Status
P9 Hrishipara was launched in spring 2007. Here, we track its progress month by month, in reverse chronological order. See the Databank page for numerical and financial analysis, and for reports and commentary by outsiders.
A similar month-by-month history of P9 in Kalyanpur (closed in late 2013) is available in the Databank page.
P9 Hrishipara
April 2024 was a month with the Eid festival and the Bengali New Year. But clients ddidn't borrow much and the loan portdolio declined, but they saved a little and the savings portfolio was almost stable. There was a tiny profit. Transaction volumes rose sharply compared to March.
March 2024 was characterised by lower transaction volumes and a tiny loss (mostly because of the upfront payment of Eid bonuses). Savings and loan portfolios did not move much.
February 2024 saw high transaction volumes resulting in both the loan and savings portfolios declining a bit. The savings pportfolio remains at 3 times the size of the loan portfolio. There was a small profit.
January 2024 saw a finely balanced cash-flow: almost excatly the same amount of money went out in loans and came in in repayments, and went out as savings withdrawals and came in as deposits. The savings portfolio grew despite a very large withdrawal by one of our long-established good savers. We made a small profit.
December 2023 was a surprisingly good month with larger than usual loan repayment collection, resulting in a profit: overall savings and loan balances were little changed and transaction volume was moderate
November 2023: though the savings portfolio declined this was in general a good month with good transaction value; we made a small profit
October 2023: was seen as a good month by local people, especially Hindus who celebrated Durga Puja. Loans out went up, savings were withdrawn and the result was a growing loan portfolio and a shrinking savings portfolio, but better profit than recently.
September 2023: both the savings and the loan portfolios declined this month, transaction values were low, but we made a small profit
August 2023: a large ingtake of savings pushes us ever coser to being primarily a savings service: loans outstanding are now worth only 29.5%of the savings portfolio
July 2023: has seen a bit of a recovery, with profitability restored and a boost in savings
June 2023: This was another festival month and saw big savings withdrawals and reduced loan repayment. We made a loss in the month.
May 2023: a sharp recovery from the previous (festival) month, with rises in loan repayment, savings and loan interest resulting in a small profit for the month. Overall transaction volume, though, is still low relative to a year ago.
April 2023: a short month with holidays for both Eid and the Bengali New Year, so numbers were down and we made a loss
March 2023: revenue and profit rose marginally while the savings and the loan books subsided slightly: transaction volume was up compared to the previous month.
February 2023: savings and loan balances picked up again but revenue was poor in this short month
January 2023: another rather poor month for loan repayments and interest, resulting in a tiny loss for the month. Savings growth was however good.
December 2022: this was a poor month for loan repayments (and we made a loss on the month) but a good one for savings deposits
November 2022: there were some big savings withdrawals from a small number of clients so more cash went out than came in this month: but there was half a percent of increase in the loan portfolio, and a small profit. All in all not a bad month.
October 2022: savings declined with some big withdrawals; loan portfolio also declined but profit was OK and overall transaction volumes high
September 2022: this was yet another good month for savings - indeed very good with the savings portfolio reaching record pre-pandemic levels. Loans slowed a little. There was a small profit.
August 2022: was another good month for savings while the loan portfolio declined slightly. Loan repayments were good, and we made a profit such that the average monthly profit for the last 6 months, 12 months, 24 months and 48 months, are all now positive. Transaction volume rose slightly from last month.
July 2022: was a good month for savings and for loan growth of the 'special' loans, and for income, and transaction volume was good; we made more profit than in recent months.
June 2022: with the Eid al Adha festival coing in early July this was a month of large transactions, especially savings withdrawals and borrowing. Nevertheless if was also a good month for fresh savings made. We paid Eid bonuses to staff and ended up with a small loss on the month.
May 2022: the loan portfolio declined and the savings portfolio grew sharply in a month with good transaction values.
April 2022: clients both borrowed more and withdrew more savings ahead of the fast approaching Eid festival (due May 3rd). Repayments, especially of the 'Special' loans was good. Transaction values were also quite good.
March 2022: this month saw a lot of savings withdrawals and the loan portfolio also fell, leaving us with a very slim profit on the month. Transaction volume was moderate. Illness remains a problem.
February 2022: a short 28-day month and lots of clients struggling with illness (much of it probably Omicron Covid) saw reduced loan repayment collection; the loan portfolio also dropped (savings made a small rise) but we managed a profit.
January 2022: the omicron variant of the corona virus is rampant in Bangladesh now and many clients have flu-like symptoms which may well be Covid. Both the savings and the loan portfolios fell a little. We made a small loss.
December 2021: contrasting with last month, savings rose sharply again, to record levels, and the loan portfolio declined somewhat with continued good repayments rates: transaction volumes also rose
November 2021: the savings portfolio declined sharply because our biggest single saver withdrew a massive amount: but on the other hand loan collection and loan interest collection were excellent, and our profit margin the best for some months
October 2021: the tendency away from loans in favour of savings reappeared sharply this month, with the savings portfolio growing by over 6% in the month. Transaction volume was similar to the previous two months. We made a tiny profit.
September 2021: like last month, clients saved strongly. Transaction volumes were moderate and we made a very small profit. MFIs are open again, as are schools.
August 2021: loan repayments were up, surprisingly, despite lowered borrowing; and our savings portfolio rose, too. Transaction volumes returned to ore normal levels and we made a profit. The lockdown continued but half-heartedly. MFIs remain closed.
July 2021: a harshly-enforced COVID lockdown started on July 1st and we had to close down more or less fully. Transaction levels fell to vey low levels and we made a loss on the month.
June 2021: the COViD Delta variant made its way into Bangladesh so economic conditions declined. We made a very tiny profit! The loan portfolio declined a little, savings grew (mostly on account of a few 'outlier' cases): overall there was a net inflow of funds and transaction volumes were good.
May 2021: the appetite for loans reappeared strongly, and a lot of savings were withdrawn, both of these phenomena connected with Eid expenses. On the other hand savings deposits were also high, and transaction volumes strong. Overall, because of paying staff bonuses for Eid, we made a loss in the month.
April 2021: a new lockdown began on April 5th. It was mildly imposed at first, then got tougher. We stopped collecting savings and repayments in person but remain open for clients to withdraw savings if needed. As a result transaction numbers are down but not, so far, to the extent they were in April 2020. We still made a very small profit.
March 2021: Savings continued their sharp upward turn, and loans declined further. We note that among the MFIs, loan disbursement is also down. The savings portfolio is now almost exactly double the loan portfolio.
