The Activists for Social Alternatives (ASA)
ASA is a microfinance institution in Tamilnadu (India) that provides both financial and non-financial services for the poor. It provides credit through its Grama Vidiyal Program to 68,000 women clients spread over 6 districts of Tamilnadu. The non-financial initiatives include the following iniatives: 1) entrepreneurial development and market linkages for its clients; and 2) promotion of literacy among children of ASA members as well as non-members through its Vidiyal Model School.

Bandhan
Bandhan – meaning “Togetherness” – offers microfinance services to poor women in India’s state of West Bengal. Founded by Mr. Chandra Shekhar Ghosh in November 2000, Bandhan offers microcredit loans to self-employed women living in both rural and urban areas of West Bengal. Their average client earns less than $46 a month and holds less than half an acre of land. Bandhan is India’s flagship microfinance institution (MFI) for ASA Bangladesh’s lending methodology – commonly referred to as an individual lending methodology. These highly standardized loan products enable rapid expansion, and Bandhan’s borrowers exhibit near-perfect repayment rates. In 2005 alone, Bandhan grew by more than 300 percent to 130,000 clients (from 32,228 at end of 2004).

Bharat Integrated Social Welfare Agency (BISWA)
BISWA is an NGO focussed on developmental activities in Orissa, India. They state their three key activities as being 1) Microfinance; 2) Microenterprise; and 3) Social Development. As of 2006, the organisation operates in 22 districts with 72,000 members organised in 4,700 Self Help Groups (SHGs), out of which 38,000 clients are part of their microfinance program. BISWA has also initiated programs in micro-enterprise, education, human and child rights, marketing and production linkages, and health care. In collaboration with BISWA, the Centre is conducting a study to examine the impact of insecticide treated nets (ITNs) on health (particularly malarial morbidity and mortality), productivity, and willingness to pay, led by Professors Aprajit Mahajan (Stanford University) and Alessandro Tarozzi (Duke University).

CASHPOR
CASHPOR is a microfinance institution with a mission to identify and motivate poor women and deliver financial services to them. CASHPOR has programs in 8 countries and is headquartered in Seremban, Malaysia. They began their microfinance program in India in the state of Uttar Pradesh, and CASHPOR was also the first pilot for ICICI Bank’s partnership model for microcredit activities in India.

Grameen Koota
Grameen Koota is a microfinance institution based in the state of Karnataka, India modelled on the Grameen Bank (Bangladesh). Apart from offering financial services to its clients, they also conduct programs in health and nutrition, enterprise development, literacy and sanitation. As of 2005, they operate in 574 villages spread over three districts of Karnataka with a client base of 27,600 women members. A health insurance scheme, Arogya Raksha Yojana, was offered to clients of Grameen Koota in two branches in 2005. The Centre, in collaboration with Grameen Koota, is currently conducting a study to understand the factors that influence up-take and the determinants for renewal of health insurance, and provide policy specific insights for insurers.

Gram Vikas
Gram Vikas is a rural development organisation working in the state of Orissa, India serving a population of over 140,000 people in 400 villages. MANTRA - Movement and Action Network for Transformation of Rural Areas - is the programme and process through which it realises its vision. Their interventions include promotion of infrastructure, livelihoods and food security, education and health, and self-governance.

KAS Foundation
KAS Foundation is a microfinance institution operating in the states of Orissa and Chattisgarh, India. It was founded in August 2003 by Mr Kathiresan Sundaram and has around 12,000 SHGs (as of August 2005), spread over 24 districts, out of which 4,200 have been linked to banks. KAS aims to expand its outreach to atleast 20,000 SHGs and JLGs (currently have around 100 JLGs) in each of these states each by 2007. In collaboration with CMF, Prof. Sendhil Mullainathan (Harvard) is leading two research projects that examine the effect of varying repayment schedules at the KAS Foundation.

SAATH
SAATH is non-governmental organization, registered as a Public Charitable Trust (E-7257) with the Charity Commissioner, Ahmedabad in February 1989. In Gujarati, the word SAATH means, "Together, Co-operation, a Collective or Support." SAATH conceptualized the Integrated DevelopmentProgramme for the slums of Ahmedabad 1989. Since then it has aimed at facilitating participatory processes that would improve the quality of life for the urban and rural poor. SAATH runs programmes for women, children, men and youth in areas of livelihoods, capacity building, health, education, physical infrastructure improvement, access to resources and services, slum development and natural resource management. It also has a research and documentation cell and provides support to other organisations or agencies. .

Mahasemam Trust
Mahasemam is a microfinance organization registered under the Indian Trust Act 1882, and established in 1999. Mahasemam's mission is to help eradicate poverty and improve the social status and self esteem of poor women. The spirit of the organization is aptly captured and signified by the Tamil word “SEMAM” which means well–being.

SEWA Bank
SEWA Bank, a large micro-credit organization in Gujarat, runs one of India’s leading urban microfinance programs. It lends exclusively to women, and SEWA is one of the only micro-credit lender available to low-income women in the Ahmedabad area. The bank currently offers a range of lending and savings products, including over 77,500 small-scale entrepreneurial loans that are collected on a daily basis by loan managers called Saathin. Led by Professors Rohini Pande (Yale) and Erica Field (Harvard), the Centre, in collaboration with SEWA Bank, is conducting studies to understand drivers of default and effect of expanding guarantor’s pool.

SKS Microfinance
SKS Microfinance empowers the poor to become economically self-reliant by providing financial services in a sustainable manner. Launched in 1998, SKS Microfinance is one of the fastest growing microfinance organizations in the world, and as of 2007, has provided loans to about 2 million low-income women. Borrowers take loans for a range of income-generating activities, including livestock, agriculture, trade (such as vegetable vending), and production (from basket weaving to pottery). SKS also offers interest-free loans for emergencies as well as life insurance to borrowers.

SONATA
SONATA Finance Private Ltd (SONATA) is a microfinance company registered as a Non Banking Finance Company (NBFC). SONATA began its microfinance operations in January 2006, and its head office is located in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. In the month of August 2007, it acquired the portfolio of Jeevika Livelihoods Support Organisation based at Jabalpur in MP, meaning it now operates in two major states of Central India – Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. It is one of the fastest growing start-up MFIs in India, reaching out to more than 40,000 women members by the end of 2007.

Spandana
Spandana is one of the fastest growing MFIs in India, and is based in the state of Andhra Pradesh. It is one of ICICI Bank’s leading partners in the partnership model. Apart from offering standard and innovative savings, loans and insurance products to the poor it also offers non-financial services through both not-for-profit and corporate partnerships. They are the only alpha plus rated organisation (2003-04) in India (M-CRIL Rating January, 2004). Professors Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo from the Poverty Action Lab, MIT in collaboration with Spandana and CMF, are conducting an impact evaluation of microcredit in 100 slums of Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh).

Village Welfare Society
The Village Welfare Society (VWS) was started in the year 1982 in West Bengal, and offers a host of services to suit various financial and non-financial needs of its clients. Credit product lines have been designed to cater to client requirement, repayment capacity and income generating.