RFP - Establishment and Operationalization of an “Online MFIN Information Sharing Platform”

Follow us @ngobox

RFP - Establishment and Operationalization of an “Online MFIN Information Sharing Platform”

About the Organization:

Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN) is the premier industry association and RBI recognized Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO) for the NBFC-MFIs. MFIN works with the participants in microfinance industry and a larger financial inclusion ecosystem to ensure that its members and the microfinance industry can optimize their potential to achieve the financial inclusion agenda.

Background

The NBFC-MFIs are a separate sub-category of NBFCs regulated by RBI for providing access to finance to the low-income households. As a dedicated credit delivery channel for vast un-banked/underbanked segments, NBFC-MFIs have been playing a significant role in taking forward the Financial Inclusion agenda of the Government of India.

The NBFC-MFIs are largely dependent on wholesale borrowings from banks/other financial institutions at commercial rates and equity to finance and grow their portfolio. As per the data available for MFIN members which form around 92% of the NBFC-MFI universe in terms of loan portfolio, debt contributed around 77% and equity around 23% of the total sources of funds (as on March 2020)

Therefore, to support the small and medium NBFC-MFIs, MFIN plans to facilitate the establishment and operationalisation of an “Online Information Sharing Platform” in partnership with an interested firm with expertise in building such a technology platform. This being an important microfinance sector development initiative of MFIN, it also encourages and expects the donor community including bi-lateral & multilateral agencies and development financial institutions (DFIs) to support it.

Terms of Reference

The proposed Information Sharing Platform is expected to assist MFIN member MFIs (Small and Medium) in putting together their profiles on the platform. These profiles would be a combination of quantitative and qualitative information sets. Based on this, the information platform should include institutional dashboards of MFIs which will be available for view to the lenders and investors. The Information Sharing Platform would be hosted on MFIN’s website in a special section and managed by the partner firm.

The broad objectives of the “Information Sharing Platform” and the expectations from the partner agency are to-

• Develop an online login-based platform where small and medium MFIN member MFIs can maintain/update their operational and financial data in a standardized manner as required by lenders/investors
• Enable small and medium MFIs to showcase qualitative aspects of their operations like their local knowledge & expertise, CSR activities that they conduct for awareness generation and for strengthening their relationships with clients etc.
• Assist the MFIs in uploading and updating data on a quarterly basis or lower frequency as required
• Enable onboarding of potential lenders and investors (with proper background and reference checks) including high networth individuals (HNIs) on the same platform along with their profiles and exposure details in the microfinance sector
• Create intelligent dashboards for both member MFIs as well as of lenders/investors in a standard format for quick access/view by the other (however, details of one MFI or investor/lender should not be accessible by the other counterparts). The dashboard should include comparison functionality between MFIs based on similarities such as size, area of operations, RoA and other factors as deemed suitable.
• Develop lenders’ & investors’ profile by compile of information about lenders and investors active and/ or willing to invest in the sector and their preferences (Geographical or otherwise)
• Create functionality for connect between MFIs and lender/investor if there is mutual interest and also with the partner agency
• Any other feature which might be useful for the platform

Budget and time period

• The maximum budget available with MFIN for development of the Information Sharing Platform is Rs 10 lakhs, inclusive of all taxes. The payment schedule will be decided at the time of signing of contract between MFIN and the selected partner agency.
• The partner agency would be initially on boarded for a period of one year and thereafter it would be extended/renewed based on performance of the agency in terms of making the platform a high utility tool for small and medium MFIs.

Deadline:  September 20, 2020, 5 p.m. IST.

For more information please check the Link