February 2021: Savings rebounded this month - the portfolio increased by 3% - but loans declined, somewhat in common we are seeing (through the lens of the diaries) among many low-income households in the area. It was a short month but even so transaction values were low - though not as low as in the worst months of the pandemic. We made a very slim profit.
January 2021: This month the loan portfolio declined a little while the savings portfolio grew strongly. Income from loans is now back to the pre-pandemic average, producing a modest profit for the month.
December 2020: we ran the annual write-offs for a few P9Special loan clients who have left the area without trace or otherwise been unable to repay loans. This has reduced our client numbers, loan portfolio and savings portfolio (the latter because many of these clients held savings with us). Otherwise results are similar to November, though we made a small loss.
November 2020: the savings portfolio declined as a small number of savers withdrew large amounts to fund reviving businesses; the loan portfolio gained a little. Overall, we made a small profit over these last 6 difficult months.
October 2020: the recovery continues, if a bit more slowly. The loan portfolio rose, the savings portfolio fell a little. Transaction volumes were normal. A small profit was made.
September 2020: another very small profit and repayments yet to recover fully: but the shift to a propensity for saving accelerated this month . Total savings held moved up to 13.65 million taka from 12.3 m the previous month and 9.2m in January 2020. Transactions values were again large.
August 2020 saw us return to a small monthly profit. There was a bit of shift from loans to savings, with the 'Special' loan portfolio falling quite sharply but both P9 and Special savings rising. The ratio of the value of loans outstanding to savings held stood at 48%, the lowest for a long time. Overall, transaction volumes declined from the remarkable July and returned to the average for the last year, with inflows totalling around 2.5 million taka and outflows around 1.7 million.
July 2020 the post-lockdown revival that started last month continued, gathering pace. The savings portfolio grew very strongly. Loan repayments were the highest for a year, though, as last month, some of this was because we collected repayments originally due during the height of the lockdown. Transaction volumes were comfortably the highest for well over a year,
June 2020 saw a very large rebound in loan repayments which rose to levels higher than before the lockdown as clients caught up: this has resulted in our returning to profitability much quicker than we anticipated. Savings saw an even bigger rise: indeed June deposits were the highest for over a year and withdrawals remarkably modest. We are surveying clients to try to understand this behaviour in more detail.
May 2020: the lockdown continued through the month and was lifted on May 31st. There was a small uptick in economic activity, and we made a few more transactions than in April. Our losses were heavier, though, because we paid staff their Eid festival bonuses.
April 2020: was the first full month under corona virus lockdown. Some clients made some savings deposits with us, and we managed to release savings to those who asked for withdrawals. We made about a dozen loans (the MFIs were completely closed and made no loans). A few taka came in as loan repayments - slightly more than went out as loan disbursements. We made a loss of 40,000 taka (about $470). We can survive monthly losses of this kind easily, for several months.
March 2020: The government shut down all offices to try to protect the country from corona virus, on 26th March. We complied but we are finding ways to release savings to clients who need them, and to give a few loans. In total inflows of savings and of repayments were up this month on recent months, and loan and savings balances are high. Nevertheless our loan repayment rate suffered and for the first time in many months we made a small overall loss.
February 2020: the savings portfolio rebounded from the previous month and the loan book also grew. Inflows of cash exceeded outflows with savings withdrawals at their lowest monthly total for some time.
January 2020: high transaction values this month brought about by some big sums going in and out of savings (both the highest deposits and the highest withdrawals for a year). Repayment on the special loans was rather poor this month.
December 2019: the loan and savings portfolios declined marginally: transaction values were good but that is partly because the loan-loss provision was used to pay off a handful of P9 special loans that had gone bad (we usually do this at year end)
November 2019: transactions values were modest this month, though both the loan and savings portfolios grew
October 2019: transactions values were high, and more savings came in this month than any month in the past year - though savings withdrawals were also high so the savings balance dropped; profits were satisfactory
September 2019: savings grew again while loans slipped; revenue and profits were satisfactory
August 2019: savings bounced back while loans retreated a little, so this month there was a large inflow of cash
July 2019: the loan portfolio rose again a little, but the deposits declined as people prepared for the Karbani Eid festival. Loan repayment was excellent.
June 2019: the loan portfolio rose quite sharply but the savings portfolio was mixed, with P9 savings growing while P9 Special savings fell somewhat. Transaction volumes were like the year's average.
May 2019: this was a Ramadan month but transaction volumes were up a little (inflow, especially in P9 Special Loan repayments, was the highest for almost a year). Overall loans outstanding went up and savings held went down a little. We paid Eid wage bonuses but still managed a very small overall profit.
April 2019: cash flow contracted a little, but both the savings and the loan portfolio rose for both products.
March 2019: once again savings rose and the loan portfolio declined, though revenue was a little below expectation
February 2019: savings bounced back while the loan portfolio decreased very slightly, and the number of clients was stable. The ratio of loan loss reserves to the loan portfolio rose above 5% again. Revenue was medium - largely because February was a short month.
January 2019: transaction volumes rose to the best for six month, though savings in both P9 and P9 Special accounts fell as a couple of big savers withdrew large amounts. Revenue was good, with income at 111% of expenditure.
December 2018: savings rose sharply while loans remained stable; transactions were a little constrained by the election process this month.
November 2018: a relatively quiet, stable month with few or no changes in most indicators
October 2018: savings again rose sharply
September 2018: savings balances rebounded after the Eid festival, and transaction volumes were stable
August 2018: though client numbers continued their slow decline, savings were sharply up but transaction volume was only modest
July 2018: transaction values were good, and the savings portfolio surged ahead again while the loans portfolio fell. The surplus was in line with recent months.
June 2018: we have continued with more vigorous housekeeping, again reducing client numbers, and loan and savings balances (except for special savings balances, which went up). We believe we are left with a more reliable clientele and a more accurate reporting regime.
May 2018: we have been doing some housekeeping - we have written off some 35 Special loans that have gone without repayment for some time. As a result, our loan loss reserve has gone down (but it still has a comfortable amount in it) while other measures such as profitability (especially loan fee income as a proportion of portfolio size), have gone up. In the process, the loan portfolio has shrunk but become more realistic. The savings portfolio also went down as some savings were offset against written-off loans.
