Samasta can

now establish its footprint in many more states and extend the

financial inclusion of many more poor families. IIFL will bring

investments at regular intervals to propel our growth which

would bring a lot of visibility. This partnership will benefit

Samasta in terms of adequate assets, access to various

products of IIFL and be part of an organization which has PAN

India presence. This can also be a gateway for obtaining

banking license and other growth prospects.

Journey So Far….

amasta was established by first-generation business

entrepreneurs Venkatesh N, Shivaprakash D &

R.C.Shekar. It began operations as a microfinance

organization to initiate the financial upliftment and

empowerment among urban and rural poor in South India

through financial and non-financial services.

A recall to the financial year 2016-2017 helps

to determine a paradigm shift that Samasta

has attained. It has experienced significant

growth in terms of portfolio and investment,

adapted new advanced technologies and systems, refined its

processes and adroitly managed every challenging

circumstance with creative strategies.

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Striving for Operational

Excellence

amasta endeavors for operational excellence which is visible in the success stories of various aspects of its

business operations. As a part of the organization, it has set up an Internal Audit, Credit & Risk Management operations which serve as three layers of defense. These departments ensure that the organization operates in accordance with set policies and procedures assist the operations teams to effectively discharge their duties and thus allowing the management to take informed decisions. The team mainly focuses on compliance management and adherence to the guidelines set by the process team. Their main job is to escalate the deviations noticed within branches, internal departments, members and vendors associated with Samasta. Credit Executives have been positioned in all branches to play the part of a Checker in the “Maker – Checker” concept to ensure hygiene of routine branch operations. Risk, a fraud monitoring department plays a vital role in analyzing, preventing and probing into fraud cases. The key objective of the department is to make Samasta, “Best in Customer Satisfaction & the Most Preferred MFI” in the industry.

Significant reduction in the processing time has been the

highlight of the FY 2016-17 with the help of technologies

such as GLOW and Tablet based enrollment app. This was

supported by well-defined process changes. TruCell, the

mobile interface of BR.Net is used by the Field Welfare

Officers to update the collection details on real time and

fetching data regarding any outstanding loans of the

customer, thereby achieving a reduced TAT. GLOW (Group

Loan Origination Workflow) helps branches to capture client

details, provides on spot CB reports and hence helps in faster

disbursement. 100% cashless mode of disbursement was

introduced to improve disbursement efficiency and for the

convenience of members. Samasta moved one step further in

terms of managing customer details through digitization of

all post & pre-disbursement documents. With this, retrieval

and reference of customer details have become easier than

ever before. The average turnaround time has reduced from

30 days to a maximum 6 days.

Types of Products

Samasta has 5 different exciting loan products for diverse group of people, some of which will be launched shortly.

Impact of Demonetization

On Samasta he demonetization of the old high denomination currencies impacted Samasta’s disbursals and

collections for a short period of time. While the Government had provided the withdrawal and deposit rules for the benefit of people, nothing explicitly was provided for financial institutions such as Samasta. Further, non-banking financial companies were instructed not to get repayments in Rs 500/- or Rs 1000/- notes. Collections were affected as repayments are generally made in cash. The members who took loan from Samasta had challenges in utilizing the loan amount due to the daily withdrawal limitations imposed by the Government during Demonetization. The per day withdrawal limit restrictions too had a great impact on Samasta due to delayed or no timely repayments by some customers in certain areas. However, Samasta deployed newer options and approaches to adapt to the new circumstances during these trying times and took control of the situation astutely. 100% cashless strategy involving NEFT was strictly mandated setting aside the customary cash dispensing and collection methods. Further, prepaid cards were introduced for those not having any bank account. Samasta additionally utilized Swipe Machines for collecting repayments and thus quickly adapted newer strategies, processes and technologies to circumvent the situation.

Impact of Samasta

amasta has a significant positive impact on poor people and society. Women were empowered with easily

accessible funds with reasonable interest rates for setting up and sustaining businesses which in turn helped them meet their various family requirements. Shalini one of our members said that, “I used to borrow money from a local lender at high interest rate to sustain my family. I don’t depend on the money lender any more. With a loan from Samasta, I repaid the loan from the money lender and I am saving a major portion of my income and I am able to provide the needs of my family.” Samasta plays an important role in taking out neediness in the society and has shown commitment to bring in the feeling of fulfillment and happiness in numerous families.

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Board Members

Mr. R. Venkataraman

Mr. R. Venkataraman, Co-Promoter and Managing Director of IIFL Holdings Limited. He is a B. Tech from IIT, Kharagpur and MBA from IIM, Bangalore. He joined the Company’s Board in July 1999, contributing immensely into the establishment of various businesses over the past 17 years. He held senior managerial positions at ICICI Limited & its joint venture with JP Morgan, Barclays BZW. Also, he worked as vice president for GE Capital Services India.

Mr. K Chandrachoodan He holds a Post Graduate Degree in Operations Research from Delhi University, 33 years of experience with Reserve Bank of India, successfully handled the gamut of Central Banking Operations. He has worked as a Regional Advisor in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) AFRITAC West 2- Ghana working closely with the senior management of Central Banks of member countries to identify supervisory needs and providing technical assistance.

