Mumbai : CRIF High Mark today released its quarterly publication MicroLend – Microfinance Lending Insights, highlighting a rebound in microfinance portfolio outstanding, improving delinquency trends, and a gradual stabilization across key industry parameters.
The report notes that after nearly eight quarters since Mar’24, the microfinance portfolio outstanding rebounded to ₹331 K crore as of Mar’26, registering a 3.2% quarter-on-quarter growth, supported by higher originations and an increase in ticket sizes. This recovery was accompanied by moderation in delinquency indicators, with continued improvement in PAR 31-180 at 2% as of Mar’26, lower than 2.4% as of Mar’24. Although on a YoY basis, portfolio outstanding still declined by 13.2%, this was also driven by reclassification of loans resulting in portfolio shift from microfinance to retail repository.
While borrower and active loan counts continued to decline, the pace moderated. Active borrower count declined by 3.2% QoQ to 6.9 crore, compared to a 5–6% decline in earlier quarters, while active loans moderated by 4.5% QoQ to 10.7 crore as of Mar’26.
A key highlight of the report is the strengthening of origination momentum. Microfinance disbursements value increased by 25.8% QoQ to ₹77,555 crore in Q4FY26, while disbursement volumes rose 22.8% QoQ to 126.1 lakh loans..
Key insights from the report include:
• Microfinance portfolio rebounds after eight quarters, rising 3.2% QoQ to ₹331K crore in Mar’26, supported by higher originations, larger ticket sizes and improvement in PAR 31-180
• Borrower and loan contraction moderates, with active borrowers declining 3.2% QoQ to 6.9 crore and active loans easing 4.5% to 10.7 crore in Mar’26
• Geographic recovery remained broad based, as all top 10 states except Tamil Nadu record QoQ portfolio growth; delinquencies improve despite some states remaining above the pan India average
• By lender type, NBFC MFIs remained the predominant growth driver, lifting their share of portfolio outstanding from 38.9% to 43.7% YoY as of Mar’26. On a YoY basis, banks’ POS share declined from 32.6% to 26.4% as of Mar’26, while NBFCs maintained a share of around 12–13% and SFBs around 16% between Mar’25 and Mar’26.
Early stage (PAR 1–30, PAR 31–90) delinquency buckets dropped below 1%, while PAR 91–180 declined sharply from 3.4% in Mar’25 to 1.2% in Mar’26—the best level in five quartersThe report also highlighted an improvement in the portfolio risk profile, with ~95% of portfolio exposure concentrated among borrowers with three or fewer lender associations, reflecting the impact of guardrails and tightening underwriting standards.
Overall, the MicroLend report underscores that while the industry continues to recalibrate, microfinance lending in India is showing recovery, with improving asset quality, stronger origination momentum, and a shift towards higher-ticket loans.