Is Microfinance Service a Positive Sum Game? A Qualitative Study on Financial Sustainability of Microfinance Clients

Abstract

To explore the impact of microfinance on the financial sustainability of clients. The author set out to determine to what extent do the clients utilize the funds to gain and reinvest in the business to accomplish sustainability.The study is based on an in-depth interview which was conducted with microfinance clients. A qualitative approach was used to capture the data. In-depth interviews were conducted using Thematic analysis method and secondary data from microfinance office records to capture their practices in operational utilization of funds. The finding of the study shows that the loan amount was not fully utilized for specified purposes and was used to meet the basic needs and contingencies. The respondents were influenced and unbalanced during the utilization of funds. Most of them treat their debt as an additional source of fund to meet their family responsibility.

Keywords: Financial sustainability of clients, operational evaluation, qualitative method, thematic analysis, Biases, Microfinance, India

DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-10-05

Publication date: April 30^th 2019