Mr. Gaurav Malhotra

Gaurav has a degree in Engineering and a MBA from IIM Bangalore, joined CDC in 2016, responsible for advertising, supporting the CDC Group on the investments in Financial Institutions in South Asia. Gaurav has wide range of consultancy experience, working for several financial institutions during his 10 years with The Boston Consulting Group in Indian and Europe. He also worked for a year as the head of strategy for an Indian family business. He has experience in several areas including growth strategy, consumer behavior, distribution networks, operations and IT, various Microfinance Institutions.

Mr. Ramanathan A. (Independent Director) Ramanathan has extensive experience in the development banking for the agriculture and rural sectors; He was Chief General Manager in the Micro Credit Innovations Department of NABARD. He managed the SHG Bank Linkage program, the largest microfinance program in the world. As In-charge of the Financial Inclusion department, he has managed Financial Inclusion Fund and Financial Inclusion Technology Fund etc.

Mr. Vikraman A. (Independent Director) A former Chief General Manager of SIDBI Foundation for Micro Credit, Mr. Vikraman has extensive experience in the Microfinance Sector. In his experience spanning 38 years, he was with Reserve Bank of India for 5 years, IDBI for 16 years and SIDBI for 17 years. He is also in the board of other microfinance and financial corporations.

Mr. Badri Seshadri (Independent Director) An alumnus of IIT, Chennai and with a Ph. D in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University in the USA, Mr. Badri Seshadri co-founded Cricinfo.com, a cricket information portal, which is now owned by ESPN. His latest venture is New Horizon Media, focusing on publishing in Indian languages.

Mr. Shivaprakash D (Director) Shivaprakash has over 2 decades of rich and diverse cross-industry experience in software services, business operations, and business management. As Director and CIO, he has played a pivotal role in setting up back office operations, deploying IT applications, and running IT as a support function for the organization. Prior to Samasta, he has spent nearly a decade with Wipro Technologies, leading and executing projects for global clients.

Mr. Venkatesh N. (Managing Director) Venkatesh has an experience of over 15 years in the finance sector. He is the founder of PNV Techno Acquisitions Private Limited that markets financial products. He is also a founder of Affluence Edifice, offering wealth management services for high net worth individuals. He has completed ACCIO-N program for strategic leadership in Microfinance through Harvard Business School.

Staff Testimonials

Arun D. (From Audit Executive to Deputy Senior Manager) (Process Department)

I joined Samasta as an audit executive in the year 2011. Initially, I was given responsibility of audit & then in the credit team based on my performance. I was promoted as Divisional Manager in 2015 during which I handled Tamilnadu & Karnataka states. In 2016, I moved to the Process Department as a Deputy Senior Manager. I took up the opportunities that came my way which helped me to enhance my skills & knowledge. I got exposure to interact with people at various levels. Samasta has always given me the freedom to be innovative. I got unique experiences throughout my career with Samasta and consider to be fortunate to work here. Samasta has given me timely promotions and a good career growth.

Pradeep S (From Area Manager to Project Manager) “I started working at Samasta as Area Manager in the year 2012 and got a chance to work with various

departments like Audit, Credit & Project Management etc. I got three promotions since then and I am

currently working as a Project Manager – Special Projects. The Journey so far has been very exciting for me.

I am privileged to work with good leaders who impart skills, knowledge to move forward in my career.

Samasta gave me opportunity to be creative, enhance my skills, take up new challenges, nice working

environment, and interact with various people in and outside of the organization.”

Member Testimonials

Suma (35 Years) “I used to borrow money for my urgent needs from others with high interests. Repayment was always an

issue for me. I took loan from Samasta Microfinace Limited and used for my Tailoring Business. The proper

investment helped me to earn my daily livelihood. No longer do I depend on anybody for emergencies,

running the family and health issues. I repay my loan regularly and maintain a savings as well, I never go to

the local money lender for borrowing with high interest. Samasta has a great role for giving a new lease of

life for my family.”

Amita (27 Years) “We found difficulties to run our family and maintain our daily needs. I came to know about Samasta

Microfinace Limited from one of my friends and became a member of a group in our area. I took loan from

Samasta like my other friends and utilized for running a small restaurant along with my husband in my

locality. As days passed, I realized that we were not depending on others for our daily needs. I repay my

loan amount on time. Now, we can save some money after all our needs met, provide good education for

children. We have a better life than before.”

Category of People & Loan Size Operation Areas & Statistics

Sl. No.

Product Names

People Category

Loan Size

1 Income Generation Loan

Women Group 15K, 20K, 25K, 30K, 35K

2 Personal Loan

Individuals 30K-75K

3 Housing Loan

Individuals Up to 5L, 2.20L Subsidy

4 Student’s Loan

Students Based on Products

5 Product Loan

Samasta Members

Based on Products

Gallery

Samasta Microfinance Limited No. 418-1/2A, 4th Cross, 6th Main,

Wilson Garden, Bangalore-560027, Tel: +91-80-42913500