Role of Microfinance in Leveraging the ICT and Financial Institutions

Microfinance is considered the main tool for reducing poverty under the financial inclusion initiative undertaken in most of the developing economies, including India. Microfinance is an important vehicle to channelize the savings of small, marginalized, low-income people in our society. This study is an effort toward learning how microfinance leverages ICT (information and communication technology) and financial institutions (FIs). Further, to study about the usage of ICT and other financial institutions by microfinance in India, 250 MFIs were selected based on a purposive random sample technique. The data was collected by distributing a well-structured questionnaire on which Karl Pearson’s correlation and regression analysis were applied, for which the following dimensions were set—efficiency and effectiveness, financial sustainability, improve productivity, reach, control cost, increase savings, improves market performance, and service delivery. Software like MS-EXCEL (2007) and SPSS were used to draw out results statistically. Along with this, to study the working of financial institutions, tables, graphs, and pie-diagrams were constructed. A little explanation is given to conclude the progress of microfinance in Punjab. The overall result demonstrates that microfinance leverages ICT and other financial institutions in a significant manner, and it is found to be beneficial for the key functioning of the MFIs. However, some constraints are there which need to be emphasized.