April 2018: a very similar month to the previous one: some savings growth but no growth in the loan portfolio; transaction volumes average; surplus similar to last month
March 2018: transaction volume grew a little, the savings and loan portfolios were little changed, and the surplus was in line with recent months
February 2018: for no particular reason (as far as we know) both the loan and savings portfolios rose quite sharply this month: on the other hand transaction volumes were the lowest for some months. A reasonable surplus was generated. Client numbers continue their very slow decline.
January 2018: the year starts with a moderate month: a small rise in the loan portfolio and a smaller fall in savings, surplus healthy, transaction volumes a little low.
December 2017: year-end staff bonuses pulled us below 100% cost coverage by a small margin. Most other indicators were as last month.
November 2017: loan and savings balances declined again, but transaction volumes and surplus were fine. We reduced the number of collectors to four by terminating the least well-performing collector who in any case had a small and declining portfolio.
October 2017: loan and savings balances declined a little, but the surplus improved with better P9 loan collection. Transaction volumes were average for the year.
September 2017: loan collection was constrained by the main Hindu festival coming at the end of the month but controlled expenditure meant there was still a surplus for the month. Loan and savings balances were not much changed, and transaction volume as at the average value for the year.
August 2017: the savings portfolio remained unchanged but the loan portfolio increased this Eid month: Eid bonuses to staff meant there was no surplus earned.
June and July 2017: the month of June included Eid so there were extra costs for the staff bonuses: nevertheless we just scraped a surplus. We cleaned up some older non-performing Special loans by dipping into the loan loss reserve, but that reserve still stands in excess of 10% of the portfolio, and, by July, more than 50% of the value of all overdue loans. The savings portfolio rose.
April and May 2017: April's results mirrored March's, but in May transactions volumes rose substantially (maybe ahead of Ramadan) and both the savings and the loans portfolios grew.
March 2017: some P9 savings reached the target level and clients swapped their savings in Special savings; Special loan interest collection was down on the previous month, but nevertheless we made a surplus despite raising the fraction we put into loan loss reserves each month
January and February 2017: the new year has seen a recovery from the slight wobbles of 2016. The savings and loan portfolios, and the client numbers, remain lower than they were at the start of 2016, but revenue and surpluses have recovered fully. The yield % on the Bishesh loans was the best since early 2014.
December 2016: the month did not produce a surplus because of some seasonal expenses: however transaction volumes were good, and the yield on the Special loans returned to the 3% mark. At the end of the month one of our long-term Collectors, Beauty, left us: she has been in poor health with a bad leg. We thank her for her work and wish her well. During the month the Annual General Meeting was held and a new Executive Committee elected. Because we are now careful to stay absolutely within Co-op law, the new Committee consists only of people with addresses in the Kapasia area. Stuart Rutherford remains as an Adviser.
November 2016: a similar month to the previous one. Stuart Rutherford arrived in Bangladesh and reviewed progress, finding no issues. Most of the time he worked with Kalim and the Team on the Daily Financial Diary project.
October 2016: another good month with savings rising and the surplus wholesome. The Co-operative Authorities have made their inspection but we are still waiting for their Report: in any case they appear less hostile, which is why we are allowing clients to save larger amounts again.
September 2016: an Eid festival month but numbers were generally good.
August 2016: another good month showing we can make a surplus on a much smaller deposit base (though profits were subdued because we finally cleared all payments to our software writers). Loan and savings balances rose. Transaction volumes were up. The Cooperative Officers have still not done their inspection so again we will review the situation next month.
July 2016: Following our reduction of our savings portfolio in June (see previous entry), July tested our viability with a much reduced income from savings deposits in commercial banks. July was also an 'Eid' festival month, with a week's official holiday occurring early on. Nevertheless we managed a small profit so it looks as if we will be able to continue sustainably. The Cooperative Officers have yet to carry out their inspection and make their report. We will review the situation again next month.
June 2016: During June we experienced a sharp deterioration in the regulatory environment. Shohoz Shonchoy is registered as a Cooperative and since we began in Hrishipara in 2002, the Cooperative Authorities have been largely supportive. For example, they gave us a 'project approval' to specifically approve of any aspects of our products that didn't meet the complex Cooperative rules, and more than once gave us prizes as the 'best Coop in the District'. However with new people in their District office things have changed very suddenly. Since the Coop Authorities in theory have the power to close bank accounts or cancel registrations, we decided to behave with extreme caution. The preservation of our clients' savings is of paramount importance so we have returned a large part of our 'net savings' (savings that are not matched by a loan held by the client) to the savers. This may prove a temporary move: we will know when the current round of discussions with the Authorities is completed, perhaps by August.
May 2016: Another satisfactory month with small but steady growth in savings, loans, and income. One reason for the good income is that loan loss provision for the Special loans reached 10% of the portfolio, so we reduced the fraction that we reserve each month.
April 2016: Our clients were active in April: loan and savings balances moved ahead sharply and overall transaction levels were good. We have written a general Interim Report on the diaries, and we are working on a website dedicated to the diaries, at https://sites.google.com/site/hrishiparadailydiaries/
March 2016: Steady progress, very similar to recent months. We decided to raise the maximum loan value for P9 Bishesh loan clients to 50,000 taka (about US $1,400 at PPP exchange rates). We wrote an interim report on the farmers among our financial diarists, accessible from the Databank tab.
February 2016: This was another moderate month. Transaction volumes were good despite a slight fall in loan and savings volumes. A handful of new accounts were opened. Founder Stuart Rutherford arrived towards the end of the month and the overall program was reviewed. We lowered interest rates paid on savings in line with strong national trends. The number of respondents in our Daily Financial Diaries research rose to 50, and we shall add no more. Diary data quality was reviewed and found to be good.
January 2016: Transaction activity was healthy and savings and loan portfolios rose. We paid our software writers for their smartphone work so our profitability suffered a one-off bump. Daily diary collection continued without problems and we decided to raise the total number of diarists to 50 by the end of February.
December 2015: With the end of the year we can confirm that after several weeks of trials the new smartphone-based data capture system is reliable, quick, easy, and liked by staff and clients. During the month the savings portfolio rose a little and the loan portfolio declined a little. Transaction volume was average for the last year. Work on collecting daily 'financial diary' data continued smoothly.
November 2015: We continued to asses the use of smartphones for field data collection and found everything OK. This has released some time (saved from the elimination of manual data entry and correction) that we have used to expand our daily financial diaries work. We now have 38 diarists. An interim report on the diary work so far was submitted to CGAP who is supporting the diaries. On the savings and credit side transaction volumes were good, with P9 savings rising while Special savings fell as some clients took big withdrawals. The size of the loan portfolio remained unchanged. The surplus made was good.
