A State Level Conclave attended by more than 50 MFIs and Small Finance Banks operating in Uttar Pradesh on the “Impact of COVID pandemic on the Micro Finance sector and the way forward” was organized by Uttar Pradesh Regional Office on 16 June 2021. The conclave was held on a virtual mode and the eminent speaker were APC-GoUP, DMD (PVSS), ED Sa-dhan, CEO Uttar Pradesh Microfinance Association (UPMA), MD and CEO Utkarsh SFB. Senior officers from RBI and SLBC were also part of the deliberations.

 

Dr. D.S. Chauhan, Chief General Manager, NABARD in his inaugural address outlined the broad structure of the conclave and said that NABARD is organising this conclave at an appropriate time when RBI has come up with the Consultative Document on Regulation of Microfinance. In his address, CGM urged the stakeholders to recognise the importance of microcredit functions in a state like Uttar Pradesh and expand their outreach to the to the huge rural population who are out of direct ambit of formal banking sector. He highlighted that the Indian microfinance sector has witnessed phenomenal growth over past two decades in terms of increase in both the number of institutions providing microfinance as also the quantum of credit made available to the microfinance customers.