An Assessment of the Impact of SEWA Bank in India: Baseline Findings

This case study examines the nature and magnitude of benefits resulting from participation in the microenterprise activities of SEWA Bank in Ahmedabad, India. It presents findings from a baseline survey of 900 low-income working women engaged in own-account, sub-contracting, and labor activities. SEWA Bank is a sister institution of the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA).

The study tested a number of hypotheses about possible impacts at the household, enterprise, and individual levels. Survey results were consistent with several hypotheses about the potential impact of microfinance services. Findings include:

• Borrower households had higher mean and median incomes than saver households, which in turn were better off than control group households;
• Borrowers also had more diversified income sources and were more likely to own their homes, to have made home improvements recently, and to have acquired household assets;
• SEWA loans and insurance helped members cope with shocks;
• At the enterprise level, borrowers with own-account enterprises had higher revenues than others with own-account enterprises;
• Both credit and savings activities appear to be associated with higher levels of fixed assets in microenterprises operated by SEWA members.