Sugandh Saxena

Sugandh Saxena

Head, Self-regulation and Compliance, SRO, Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN), India

Sugandh is the Head of Self-regulation and Compliance function at Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN), an industry association for micro-credit sector in India, which is recognized as the Self-regulatory Organization (SRO). She joined MFIN during start-up phase and played the lead role in policy and advocacy, development of credit bureau ecosystem, data publications and research as well as settings standards and benchmarks for the micro-credit sector in India. She played a critical role in the development of a credit bureau ecosystem for micro-credit, which over time has facilitated over 100 million customers access to credit. In her current role, her objective is ensuring and advancing customer interest and responsible market conduct. To achieve that, her function has been using the lens of ‘customer-centricity’, to influence the policies and practices of microfinance. Through a range of initiatives including setting standards, development and technical assistance, surveillance and customer feedback and education program, her functions work to contribute to microfinance in ways that improves well-being of low-income households. She closely works with the central bank, government departments, financial institutions, and other participants in the financial inclusion space. Before joining MFIN in 2011, she had worked with Bharat Electronics, SEWA, ITC and ACTED across a wide spectrum of areas related to technology, business, and development. She is an engineering graduate from MNNIT, Allahabad and postgraduate in Social Policy and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She received a prestigious Commonwealth Scholarship for her postgraduate program at the LSE.