The products
This page is about the three products that are currently being tested in the Hrishipara experiment
Product P5 was the first to be offered, in April 2002.
Click here for an English-language version of the rules for P5.
Product P9 is the most recent product, started in March 2007.
Click here for an English-language version of the rules for P9.
The SafeSave family of products has hitherto been even-handed
between savings and loan products, on the grounds that poor clients need both. But P9 shifts the focus decisively to building up substantial savings, with the loans there just to provide much-needed liquidity to cash-starved clients as they save. A remarkable feature of P9 is that the loans are offered free of interest and can be topped up at any time.
P5 borrows many elements from SafeSave, including daily visits to each client, and loans without fixed repayment schedules. It also has a passbook savings facility, but unlikeSafeSave, the savings are not at all linked to the loans. P5 is thus the only member of the SafeSave product `family` where savings and loans are entirely unlinked.
Product P7 followed in Janury 2004.
Click here for an English-language version of the rules for P7.
Many traders in Kapasia Market across the river from Hrishipara were impressed by P5, and asked for an opportunity to open an account. We decided, instead, to offer them a new product designed with them in mind - P7. As with all products in the SafeSave family, the service is delivered to individuals through a daily visit to each client, and there are no groups, no meetings and no joint liability.
P9 - the most exciting yet
P9 has grown faster and proved more popular than any of the products tested in SafeSave or in Hrishipara. P9 clients also transact more intensively than any other product.
We are therefore - in 2011/12 - focussing strongly on P9. We have introduced a version of it to SafeSave, in the Kalyanpur slum. A third version is being piloted in Kenya, where it is delivered via mobile phones.
For a full discussion of P9 please go to its own website, https://sites.google.com/site/trackingp9/