Rural populations in Uttar Pradesh often struggle to access formal banking services due to limited infrastructure, low financial literacy, and geographic isolation. To address these barriers, the Government of Uttar Pradesh launched the Business Correspondent (BC) Sakhi initiative. The program identifies women from Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and trains them to serve as bank agents, delivering doorstep banking services to remote and underserved rural areas. MSC played a pivotal role in supporting the scale-up of the BC Sakhi initiative.
MSC provided technical assistance to the Uttar Pradesh State Rural Livelihoods Mission (UPSRLM) to digitally onboard and manage BC Sakhis through a mobile application and web-based platform, enabling streamlined deployment and real-time monitoring. We also developed customized training modules to enhance the capacity of BC Sakhis in delivering secure and effective financial services. In addition, MSC offered ongoing support to strengthen operational processes and promote the long-term sustainability of the BC Sakhi model.
By May 2025, this initiative helped identify, train and successfully onboard 40,000 women as BC Sakhis across Uttar Pradesh. These agents now actively deliver banking services in remote areas and significantly expand financial access. To date, the BC Sakhis have reached over 68 million adults, processed transactions worth more than USD 4 billion, and earned a collective USD 11 million in commissions—advancing both financial inclusion and women’s economic empowerment in the state.
The Gates Foundation commissioned the project.
Women entrepreneurs managing nano, micro, and small enterprises in sub-Saharan Africa face persistent challenges in accessing affordable and productive credit. These challenges were further worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. In contrast, Asia and Latin America have seen greater success in scaling microfinance solutions, due to more enabling environments and better aggregation opportunities. To address this disparity, MSC conducted a comparative landscape assessment across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
MSC developed a learn-test-scale strategy to improve access to productive credit for women entrepreneurs in Kenya and Uganda. We assessed 130+ financial institutions, evaluated their intent, capabilities, and partnerships, and shortlisted five institutions—Stanbic Kenya, Stanbic Uganda, KCB, BRAC Uganda, and FINCA—to co-develop and implement proof-of-concept pilots tailored to women entrepreneurs’ needs.
MSC supported these institutions with product development plans, alternate credit scoring models, pricing strategies, and iterative prototype testing. We are also helping structure a second-tier financing facility to channel low-cost, long-term capital into the sector. Our ongoing technical assistance covers KPI definition, product refinement, and pilot implementation across all approved institutions. Through this work, MSC is helping unlock affordable, scalable credit for thousands of underserved women entrepreneurs in East Africa. The project builds an evidence-based roadmap for inclusive financial ecosystems and supports institutions in delivering impactful, gender-intentional credit solutions.
The Gates Foundation commissioned the project.
Rural entrepreneurs, especially women in Self-Help Groups (SHGs), face significant challenges in accessing credit due to the absence of a formal credit history. To bridge this gap, MSC initiated the Grameen Credit Bureau project in Bihar. The initiative intended to develop a comprehensive credit database covering over 10 million SHG members, streamlining access to formal financial services for rural women.
MSC led the design and implementation of an integrated digital data repository that captures both financial and non-financial data of SHG members. We collaborated with JEEViKA, public sector banks, and credit bureaus like CRIF High Mark to define data points, ensure data quality, and generate reliable credit reports. Our efforts focused on eliminating risks and biases from data misinterpretation and facilitating a data-driven approach to credit assessment.
Once implemented, the Grameen Credit Bureau Score is expected to significantly improve the assessment of creditworthiness among rural SHG women, facilitating their access to a broader range of financial products beyond the traditional SHG structure. It will promote greater transparency in SHG transactions and repayment histories and pave the way for their integration into the formal financial ecosystem.
The Gates Foundation commissioned the project.
Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in Uttarakhand struggle to access and utilize Cash Credit Loans (CCL), with more than 60% of allocated funds remaining unused due to a lack of awareness and unclear documentation. Also, issues such as poor with bank officials and SHGs, high stamp duty charges, and limited understanding of the NRLM MIS portal hinder loan disbursement to SHGs and the uptake of benefits. To resolve this, MSC provided technical assistance to Uttarakhand State Rural Livelihood Mission (USRLM) in strengthening SHG-bank linkages.
MSC conducted awareness and capacity building camps with SHGs to address knowledge gaps, facilitated coordination with SRLM teams, and worked with banks to simplify processes and resolve documentation-related challenges. Through the collaborative efforts of MSC and USRLM, the SHG Bank Linkage program has achieved notable progress across key focus areas—namely, Cash Credit Limit (CCL) uptake, interest subvention implementation, and NPA management.
Between March 2023 and April 2025, the proportion of SHGs linked to banks increased from 55% to 68%, while loan utilization more than doubled, rising from USD 19 million to USD 39 million. The initiative to improve access to subsidized interest rates has been effective, with the percentage of SHGs charged higher interest rates dropping significantly from 52% in March 2023 to 11% in April 2025. Moreover, the Non-Performing Assets (NPA) rate declined from 4% to below 2%, indicating strengthened financial discipline and improved credit portfolio quality.
The Gates Foundation commissioned the project.
The Self-Help Group (SHG) model has played a key role in advancing financial inclusion for women in India. However, most SHG programs have struggled to achieve the broader goals of women’s empowerment. Most women in rural India still lack access to financial services such as the social security scheme. A key barrier has been low awareness of the security scheme, its benefits, complex policy processes, and confusing documentation and implementation procedures. To address these challenges, a targeted initiative was launched by MSC to enhance awareness and simplify access to government-backed social security schemes, including the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY).
This initiative aimed to help SHG members, particularly women in rural areas, better protect themselves and their families through improved social security coverage.
MSC led a multifaceted intervention that combined systems innovation, policy simplification, and grassroots-level engagement to boost social security uptake among SHG members. Recognizing that low awareness and complex procedures were major barriers, MSC developed and institutionalized Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in collaboration with government stakeholders to streamline policy implementation. It focused on claim settlements under PMSBY and PMJJBY. To ensure last-mile impact, MSC designed and rolled out hyper-local communication strategies, including vernacular audiovisual tools and community-based outreach through SHG networks. These tools were tailored to address behavioral barriers and explain complex insurance concepts clearly.
The initiative resulted in a significant increase in the uptake of social security schemes, with over 13 million SHG members in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Odisha enrolling. This greatly enhanced their financial security and overall well-being.
The Gates Foundation commissioned the project.
Cluster-Level Federations (CLFs) are community-based institutions under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) that bring together multiple Self-Help Groups (SHGs) within a geographic area. These federations play a central role in managing and distributing Community Investment Funds (CIF)—a critical source of low-cost capital for SHG members. However, the current fund management processes at CLFs are challenged due to inefficiency, lack of transparency, and limited alignment with the evolving credit needs of SHG members. To address these issues, a strategic initiative was launched to optimize the management and delivery of community funds and support the transformation of CLFs into robust Micro-Credit Institutions (MCIs) capable of delivering need-based and timely financial services to rural women.
MSC is supporting the NRLM to enhance the effectiveness, efficiency, and relevance of community fund mechanisms. MSC’s interventions include streamlining operational processes across Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) to improve fund management and utilization and deploying digital lending systems to boost transparency and efficiency in disbursement and monitoring. The team is also optimizing the allocation of Community Funds at the CLF level to promote equitable and impactful use, while designing need-based financial products to better serve the diverse credit requirements of SHG members.
The initiative is set to transform CLFs into agile, community-led micro-credit institutions that can effectively meet the growing and varied financial needs of SHG members. The project will strengthen fund governance, digitize lending processes, and offer tailored financial solutions. This will significantly enhance the accessibility, reliability, and impact of community financing across rural India—ultimately supporting sustainable rural livelihoods and inclusive financial growth.
The Gates Foundation commissioned the project.