News and Events

Sonata Finance Raises Rs. 35 Crores

Sonata Finance Private Limited of Allahabad raised Rs. 35 Crore from a consortium of investors led by Creation Investments.

Sonata Finance has closed its Series D equity raise of Rs.35 crore in Sep. 2012, led by Creation Investments, a leading global investment fund. The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and Swaminathan Aiyar, two existing investors

SONATA WINS MPEA AWARDS

Microfinance Process Excellence Awards were given out on 11th November’2008 in “Microfinance India Summit” at hotel Ashoka New Delhi. SONATA won the award in the Flame category for Northern region. MPEA awards were launched by Royal Bank of Scotland group (RBS) and Planet finance India in 2004 in order to recognize and reward Microfinance Institutes for their excellence in process optimization and management. 67 MFIs competed for three categories in five regions. In all 19 awards werto be given out of which only 12 were announced.

11th UNIT FOR MP REGION

Sonata opened a unit in Gadarwara under Narsinghpur district. With this Sonata has 11 units in MP Region. It is famous for production of pulses and sugarcane. Sakkar river flows though this small town.

Journey from 50,000 to 60,000 Families

No stones left unturned. In the beginning month of the financial year 08-09 i.e. April'08, Sonata was able to include more than 50,000 members in its program fold. and by the end of second quarter of the financial year 2008-09 it crossed the barrier of 60,000 and reached 69,835 of its women members with its financial products. Sonata is one of the first MFIs so far to reach this milestone in such a short period of time, since its modest beginning in January'06.

Induction and Training Programme

A two days Induction and Training programme was held to welcome the new employees of Sonata Family. A two days Orientation and Training programme was conducted for the promoted field staff.

Pilot testing on individual Loan Product

Sonata, since its inception has been offering single product of "group loan". Eventually, the need was felt to offer a product to the clientele which was the demand of need and time. Sonata partnered with Microsave to pilot test their "Individual Loan Product" from Allahabad, in order to test the feasibility. The pilot test would be commencing from 1st December'2008.

DO MICROFINANCE CLIENTS UNDERSTAND THEIR LOANS?
CMF, Centre for Microfinance a division of IFMR conducted a research, taking two MFIs into account, one, being SONATA. The study was conducted to understand the financial literacy of the loan clients of microfinance institutes. The study was conducted in two phases covering different geographical locations of rural Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. This was done taking various aspects into consideration like, are the clients aware of their loan amount, weekly installments, duration of loan, calculation of interest rate and comparison between different loan products. Henceforth, the study concluded that the loan clients are able to understand certain things like joint liability concept, loan amount and duration but do not know their interest rate this is due to their limited arithmetic ability. The results show that the clients do not think of their loan in terms of interest rate although being important for them. The paper also discussed importance of financial awareness for consumer protection.

Progress out of poverty index - PPI pilot training

Grameen Foundation (USA) - with the support of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) and the Ford Foundation commissioned the development of a poverty assessment tool called Progress Out of Poverty Index. Grameen Foundation has sponsored the development of PPI with Grameen Partner MFIs. Sonata being a Grameen Partner, is piloting training the PPI along with few Grameen Partner MFIs. PPI is a data based tool designed to measure and track the economic poverty levels of individuals close to poverty line.

Sonata reaches out to more than 50,000 families

This is yet another milestone in the series of milestones being crossed by Sonata. In the beginning month of the financial year 08-09 i.e. April'08, Sonata was able to include more than 50,000 members in its program fold. And by the end of May'08, it was reaching out to 50,008 women members with its financial products. Sonata is one of the first MFIs so far to reach this milestone in such a short period of time, since its modest beginning in January'06.

Sonata rated as 3rd fasted growing MFI in Asia

In a recently published ADB-MIX Report published by MiX Market, Sonata Finance Private Limited has been rated as the third fastest growing MFI in Asia. Sonata bagged this position among 392 MFIs from Asia who participates in regular reporting to MiX Markets. The report is based on the performance of MFIs in the last financial year i.e. 2006-07. The report has rated MFIs after comparing them in 7-8 categories related to outreach, scale, growth, sustainability, profitability and others. You can download the detailed report at Mix Market Report.

Sonata Featured in Business Today

Business Today, a leading business journal in India, featured Sonata Finance Pvt Ltd in a special report about innovations in micro-finance. Sonata was the leading micro-finance institution among other MFIs in various segments. Sonata was specially noted for their use of both agents and self-help groups to increase their customer base in one of the micro-finance deprived regions of the country – Central India. Please visit full report at http://businesstoday.digitaltoday.in/micro-credit-messiahs-3.html

Grameen Foundation approves partnership with Sonata

Grameen Foundation (GF), a not-for-profit corporation based at United States of America has approved its global partnership with Sonata Finance Pvt Ltd. Sonata is only the seventh partner of GF in India, along with six other MFIs, which have scaled up their operations in India with the support from GF.
Grameen Foundation is one of the pioneering institutions, which uses micro-finance and innovative technology to fight global poverty and bring opportunities to the world's poorest people. GF provides funding, technical and technological assistance to micro-finance institutions (MFIs) in order to facilitate the expansion and capabilities of the MFIs. GF's global network of MFIs has already reached more than 2.7 million families in 22 countries.

Sonata signs MIS Agreement with Craft Silicon

Sonata has signed an agreement with Craft Silicon to implement their micro-finance back end solutions software into Sonata's operations. Craft Silicon is a global service provider in the BFSI segment offering customized solutions - that include Core Banking, Microfinance, Internet Banking and Tele Banking solutions, to meet the strategic objectives of its Banking and Financial clientele. Headquartered in Kenya, Craft Silicon has global presence in more than 13 countries. Craft Silicon, recently, was awarded the Unitus Global Innovation Award for its innovation in Microfinance. Sonata will start using this software by the end of January, 2008.