October 2015: The big news this month is that we finally started using smartphones to collect field data. The system is based on the very robust one developed at SafeSave over more than a decade, and was written by the same software company, QSoft. The system saves time and improves accuracy, in both cases by eliminating manual data entry. It also impresses clients and increases their confidence in us. Some of the time saved has been diverted to the daily diaries we are currently running with World Bank support: respondent numbers there have risen to 30.
Otherwise, transaction volumes dropped back a bit compared with the previous 'Eid' month, but the surplus was satisfactory. Portfolio balances also slipped a bit.
September 2015: Eid al Adha occurred during the month so transaction volumes rose to the highest for over a year: clients borrowed and withdrew heavily but, perhaps surprisingly, some of our better-off clients deposited large sums, raising our savings book to record levels. A trend that has begun to emerge recently was more apparent this month: as our clients get slowly less poor, more of them are saving and borrowing through P9 'Special' savings and loan vehicles, and fewer seem to need the liquidity injections provided by P9 ordinary. Nevertheless P9 ordinary loan outstanding levels remained more or less unchanged on the month. We continued working on our daily diaries and enjoyed an exposure visit from four World Bank CGAP staff.
August 2015: In August the last of the P7 product loans were written off or transferred to P9, and the P7 savings balances (with interest earned) returned to the savers or transferred to P9. All clients are now therefore using P9, with some of them also using P9 Special Loans and/or P9 Special Savings. Now that the World Bank is supporting the daily diaries, the collectors have stepped up their collection of daily transaction data from a small selection of respondents (not all of them our clients).
July 2015: In July savings increased sharply again as some of our bigger savers returned their funds to our savings accounts. Otherwise performance was stable, in line with recent months. Our manager and some of our collectors were again busy collecting daily diary data and by now we have ten respondent 'diarists' providing very interesting information on their financial lives.
June 2015: Savings bounced back again this month, and the loan portfolio expanded too. During the month we issued a brief Report on the first month of some daily diaries that we are running in Hrsihipara. The first two 'diarists' are both Shohoz Shonchoy account holders. One is a very poor widow who nevertheless saves a large proportion of her tiny income. The other is a rickshaw driver who uses both Shohoz and conventional MFIs to save and borrow.
May 2015: During this month two of our largest savers withdrew substantial sums: HU took out 400,000 taka (around US$5,000) to buy bricks, in which he deals. SS took out the even larger sum of 900,000 taka (US$11,500) which he'll use to buy land. These are - of course - not typical Hrishipara clients, but both cases show that the not-so-poor can benefit from our services. Both will continue as our clients. As the numbers show (see the Data page) this had the effect of reducing our liabilities and our bank balances. Income, however, remained robust for the month.
April 2015: This was another quiet month with numbers much like the previous ones. Overall, transaction volume rose a little and a handful of new P9 clients were recruited.
March 2015: Despite continuing, and worrying, political disturbances Hrishipara's performance, as reflected in the numbers, has been stable. There is a small decline in client savings balances as clients draw on savings to compensate for the difficulties caused by the disturbances.
All of our 1,130 clients hold P9 accounts (though, obviously, some use it more actively than others). Of those 1,130, many also use one or both of our other two accounts. 707 clients use the 'special' savings account (where they can earn interest). 312 clients use the 'special' loan account, where they take conventional interest-bearing loans, though note that these accounts are offered only to clients who are genuine business-people or have stable incomes from regular wages or salaries: these 312 (some 28% of all clients) are the kind of person that is the clientele for Bangladesh's famous MFIs like Grameen, BRAC or ASA. Here are some observations on the two subsets of clients.
The 707 'special savings' clients: with balances totaling 9.5 million taka (say USD 121,500) they hold the majority of the savings. Interestingly, very few of them hold 'special loan' accounts - this is a group that, by and large, prefers to accumulate savings than take interest-bearing loans. If we look at the 100 clients with the biggest 'special savings' balances, only 10 of them hold 'special loan' accounts. Nor, on the whole, do these top-hundred 'special savings' clients any longer use ordinary P9 accounts. But the words 'any longer' are important here for many of them built their savings initially through P9, and when they achieved good sized balances, shifted to 'special savings' and stopped using P9. This is one of the outcomes we planned and desired for P9 clients.
The 312 'special loan' clients: they hold USD 47,000 of outstanding loans. Their behaviour looks like that of classic capital-hungry businesspeople. For example, if we look at the 100 of them with the biggest current loan balances, we see that they hold very little in the way of 'special savings'. But they are big users of P9, holding big P9 savings and loan balances (they hold almost 4 times as much P9 savings as special savings). Their P9 loan balances total about half of their P9 savings balances, showing them to be, or to have been, active P9 users. This very much accords with what they tell us in interviews: any convenient way to build up lump sums is useful for businesspeople, so they are happy to use P9 to build capital which they can get in two ways in P9 - through P9 loans (and top-ups) and, whenever needed, through P9 savings withdrawals.
February 2015: The political disturbances continued with further disruption to economic life in the area, but the numbers held up satisfactorily, with small gains in savings and loan portfolios.
January 2015: This has been a difficult month for Bangladesh, with political disturbances suddenly reaching high levels. Hrishipara clients are affected in many ways, not least because transport to the capital is disrupted so goods and services don't get through. As is usually the case, these pressures don't show up strongly in our figures, but the month was 'flat' in terms of transaction values and portfolio growth rates.
December 2014: Hrishipara ended the year with 1,136 active clients served by six collectors, a data-entry clerk, and a manager. 916 clients had active basic P9 accounts, with total deposits of 5.2m taka (about US$67k), and total loans outstanding of 4.15m taka. 703 of our clients held P9 Special Savings accounts, with total deposits of 9.2m taka (about $118k). Finally, 301 clients held P9 Special Loan accounts, with total loan outstanding of 3.36m taka. After all expenses, Hrishipara made a surplus for the year of 340k taka.
During December smartphones and other equipment were bought, ready for launching data-collection via smartphone, set to begin on February 1st 2015.
November 2014: Another unexceptional month. Preparations are underway for conversion to data-collection by smartphone, which we aim to introduce during founder Stuart Rutherford's trip to Hrishipara in December. The software has been developed by QSoft, who have been the long-term supplier of good quality software to sister organization SafeSave. We are pleased to note that QSoft recently gained a contract to develop software for smart-phone-based data collection for BRAC's vast national microfinance service.
