Optional Site Visit: Cashpor Micro Credit

On October 19-20, participants in the Grameen Foundation High Growth Forum may choose to attend a site visit to our partner MFI, Cashpor Micro Credit. Cashpor is located in Varanasi, a one-hour flight from Delhi.

Participants must register by August 31, 2006 in order to take part in this site visit.

There is a small cost-share for the visit. Grameen Foundation will pay for additional lodging and meals during the two day visit, and all participants will be asked to pay the cost of airfare to and from Delhi, which will cost approximately US$300.


Below you will find the schedule of the visit as well as information on Cashpor Micro Credit

October 19

• Jaunpur District Office: Newest district office. Receives financing from an innovative ABN-AMRO financing facility that offers quarterly term loans linked to the business plan of the office. (Pull more language from David's document). Discuss mechanics of the financing facility, opportunities and challenges of operating under it. (approximately 40 minutes enroute)
  
  
• Chandali District Office: Site of the birth of the partnership model with ICICI; will have just broken-even. Discuss how this model affects Cashpor's business and learnings from its implementation. (approximately 1.5 hours enroute)
  
  
• Chaubeypur Branch and City Branch, Ghazipur District: This district is pilot testing individual loans for its clients. Discuss this new methodology and how it is affecting Cashpor operations. (approximately 1.5 hours enroute)
  
  
• Maharajganj Branch, Mirzapur District: Mirzapur is piloting some insurance products; see how they are working and how clients are reacting. Mirzapur has also utilizing a Grameen Bank flexible loan system to rehabilitate centers in default. In addition, Cashpor is implementing a new cash disbursement and collection system that is reducing dependence on banks. Discuss both efforts with local staff and clients. (approximately 1.5 hours enroute)
  
  
• Varanasi Branch: Cashpor is piloting an urban site for the first time. Visit this branch to understand how Cashpor's methodology is being adapted to this urban context, and understand the different economies these clients face. (approximately 20 minutes enroute)
  

October 20

Cashpor Micro Credit

CASHPOR Group began its microfinance operations in the Mirzapur district of Eastern U.P. in July 1997. Cashpor works in one of the poorest areas of India. It is well recognized for its focus on the poor and its innovative nature.

Following are some of the innovations that have come out Cashpor:

• Cashpor Housing Index: a targeting tool to identify poor clients based on their housing condition.
• No cash carrying policy: Disbursements are made via checks and clients deposit repayments in banks.
• Partnership Model: This was initiated with ICICI bank whereby the MFI acts as the service agent for the bank's microfinance portfolio.
  

As of the June 2006, Cashpor was serving 156,981 clients and had cumulatively disbursed over $46 million to its clients

Cashpor recognizes that financial sustainability is a necessary condition for maximizing the scope and depth of their outreach to the poor. The Cashpor brand of microfinance services is a group lending model. All Cashpor clients are women whose income falls below India's official poverty line. In this target group, preference is given to the poorest women who tend to come from social groups that are most marginalized.

Micro loans for income generation are Cashpor Micro Credit's primary product, and clients must invest in an income generating activity that can make repayment possible. Typical activities include livestock for milk production, trading, services, agriculture, etc.

The size of loan that is disbursed is dependent upon the number of times a client has previously taken out loans and how timely their payments have been. Cashpor also offers an emergency loan product for unforeseen expenses (i.e., illness, food deficit, etc.).

In the past fiscal year, outreach has doubled, and the portfolio has nearly doubled. Based on this, the Cashpor Group has developed an aggressive expansion plan through fiscal year 2009/2010, which would provide financial services to half a million households in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Since forging a partnership in 2000, Grameen Foundation has actively worked with Cashpor Micro Credit in helping it achieve its goals of poverty alleviation. In the past two years alone, loans, growth guarantees, and equity investments have been made totaling over $600,000. Outside of financial assistance, training has been carried out for the Poverty Progress Index (PPI) and assistance has been provided to CASHPOR Micro Credit in writing a business plan and in providing feedback on its hardware/software needs.