What MFIN actually does

Microfinance Institutions Network MFIN

The original SRO experiment: NBFC-MFIs since 16 June 2014

MFIN (formed Sep 2013; RBI recognition letter dated 16 June 2014) was the first sector SRO under RBI's 2011 NBFC-MFI direction. Its SRO machinery — supervision, field visits, watchlists, client protection — is a decade old and is the template the fintech SRO-FTs are now judged against.

SRO functions & supervision

  • Monitoring member compliance with RBI's NBFC-MFI direction and the industry Code of Conduct
  • Field assessment visits and a Self-Assessment & Monitoring Tool for members
  • Interest-rate monitoring and public rates disclosure for NBFC-MFIs
  • Early-warning watchlists; institutional-level risk analysis

Client protection & consumer touchpoints

  • Toll-free customer helpline 1800-102-1080 and customercomplaint@mfinindia.org for grievances against member NBFC-MFIs
  • Client-protection code framework aligned to global SMART-Campaign practice
  • Collector training and conduct standards for field recovery agents

Data & industry reporting

  • Quarterly industry data capture (Microscope) covering the large majority of NBFC-MFI loan volumes
  • Annual state-of-sector reporting; district-level outreach studies

Membership structure

  • 53 primary NBFC-MFI members; an Associate programme admits banks, SFBs, wholesale/direct NBFCs, credit bureaus, insurers, payment banks, fintechs and telcos — which is why its site wall shows ~84 organisations
  • Governance: board chaired by Devesh Sachdev (Fusion Microfinance founder) with former RBI ED Arnab Roy as independent member; CEO Dr Alok Misra

Gaps & open questions

  • Primary-member roster (the 53) is not published as a clean list; the public wall mixes members and associates
  • Enforcement actions and watchlist contents are not public

Sources

Captured 2026-09-10–11 from MFIN’s own site. Deep-dive under methodology · ← register entry