Careers Opportunities in the Indian Microfinance industry

by | Mar 13, 2021

Microfinance is growing at a rapid pace, opening-up several career opportunities. Based on Sa-Dhan’s report, India’s Microfinance industry grew by 31% during 2019-2020.

Due to the rapid growth in the past years, microfinance companies across India have increased their hiring. It is estimated that the job opportunity in Microfinance may increase by 20-25% next year, along with the present hiring.

A quick search for Microfinance jobs on the site www.naukri.com shows that 4650 jobs are currently open (As of March 12th, 2021) in the Microfinance industry.

Search Query: https://www.naukri.com/microfinance-jobs?k=microfinance

Profiles that have high demand in the Microfinance company

Risk Management and assessment

Compared to conventional banks, the microfinance sector is more prone to risks. Therefore, there is a massive opportunity for risk management professionals to get into the business.  The responsibility of the risk managers is to set the benchmarks and standards to establish risk limits. The professionals will also be responsible for all the borrowers’ risk profiling depending upon their geography and demography.

Data Scientist

Data scientist helps the microfinance company to be in analytic skills to the table. They also help the company decipher any unique insights about portfolio performance, risks, and other scenarios. A data scientist can bring deep knowledge about the loan’s automation, enhance your working and repayment methods using the digital loan application and secure them via digital KYC.

Business Development

To establish financial inclusion, microfinance institutions should reach every corner of the country. To do this, they need to have professionals who can help them carry out their business development strategies.  Cross-selling and marketing efforts are a must for the company to look out for financing continually offers like solar financing, water and sanitation loans, etc.  The business development professionals who have experience in rural marketing can help interact with the locals and know the benefits of microfinancing.

Tech developers

The inclusion of technology in the industry could take the microfinance company to the next level. The industry uses technology to streamline the operations, expedite a loan application, collect the loan, and a lot more.  If you have your hands in financial technology, then you have a great scope in these industries. There is a massive demand for software engineers, financial tech developers, process flow designers, and database managers to establish the industry’s smooth workflow using technology.

Accountants

No business can survive without an accountant to handle its finance framework properly. The role of the accountant is enormous. You can work in the microfinance industry and monitor the operational costs, projections, and bad debts, along with checking the financial viability.

Microfinance officers

Non-government organisations usually hire them to help the company carry out microfinance projects. Their work is to report to the director about the project and its status.  They have to coordinate with all the personnel mentioned above to carry out the project smoothly.

Conclusion

Microfinance is a vast unexplored sector that can help balance the economy of the country. It is a rapidly growing segment that can remove poverty from a country.

Reference: The Bharat Microfinance Report 2020 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MmM7JbctxnAz2TREC9pC_hhrkzum_hpf/view