BASIX (India)

BASIX^[1][2][3] is a livelihood promotion institution established in 1996 in India. It is headquartered in Hyderabad, Telangana. BASIX^[4] and was established in 1996. Working with over a 3.5 million customers, over 90% being rural poor households and about 10% urban slum dwellers, BASIX operates in 17 states - Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Assam and Gujrat, 223 districts and over 39,251 villages. It has a staff of over 10,000 of which 80 percent are based in small towns and villages.

BASIX Group

BASIX is the brand name of a group of companies,^[5][6] which are:

• Bhartiya Samruddhi Investments and Consulting Services Ltd. (BASICS Ltd), the holding company, through which equity and debt investments are made in the group companies. It set up two fund based companies - Bhartiya Samruddhi Finance Ltd, a micro-finance NBFC in 1997 and Krishna Bhima Samruddhi Local Area Bank Ltd in 2001. Both were among the first in class. It also promoted BASIX Academy for Building Lifelong Employability Limited, BASIX Consulting and Training Services Limited, BASIX Krishi Samruddhi Limited, BASIX Sub-K iTransactions Limited and Ctran Consulting Limited.
• Indian Grameen Services,^[7] is a not-for-profit company, registered under the Section 25 of the Companies Act. IGS was promoted by Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN). Established in the year 1987 by Vijay Mahajan, Deep Joshi and Sankar Datta, IGS is engaged in Livelihood promotion through capacity building, research and development. to extend a variety of commercial services, necessary for promoting livelihood opportunities for a large number of rural producers. During 1988-1995, IGS focused initially on identifying and developing livelihoods, then on provision of technical assistance and support services, and finally on providing marketing support.
• Bhartiya Samruddhi Finance Ltd. (Samruddhi), an RBI registered NBFC, engaged in micro-credit, retailing insurance and providing technical assistance in agriculture, business, and institutional development to its customers.
• Krishna Bhima Samruddhi Local Area Bank Ltd. (KBSLAB),^[8][9] an RBI licensed bank providing micro-credit and savings services in three backward districts, Raichur, Gulbarga, and Mahbubnagar.
• Sarvodaya Nano Finance Ltd. (Sarvodaya), an RBI registered NBFC, owned by women’s self-help groups, and managed by BASICS Ltd.

Group's mission

To promote a large number of sustainable livelihoods, including for the rural poor and women, through the provision of financial services and technical assistance in an integrated manner. BASIX will strive to yield a competitive rate of return to its investors so as to be able to access mainstream capital and human resources on a continuous basis.

Strategy and activities

BASIX believes that micro-credit by itself is helpful for the more enterprising poor people in economically dynamic areas. Less enterprising poor households need to cope with greater risks, and so they need to start with savings and insurance before they can benefit from micro-credit. In backward regions, poor people, in addition to microfinance, need a whole range of agricultural and business development services (such as input supply, training, technical assistance, market linkages) to be provided. To offer these services in a cost-effective manner, it is not possible to work with poor households individually; they need to be organized into groups, informal associations and sometimes cooperatives or producer companies. The formation of such groups and making them function effectively requires institutional development services. Thus, BASIX aims to provide all these services, which it calls the Livelihood Triad: Livelihood Financial Services:^[10] including micro-savings, micro-credit,^[11] and micro-insurance.^[12] Agricultural and Business Development Services:^[13][14] through local value addition, non-financial risk mitigation, productivity improvement, and alternative market linkages Institutional Development Services:^[15] which is a conscious attempt to evolve and reinforce a set of behavioural norms and processes for an informal or formal group of people to interact and transact in a sustainable manner, to achieve the purpose for which the group came together.

BASIX^[16] also provides sectoral and policy research services, feasibility studies and other consultancy services using the analytical capability and implementation experience in various companies within the group, with a focus on contributing to the knowledge and practice of livelihood promotion. Its customers have included various international bodies, the Government of India, and several state governments.

Outreach

BASIX^[17] works in 20,000 villages spread over 106 districts in the states of Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Delhi and Assam.

Since the inception of the group, BASIX has cumulatively disbursed a total of Rs 893 crore (USD 220 million) through nearly 578,000 cumulative number of loans. The loan outstanding as on March 31, 2007 was Rs 234 crore (USD 58 million) for the group with over 347,651 customers. As much as 41% of the loans went to the farm sector, which is severely impaired for want of credit and 59% to women, who tend to be financially excluded.

Savings services were provided through KBSLAB, by linking urban BSFL customers with banks/post offices and through Self-help groups in the case of Sarvodaya. The total coverage was 450,000.
BASIX covers the lives and livelihoods of its customers against various risks like death of self or spouse, critical illness, hospitalization and permanent disability. Livelihoods are covered through rainfall-index based crop insurance, livestock insurance and micro enterprise asset insurance and deposit insurance to savings customers. In 2006-07, this coverage was extended to 473,932 persons/asset owners. Over 10,000 cumulative claims have been settled amounting to Rs 36 million.

BASIX provided Agriculture/Business Development Services for productivity enhancement, non-insurance risk mitigation, local value addition and market linkages. These services were extended to 72,000 producers. Fees collected towards providing such services amounted to Rs 1.6 crore.

BASIX provides Institutional Development Services to Self-Help groups, SHG federations, Mutual Benefit Trusts, Producer Groups and Cooperatives, to enable producers to come together for undertaking livelihood activities. These services were extended to 25,110 groups, with over 683,000 members. Fees collected towards providing such services amounted to Rs 2.4 crore.^[18]

See also

1. Vijay Mahajan
2. Deep Joshi
3. Sankar Datta
4. PRADAN

References