October 2014: This was a good month for earnings, and a trickle of new recruits joined the basic P9. Thirty-one basic P9 clients hold in their P9 savings accounts sums more than the 20,000 taka minimum that allows them to withdraw savings without charges, because they wish to go on building their rights to P9 basic loans. These 31 clients hold between them the equivalent of US$ 11,000 in P9 savings. Several of them also hold P9 Special savings accounts, and eleven of them hold P9 Special loan balances. Nevertheless, these 31 clients are exceptional, in that most P9 basic clients chose to remove their P9 savings when they reach 20,000 taka - either to place them in interest-earning P9 Special savings accounts, or to remove them and spend them.
September 2014: September saw good progress in the value of both the loans and the savings portfolio, although the growth was concentrated in the 'P9 Special' loans and savings rather than in regular P9, which saw small falls in both portfolios. Overall transaction volume has been growing steadily over the last quarter.
August 2014: This was a month in which savings rose somewhat and the loan portfolio fell a little. Transaction volume was good and income satisfactory.
July 2014: The end of the Ramadan fasting month and the Eid festival occurred in July. This sometimes pushes up loan disbursement and depresses savings collections. However, this time both loan disbursements and savings collections were sharply up, and transaction flows were fair, with about 4 million taka (around US$ 52,000) flowing out in loans and savings withdrawals, and a little more flowing in in savings and loan repayments. Total portfolios are now 13.86 million taka in savings and 8.1 million in loans outstanding ($178,000 and $104,000 respectively). There are 1,160 active clients.
June 2014: The month was unremarkable. Transactions ran at about the same level as in the previous 4 or 5 months and there were small changes in savings and loan balance. We rearranged the responsibilities of collectors, resulting in the number of collectors falling to 6 now from 7 last month and 8 at the start of the year. This improved profitability somewhat. The month saw very heavy rains so the team did well to keep the transactions flowing.
May 2014: The savings and loan portfolios recovered robustly this month. At the end of the month we cut our Collector numbers by one, to improve efficiency and to distribute clients better among our staff: we shall have six Collectors from 1st June. We paid the first installment on the software being written for a planned shift to the use of smartphones for the digital collection and management of our numbers, and since we hadn't provision for this we fell into deficit for the month. Leaving that aside, the month was profitable.
April 2014: Both the savings and loan portfolios declined marginally this month. However, the month was an excellent one for income, and net profit grew to its highest ever in the history of Hrishipara. It is noteworthy that this was achieved with a very low yield (income from clients as a proportion of gross loan portfolio outstanding) of just 1.5% for the month: the P9 family of products offers liquidity to its clients at an unusually low price compared to most microcredit in Bangladesh and internationally, and operational cost efficiency is high. This month, terms were agreed with QSoft, a software writing house, for software that will allow Hrishipara to adopt smartphones for recording and processing data in the field.
March 2014: The products trod water for most of this month, with very small increases in savings and a small decline in loans outstanding. Income remained good, in part because interest payments and repayments on the P9 Special loans were good.
We asked eleven of our P9 Special borrowers (choosing ones that own and use mobile phones) if they would like a discount on their loan interest rate (from 3% a month to 2% a month) in return for their sending their repayments and interest payments through the bKash phone-based mobile money service instead of using our Collectors (who visit each client daily). Nine said they were not at all interested, since the daily collection service was much more convenient. The other two said they would need time to think about it since, for sure, it wouldn't be as convenient as using the Collectors.
February 2014: We can now look at the place of the original 'basic' P9 product in the context of the now integrated set of products comprising the basic P9, and the 'P9 Special' interest-bearing savings, and 'P9 Special' business loans on interest. P9 basic retains the biggest share of the loan portfolio, at about US$57,350, with the P9 Special business loan portfolio at about $35,400. The P9 Special savings portfolio has now grown to about $101,300, while P9 basic savings balances total about $66,650. Remember, though, that much of the Special savings was generated as Basic savings, and then transferred into Special savings when P9 basic clients achieved their earlier rounds of savings goals.
The set of products is profitable: total income was 135% of total expenditure in February (though some of the surplus comes from bank income on retained profits from earlier products): see the databank for detail files.
974 clients are currently using their P9 basic accounts, so the average savings balance per client is $68 and the average loan balance $59: eight clients have P9 savings with balances greater than $500 and 72 have balances exceeding $200 (just one client has a loan balance exceeding $500). The biggest ever basic P9 loan taken was $605.
648 clients hold Special savings balances, with an average balance per client of $156: 26 of them hold more $1,000 each. 269 clients hold Special business loans (access to these loan is restricted to those with businesses with good cash-flows or with regular wages or salaries) and the average outstanding loan balance for them is $131.
Remember that all clients using P9 Special savings and Special loans also own a P9 basic account (whether they are using it or not) so there is considerable overlap in these Basic and Special numbers.
January 2014: The 'consolidation' work advanced this month with the final demise of old product P5. This enabled us to reduce the number of Collectors from 8 to 7. There are still a few P7 clients left. Everyone (including the remaining P7 clients) has a basic P9 account now. The total client number is now 1216.
December 2013: This month we reviewed some P5 and P7 clients who had taken loans and fallen into repayment difficulties. We concluded that almost all of them were not 'willful' defaulters: most were ordinary folk who simply found that the repayment rules for P5 and P7 didn't suit their fragile domestic economies and in particular their unreliable income streams. We therefore shifted their loan balances out of P5 and P7 and into the regular P9 product. This has had the effect, of course, of boosting the P9 loan portfolio (which rose by 10%), though it didn't impact the P9 savings portfolio since most of these clients had little or no savings to transfer. We hope that the more relaxed environment of P9 will help these clients repay their loans and enable them to get fresh liquidity, and to build savings, P9-style.
This work pushed forward the process of dismantling P5 and P7 and consolidating everything into the new P9 'family' of products - the basic P9 with its forced savings and interest-free loans; the interest-bearing 'special' savings account; and the 'special' larger interest-bearing loans for those with stronger income streams based on regular wages, salaries, or businesses (about 3 in 10 of clients are in this category). Only 16% of our loan portfolio is now held in the older P5 and P7 products, a proportion that will go down gradually as these clients pay off their remaining loans.
November 2013: The process of consolidating all of Hrishipara's work around P9 continues. The basic P9 core product did well in November with both the loan and the saving portfolios growing by 2% in the month. Income was satisfactory, with the combined P9 family of products producing a surplus of around $550.
