ADHIKAR

Background: Established in 1991, Adhikar spent its initial few years working in various social spheres, including human rights, slum displacements, migrant rehabilitation, and disaster relief. After some initial years of experimentation, Adhikar has focused aggressively on its microfinance activities since 2004. Adhikar is currently a non-governmental organization (Society), however it is in the process of transforming to a non-banking financial company so that it can offer savings products to its clients as a for-profit company.

Leadership: Adhikar is led by CEO Mr. Mohammed Amin.

We are excited about working closely with Unitus and confident that with their support, Adhikar will be able to scale rapidly. Our passion is to help the poor help themselves out of poverty and we are glad to have found an organization such as Unitus whose objectives are so well aligned with ours.

Product offerings and clientele: Adhikar offers two main products: microcredit loans for micro-entrepreneurs based on the Grameen methodology, and a remittance facility for migrant workers. There exists tremendous unmet demand for remittance services amongst the poor in India, and Adhikar is an industry leader in this area. Adhikar’s clientele include migrant workers, marginal and small farmers, artisans, daily wage earners, domestic servants, small entrepreneurs, and street vendors.

Adhikar targets their services throughout the Indian state of Orissa, which is India’s most impoverished state. The estimated population of Orissa is 40 million people, and more than 47 percent of the population lives on less than US$1 per day.

Highlights and growth strategy: Since starting microfinance operations in 2004, Adhikar has grown soundly—especially so from 2006 to 2007, when it experienced 300 percent growth. Adhikar’s growth strategy is built around four pillars: transformation to a for-profit structure; geographic expansion into underserved geographies; strong customer service focus; and use of the remittance facility as a leader for other products.

In future years, Adhikar hopes to significantly expand into neighboring states where microfinance penetration is extremely low, such as Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Madhya Pradesh, as well as broaden product offerings in Maharashtra and Gujarat, from where it currently operates its remittance facility.