Bimputh Finance achieves quantum leap through microfinance
Thursday, 9 January 2014 00:00
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Bimputh Finance PLC was established in the latter part of 2007 as a small operation with its initial objective of uplifting the living standards of hitherto neglected low income house holders, particularly in the Ampara and Monaragala Districts by providing them with financing at affordable rates for cultivation of sugar cane, paddy, other cash crops and for self-employment projects. Licensed by the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka under the Finance Business Act No. 42 of 2011, Bimputh Finance was subsequently listed with the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) in 2012.
Today, Bimputh Finance operates 15 branches and five service centres offering services to mainly micro, small and medium entrepreneurs in Ampara, Jaffna, Monaragala, Puttlam, Kalutara, Gampaha, Batticaloa and Colombo Districts.
Bimputh is a fully-fledged finance company which offers the entire range of financial products in Sri Lanka including micro finance. The company now boasts of a customer base of 85,000 that includes over 35,000 micro finance customers. Bimputh Finance has demonstrated a strong and steady progress during the past few years and the firm’s contribution so far made to the society is in line with the company’s vision of becoming the leading financial services provider in Sri Lanka through contributing towards the upliftment of the standards of micro, small and middle-income families. “There are almost 1 million Sri Lankans living under the poverty line today. Our mission is to alleviate poverty in Sri Lanka by satisfying the financial requirements of micro and small entrepreneurs through an innovative product mix. We aim to support over 250,000 customers by the end of 2015. In addition to lending we have designed special savings products as well as fixed deposit and investment products for our customers with our focus being to ensure that they understand the importance of saving, especially for their children’s education. In addition, most of our customer base cannot afford insurance and included in our products are free health and life insurance,” said Director Chamindra Gamage.
Bimputh Finance has strongly embraced technology with its own ATM network and plans to provide mobile banking services to its customers within this financial year. Further, the company will be partnering with a leading bank in Sri Lanka to expand the ATM network. The company has recorded a steady growth in both deposits and advances and with the resurgence of economic activities in the Eastern Province, we expect a sharp growth in deposits as well as loans and advances,” said Director/CEO Kingsley Bernard.
Expressing his views on the process of expanding the company’s branch network, he said, “Micro Finance is the winning product which is going to be the core product of our product portfolio. In November, 2011 we started Micro Financing to serve the low income people, as most of them lack access to basic financial facilities. Hence the challenge of providing financial services to them still remains. Incremental access to finance among the low-income population will contribute towards income generation activities and thereby improve their saving habits as well as their living standards, enabling the poor to build assets, increase their income and reduce their vulnerability to economic stress. As a result they can improve their living conditions, while actively promoting Sri Lanka’s economic growth. Micro Finance is almost the best financially viable product available in the Sri Lankan finance product range,” Bernard stressed.
“We are working on a steady system and maintain a sound financial position for the customers to invest and our deposits are safe. Our loan portfolio is now in excess of Rs. 1 billion and with an aggressive growth plan we aim to increase this to Rs. 5 billion in the next two years. The secret of a success journey of a company is our closeness to the customer, the strong experience of our employees and the transparency with which we operate,” said the Bimputh CEO Bernard.
