Brij Mohan, CGM of the regional office in Calcutta, who will take charge in Lucknow in mid-May, told The Financial Express that the foundation's main focus will be to serve more NGOs where women are involved.

The objective will be to make available loans of less than Rs 25,000 through efficiently run micro finance institutions and village welfare societies, who will be the financing vehicles.

The foundation will get technical assistance grant from the UK-based Department for International Development (DFID) and loan funds from the International Fund for Agriculture Development, under the Food & Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.

Sidbi has made anextensive study of various NGOs under the micro credit scheme in India from 1994 to 1999 and has given a cumulative assistance of Rs 30.70 crore through 141 NGOs spread across 24 states/ union territories, having a total membership of around 1,91,000, mainly women.

Sidbi concluded after the study that poor women are more bankable since a peer pressure of timely payment works on them. The recovery rate is more than 95 per cent in the case of women belonging to the poorer sections of the society, Brij Mohan said.

Sidbi has 141 NGOs in its fold, that have been transferred to the foundation. The foundation will scan more NGOs, out of which 50 will be shortlisted and provided training in managerial skills, equity and client redressal in the next ten years. It will create an institutional network of the poor with a special emphasis on women. It will also train village welfare societies so that they become more creditworthy and can borrow from commercial banks and state financial institutions.

The foundationwill appoint an officer in each of its regional offices and some of its branches. The officer will scan all the NGOs in the region with support from some NGOs and coordinating agencies and submit a list to its head office at Lucknow. Of this list, 50 NGOs will be shortlisted.

The parameters of the scanning process of the NGOs will be - involvement in economic activities, good past records and right adminisrtative practices with a focus on women from backward classes.

The foundation will grow to Rs 1,000 crore in the next ten years, Mohan said.