Impact evaluation of doorstep cash credit program for weekly-market vendors 

The Mann Deshi Foundation supports Mann Deshi Mahil Cooperative Bank by addressing needs of women beyond financing. The foundation works on building business skills and facilitating market access for women entrepreneurs as well as their communities. The foundation is currently working in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka, aiming to reach one million women by 2024. A preliminary study conducted by the bank in 2013 showed that weekly market vendors in Maharashtra were underbanked, and there was no loan product suitable to meet their working capital demand due to the fast-moving nature of their businesses. Supported by EdelGive Foundation, Mann Deshi Foundation launched the cash-credit loan (CCL) program for sellers at the weekly markets. This product was designed to replace the high-cost debt from wholesalers with a lower-cost option, and to help the businesses of these credit-constrained entrepreneurs grow.

The Mann Deshi Foundation onboarded Samavit to conduct an impact evaluation of the CCL program. The study sought to assess the impact of this credit product on borrowers since its inception and expand Mann Deshi’s understanding regarding the project.

The impact evaluation for the CCL program employed a mixed-methods approach, backed by the AIMS/SEEP framework for impact assessment. The evaluation was designed to assess the impact of CCL on 4 levels – impact on the borrower as an individual, impact on borrower’s household, impact on the borrower’s business, and community level impact. Data was collected through various methods, including a review of relevant documents, primary research such as household surveys, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews. To make this quasi-experimental study resemble a true experiment as closely as possible, surveys were conducted with CCL beneficiaries (treatment group) and entrepreneurs not using the CCL product (control group). It was made sure through preliminary research that no substitute for CCL exists in the study area. The selection of respondents for surveys was done using probabilistic sampling technique (simple random sampling) to ensure objectivity in findings, and the sample size was calculated using high measures of uncertainty to ensure accuracy in results.

Samavit prepared a comprehensive impact evaluation report including findings on indicators such as demographic profile, loan utilization, personal incomes, savings behavior, decision-making related to enterprise set-up, enterprise running skills, enterprise revenues and profit margins, sales volume, seasonality in business, asset ownership (business and households), enterprise and housing improvements, community level decision making power, financial literacy, etc. The results between treatment and control group were compared for all these indicators. Samavit also presented the key findings to Mann Deshi Bank’s and Mann Deshi Foundation’s leadership teams.