October 2013: The core P9 Basic product did well in October, with both the loan and the savings portfolios growing by around 1%. The new P9 Special loans and savings portfolios grew as we transferred many more accounts from the old P5 and P7 products into P9 Special. P&L numbers suggest that the full family of P9 products - P9 Basic and P9 Special - will be profitable: the surplus in October was more than 34,000 taka (around $445). Overall clients numbers are still falling slightly as we shake out old P5 and P7 clients: the total number of clients now being served in Hrishipara is just under 1,300.
September 2013: Stuart Rutherford visited Hrishipara this month. Working with Manager Kalim we integrated the accounts and the MIS (management information system) to reflect the current status of P9 as a three-part bundle of products. These are (1) the original P9 Basic account; (2) the interest-bearing P9 Special Savings account (which acts as a store for P9 Basic savings if clients choose to hold their savings with us after building them in the Basic account) and (3) the P9 Special Loans account (for selected clients with strong cash flows who want bigger loans and are prepared to pay interest on them). The two 'special' accounts have also replaced the older Hrishipara products, P5 and P7. See the Product Rules page to see how the three parts of P9 work together for the clients. See the Databank page for balances and other data about our clients, and for a full statistical history of Hrishipara since inception in 2002.
August 2013: As in the previous two months, we continued integrating the old P5 and P7 accounts into the P9 numbers. Within the next month we will change the format of the report to reflect the full value of the costs (currently understated in the Statistical History file because we have yet to transfer the full costs of handling P5 and P7 accounts). Meanwhile the P9 elements continue to grow steadily.
July 2013: The process of transferring P5 and P7 savers and borrowers to the new P9 'Bishesh' ('special') interest-bearing savings and interest-charging loan accounts gained pace, with consequent sharp rises in the numbers, above all in loan and savings portfolio size and in income and profit, as the Statistical History in the Databank shows.
June 2013: This month saw the first big move to incorporate the old P5 and P7 Hrishipara products into P9. In effect, P5 and P7 are being gradually phased out. All P5 and P7 clients who did not already have a P9 account have been issued with one - hence the sharp rise in client numbers. The P5 and P7 savings of these clients have been shifted into a new savings account within P9 called 'Bishesh savings' (special savings). This account is interest-bearing and serves also as a savings account for savings transferred from ordinary P9 savings (which do not earn interest). P5 and P7 clients with good repayment records in P5 and P7 loans can also take the new 'Bishesh loans' (special loans) which can be taken without any deductions into savings and on which monthly interest is charged. All the existing P9 clients may access these loans as well if they wish. All these changes show up in the June numbers available in the databank page. The new rules are shown in the product rules page.
May 2013: The savings portfolio grew while the loan portfolio shrank a little in May. The month was spent by management preparing for June, when we shall create P9 accounts for all the other Hrishi clients (that is, the P5 and P7 clients) who don't already have one. Their existing P5 and P7 savings balances will be transferred into their new P9 accounts. More details on this move next month.
April 3013: Savings and loan portfolios both shrank a little, as clients withdrew more 'mature' sums than in any previous month - 13 withdrawals of more than 20,000 taka including one of 70,000 and two more of more than 40,000. We will update this paragraph soon with details of what these withdrawals were used for.
March 2013: There was modest growth in both the savings and the loan portfolios, though the loan repayment rate dropped a bit compared to recent months. Stuart Rutherford was in Bangladesh and with manager Kalim Ullah worked on plans to expand P9 to include an interest-bearing savings account and a business loan product, so as to be able eventually to make Hrishipara a P9-only branch, closing down the old P5 and P7 products.
February 2013: Good growth again in both savings and loans.
January 2013: Activity picked up in January with strong growth in the loan portfolio (almost 5%) and good growth in savings (over 2%). We now have 879 active clients. A new procedure started on January 1st that brings Hrishipara into line with Kalyanpur: clients who do not wish to take any cash out when they take a loan simply take a loan of a value equal to the amount they wish to place in savings (as opposed to taking the maximum value of the loan allowed and then returning any excess as an immediate repayment). At a time when 'no cash, savings only' loans are increasing in frequency this is less distorting than the previous system which artificially inflated loan disbursement and repayment values. For background on this see the new review by Ashirul Amin on the databank page.
December 2012: Another quiet month, similar to the previous one but with slight declines in savings and loan portfolios. It is clear that P9 in Hrishipara is 'mature' in that most clients have been with us for some time and we are adding very few new ones. As a result, monthly numbers have stabilized.
Scholar Ashirul Alam has again looked at P9 numbers and has developed an interesting analysis of those P9 clients who choose not to take out any cash when they take a P9 loan. It can be found in the databank page. We once again thank Ashirul for his work.
November 2012: A quiet month, with savings rising a little, loans declining fractionally, and transaction totals modest. Client numbers (active) now stand at 863.
October 2012: A festival month and we saw good income as clients borrowed and withdrew savings. As a result the loan portfolio swelled and the savings portfolio again declined a little. Transaction volumes were better than the previous month despite a few work days lost to the festival holiday.
September 2012: This month saw both the savings and the loan portfolios reduce slightly, and transaction values were also rather low. On the face of it a somewhat disappointing month, but these declines hide some good news for individual clients. For example, three clients withdrew savings of 69,000 taka each - the culmination of very strong transaction records. Five more clients withdrew sums exceeding the 23,000 taka target. On the loans side, eight clients made repayments in the month exceeding 10,000 taka each.
August 2012: Loan and savings balances retreated fractionally during this Eid festival month, with the office closed for a week, but transaction values remained good.
July 2012: Business grew again in July with faster growth in savings and loans and bigger transaction values - we are in Ramadan and coming up to Eid. Analysis during a trip by Rutherford in July revealed an interesting evolution - in P9 Hrishi now more loans are taken by 'pure savers' (clients who decline to take any cash when their loans are disbursed) than by 'savers and cash-takers' (clients who take part of each loan in cash). This has many interesting implications for product design: it impacts on income and it suggest that 'pure savers' should be given a more straightforward method of saving. Some of this is reflected in the 'What's Next?' page.
June 2012: Transaction values declined a bit from May's highs. Clients seem to have sought to reduce the value of their cash advances - loans declined somewhat. Savings grew fractionally.
May 2012: May saw the highest values of transactions ever, as both savings and loan portfolios resumed their upward trend, with savings growing faster than loans. A handful of new clients signed up to accounts - it is getting hard to find new clients now that such a large proportion of local households already have accounts. Tufts scholar Ashirul Amin has analysed how long P9 Hrishipara clients take to repay their loans, and how much it costs them: please take a look here.
