Microfinance at BNP Paribas : where Ujjivan proves highly effective!

Ujjivan: financial services dedicated to women from disadvantaged backgrounds 

Ujjivan is one of BNP Paribas’s partners in India and looks to help poor women living in urban or semi-urban areas. Its mission is to deliver accessible financial services to women from disadvantaged backgrounds and who face a significant lack of resources despite being part of the workforce. The institution chose this group because women still face systematic discrimination in India: many are exploited and few manage to secure paid work.

 Created in 2005 in Bangalore, the structure is now based in 24 Indian states, with 423 branches, and supports small projects likely to have a strong impact on communities. Ujjivan also leads a financial education program called Diksha alongside its microfinance activity. 

Detailed and independent impact analysis 

Over the course of a year, students traveled to three continents to evaluate the social impact of various projects, actions and organizations. Throughout their trip around the world, they assessed Ujjivan’s efficiency across three key areas:

1. Financial autonomy offered to its beneficiaries (rise in income, improvement in standard of living, empowerment) 
   

2. Social reinforcement (their place within the community or home)

3. Skills development (setting a budget, managing debt and savings, taking responsibility for a group, etc.)

To do this, the authors of the study met with 163 customers from Ujjivan’s eight agencies in Bangalore. The study helped measure the Indian MFI’s strong and positive impact!

Daily life improves noticeably 

The study demonstrated that customers use their loans for two main reasons: boosting working capital for their small business (41%) or their home (30%). Next came education, investing in their business, unplanned expenses, etc.

 Most impressive were the positive results, with 82% of homes seeing their incomes rise since receiving their first loan from Ujjivan and 73% now able to save money every month. The money also helps improve schooling (with a higher average dropout age for their children).  Microcredit has delivered on its promise: enhanced quality of life for the entire household, better integration, and more.

Developing non-financial services

Ujjivan’s financial education program has also proved just as effective with 77% of beneficiaries stating that they put the lessons they learned in practice in the context of their own business. These new skills also benefit the entire neighborhood: 86% of customers say they share their knowledge with friends and family, especially when it comes to budgets and monthly savings. Unfortunately, only 37% of customers have benefited from this program, which offers a significant edge in terms of integration and also benefits the community at large. 

Learn more about Ujjivan