Microfinance borrowers land on blacklist as sources dry up

More than 21,500 small borrowers were blacklisted in the last fiscal year, raising concerns that a system created to bring finance to poor households is leaving some of its most vulnerable users out of formal credit.

Maya Shahi of Tikapur-1 in Kailali has been dealing with microfinance institutions for two decades. She is now blacklisted by three of them. Banks will not lend money to her, and even relatives no longer trust her financially.