April 2012: One of our most successful savers withdrew just under 70,000 taka (about US$875) - the second highest savings amount ever taken. She then immediately started over with the 4,000 taka level loan. You can see her record by looking at client 0366 in the 'client history' query page of the Access file on the Databank page. The nominal account holder is a small child whose parents have been borrowing and saving in her name. The money was used to buy land. Hers was one of several large withdrawals in the month, so both loan and savings balances declined very slightly in the month. Nevertheless transactions volumes remained good and client numbers continued to grow a little.
March 2012: A few new clients signed up, and both the savings and the loan portfolios grew by around 1% compared to February. Costs were covered for the fifth month running. Transaction volume was good. Meanwhile the Hrishipara branch is gearing up to celebrate its tenth anniversary in April.
February 2012: Client numbers grew to 790 in this month, and there was modest growth in both loan and savings balances. Transaction intensity was similar to the previous two months - that is, at historic highs. Costs were covered.
Tufts University scholar Ashirul Amin has looked at the full transaction records of our 856 Hrishipara P9 clients. He finds that on average they borrow 4.3 times each year, taking an average total of 23,188 taka a year (about $300). They make on average 143 repayments each year (a little fewer than once in each two working days), and repay on average 18,508 each year. Withdrawals from savings per year are few: the average clients withdraws only 0.2 times per year. Amin's tables and graphs can be found on the data page.
January 2012: There was excellent growth in the savings balance in the month and transaction volumes were at record levels. Loans outstanding dipped by a fraction while clients numbers grew a little. Costs for the month were fully covered by income.
Two articles were published in 'Innovations' journal on the outcome of the trials of P9 over mobile phone in Kenya.They can be downloaded from the databank page. They shed a very favourable light on the popularity of the P9 idea with low- and middle-income Kenyans.
December 2011: Modest growth was recorded in all the main indices during December. Transaction volumes were good.The total amount lent out to clients since P9 started in 2007 is now just under 30 million taka (around $410,000 at an average conversion rate): of that, 26.1 million taka have been repaid. In the same time-frame, clients have saved a total of 10.25 million: they withdrew 5.6 million leaving them with balances totaling 4.65 million taka (about $65,000). We revisited the clients whose case studies appear on the 'Three case studies' page and updated them.
November 2011: There was continued progress in the month with a return to growth in the loans outstanding. We are conducting a review of P9 clients who withdraw P9 savings and then place the cash into another of our products to earn interest. Early results suggest that the volume of such savings is higher than we thought, at several hundred thousand taka. P9's contribution to our savings portfolio may therefore be considerably under-reported in the files provided in the databank.
October 2011: There was very good transaction volume this month (second highest ever), a small increase in client numbers, modest growth in savings, and a very small fall in the loan portfolio. We now have two clients who have borrowed more than 400,000 taka (about $5,500) from P9. One of them, Hamid (not his real name), opened an account in September 2008. He is a clerk at the phone office earning just 4,000 taka ($55) a month, but in his spare time he keeps a tiny shop, and has paid in almost every day - right now 200 taka ($2.75) each day. In mid October he withdrew 24,400 taka ($340) from his savings, leaving him with a savings balance of just 1,600 (though it will grow again rapidly). His current loan balance is down to 1,300 taka. It was the sixth time in three years that he been able to withdraw a sum in excess of 20,000 taka. This behaviour - using the daily collection service to turn over loans quickly and thereby build big savings, and then taking the savings to invest - is the essence of the P9 product. Hamid is a star performer, but the basic behaviour is followed by many of our clients.
September 2011: saw continuing progress. A handful of new clients was recruited, bringing the total active number to 719. Loan growth was moderate, and the average loan balance per client now stands at 5,006 taka (about US$70) while their average savings is 6,331 taka ($85). If we include bank income from the 'endowment' of 300,000 taka ($4,000) supplied by Rutherford at the start of the project, then P9 Hrishipara is now making a profit and thereby reducing its overall losses to date, which now stand at just over 100,000 taka ($1,300). Thus, it has cost less than $2 per client so far to offer the P9 service - a figure which is clearly set to fall further.
August 2011: the change in rules was applied from 1st August. By the middle of the month about 40 clients had renewed their loans under the new arrangements: the level of acceptance of the new rules appears good. There was extremely strong growth in the loan portfolio (up 12.5% on last months's balance) and in savings (up 7%). Cash flow was the largest ever. With the new price structure, a small surplus was earned in the month, and OSS (operating self-sufficiency, a measure of profitability) at 125%. Note that August saw the Eid festival, when we normally expect to see increased transactions.
July 2011: we began to prepare clients for the change in rules that start on 1st August 2011 (see 'Product Rules' tab). Under the new rules clients will get bigger initial loans and bigger loan increments, but prices will be higher. Each client has been notified: we may see some closing their accounts if they decide they don't like the new prices. We took advantage of this moment to close some accounts that had become inactive over the last six months, so the tally of active accounts fell a little to 692. July also saw a further 13 clients reach their 23,000 taka savings target and withdraw it, with the result that there was a reduction in the loan outstanding and savings portfolios as shown in the P9 accounts. However, some of that withdrawn money was transferred to Hrishipara P5 savings accounts: a task ahead is therefore to adjust P5 and P9 accounts to reflect the true value of savings balances accumulated under P9.
June 2011 saw record transaction values, with very good savings growth and moderate loan growth. Of the 730 active clients only 59 (mostly new clients) remain on the entry-level 2,000 taka loan value. 521 of them hold savings balances greater than loan balances. Aggregate values are 4.33 million taka of savings (about $70k) and 3.21 million taka of loans outstanding (about $46k).
In Kenya, a review of the pilot phase of Easysave was completed and handed to the project managers. Its findings reflect well on the popularity of the product among its Kenyan clients.
May 2011 was another good month, with savings growing by 2.5% and some loan growth too. Transaction volumes were good. Active client numbers rose to 724. Between them they held 4,244,620 taka in savings (5,863 each, or about $84) and 3,180,685 taka in loans (4,393 each, or about $63). 125 of our clients have now reached the $300 savings target, some of them more than once. And 252 of our clients (more than a third of them) have borrowed at least six times, so that their last loan was at least 9,000 taka and their savings balance at least 10,000 taka - about $145 and seen as a large sum in this environment. In total since the product was launched, these 724 clients have borrowed just under a third of a million dollars and repaid 82% of it.
April 2011 This month transaction volumes rose to the best ever. A further 10 clients opened accounts, bringing the total to 715. Savings and loan balances grew. Several more clients reached their savings targets and withdrew their lump sums.
March 2011 saw renewed growth in client numbers, with 705 clients at month end. There was, however, no growth in the savings portfolio, as several more clients achieved their savings targets and withdrew their deposits. Total transaction values remained strong, however, with good repayments, so the loan portfolio changed little. At the months end the savings portfolio was just over 4 million taka (about $58,000) and loan portfolio 3,350,000 taka ($48,500).
February 2011 February was similar to January: good transaction volumes and small but steady growth in savings and loan portfolios. We collected three brief case-studies showing how P9 can help people at various economic levels (a housewife in a poor landless illiterate family; a young man running a tiny shop; an older man with a more substantial shop). These can be seen here.
January 2011 The year opened with good transaction volumes in January, and ten new clients. Loans outstanding grew by 2% and savings by 1.3%, so that savings held now total just under 4 million taka (about $57,000). Another six clients took out savings that had reached 20,000 taka or more: there have now been 100 cases where clients have achieved this large saved sum ($300 or more) and withdrawn and used it.
December 2010 Growth in the loan and savings portfolios accelerated again, and ten new clients signed up to make a total of 667 active clients. However, transaction volumes were down somewhat
November 2010 Growth in the savings and loan portfolios resumed, though slowly, and half a dozen new clients opened accounts. Eight clients - a larger figure than in any previous month - took their savings prematurely during the month: inquiries revealed that in all cases they did so because they are moving away from the area.
Meanwhile in Kenya the pilot P9 running on the M-PESA mobile money platform continues to meet targets set for the early phases of the experiment.
October 2010 saw another 8 clients achieve their $300 savings target (or more in a few cases). This means that now 83 clients have achieved the full savings target and taken and used their savings. Almost all have started a fresh cycle of borrowing and saving. With the success of October's 8 clients, the effect on P9 overall was to lower the outstanding savings portfolio - something that happens only rarely. In October, though, the loan portfolio fell slightly, too. Client number rose slightly to 651.
September 2010 was quiet, with the loan and savings portfolios growing only modestly as households consolidated their finances after the Eid festival. The volume of transactions, however, remained high, and the number of transactions per client was similar to previous months, as clients juggled their savings and loan positions and took advantage of P9's daily doorstep collection service to make small payments.
In August 2010 growth resumed in the loan portfolio. Savings grew, but at a modest rate reflecting the fact that few new clients were recruited: total active clientele is 635 at month end. In August, for the first time, the death of a client occurred. The balance of her loan was forgiven and written off.
July 2010 saw a pause in the rate of growth of the loan portfolio, as clients repaid rapidly ahead of the Ramadan month. Savings grew by 2% in the month. Client numbers rose to 628. Income matched earlier months, so that P9 covered 52% of its total costs in the month.
In Kenya, EasySave enjoys continuing progress with the pilot schemes. They are producing encouraging results, and the conversation between the scheme owners and its advisory board have turned to planning for rapid scaling up, stating in 2011.
June 2010 was an unexceptional month with disbursements, repayments and savings continue to grow steadily. Client numbers went up by just ten, to 625.
May 2010 saw continued progress, with active clients rising to 605, and savings growing by more than 5% to top $50,000 for the first time.
During May, Shohoz Shonchoy founder Stuart Rutherford visited Easysave, the P9-by-mobile-phone project in Kenya. There, an initial pilot has been completed satisfactorily and a second-phase trial is about to start.
April 2010 saw excellent cash-flows. The inflow of savings was another record. However, in the month no less than nine of our clients reached their 20,000 taka ($300) savings target - or more in some cases - and withdrew their savings. This is good news, and further evidence of the utility of the product to its clients, even if it meant that the gross savings balance grew more slowly than in previous months and our income from interest in the excess of savings over loans was reduced. Client numbers grew to 591. The savings portfolio now stands at $48,768 and the loan portfolio at $39,407.
March 2010 saw growth continue: the active client tally to 573, the savings balance by more than 5% in the month to $47,900 and the loan portfolio by 4.7% to $37,900.
The Kenya project, Easysave, (a version of P9 delivered by mobile phone) is announced publicly at www.cgap.org/p/site/c/template.rc/1.11.45745/1.26.13234/
February 2010 saw growth resume: the active client tally to 562, the savings balance more than 6% in the month to $47,900 and the loan portfolio 4.7% to $37,900.
The latest news from Kenya is that the P9 variant designed for delivery by mobile phone has now issued loans to some of the 150 likely pilot clients during the month.
January 2010 saw growth slow still further. While overall transaction volume was similar to December, loans outstanding fell month-on-month for the first time ever, while savings grew slowly. Client numbers reached 546. It may be that we are reaching some mind of 'plateau', with savings and loan balances settling to an average.
The latest news from Kenya is that the P9 variant designed for delivery by mobile phone will recruit its first clients early in February 2010.
December 2009 saw growth slow, though still positive, with savings growing faster than loans, and active client numbers reaching 529. Income and expenditure was similar to November.
The news from Kenya is that the P9 variant designed for delivery by mobile phone may recruit its first clients as early as late January 2010.
November 2009 was another Eid month, and a very good month despite a week's closure for the festival. Growth of both loans and savings picked up again, pushing the loan portfolio to 10% higher than at the end of October. Savings grew by 8%. Client numbers grew to 516. The average active client made 16 loan repayments in the month. Income covered 55% of expenditure and the monthly deficit again declined. For full details see the files in the 'database' page.
A BBC radio team visited P9 in early November and interviewed a number of P9 clients.
More details are emerging of the pilot attempt to deliver P9 by mobile phone. A 200-client trial is to take place in the new year in Kenya. Stuart Rutherford is a member of a Steering Group advising the project
October 2009 was another good month for P9, with savings held and loans outstanding rising to new high values: savings held grew 7.7% to 2.5 million taka in the month and loans outstanding grew 8.9% to 2 million taka. Client numbers rose modestly to 493. Income was up 11% on the previous month and the monthly deficit consequently declined.
September 2009 was a month in which the main Eid (Muslim) and Durga Puja (Hindu) festivals fell. The office was closed for a week. However, transaction activity was high, as clients both withdrew savings and took more loans to finance their festival activities. Nevertheless, the savings portfolio grew overall, though at a slower rate of 5.5% (over the previous month).
Probably because the office was closed for a week, the median client made only 13 individual repayments in September, as opposed to an average of 16 per month for 2009, and highs of 17 in July, June and March this year.