Published Paper Details:

The first COVID 19 positive incidence was reported on 9th March 2020 in the Indian State of Maharashtra. At present, the Maharashtra state became an epicenter of the COVID 19. So far, more than 11 lakh people were affected, and out of which, 7.75 lakh were recovered in the Maharashtra State. The COVID 19 situation in the Kolhapur district is also worst; it has reported 34482 cases, 1036 casualties, and 23785 recovered patients. Initially, the cases were reported in urban areas of the district, later on, it started spreading rapidly in the rural area. The district administrations strictly took up the lockdown, Janta curfew, and other measures, and they humbly attempted to control the rapid spreading of COVID 19. During this peak phase of COVID 19, all the economic activities of the district have been shrinking which resulted in an increasing rate of unemployment on one hand and reducing the income on the other hand. Especially, small, medium and village cottage industries are major sufferers of this pandemic. The village economy of the district has disrupted adversely. The farmers, agricultural laborers, daily wage workers, small storekeepers, street vendors, and women workers are affected very badly. The village economy of the district especially the rural household sector highly depends on microfinance. Self-help groups and farmer's clubs mainly depend on the supply of microfinance. Microfinance institutions in the Kolhapur district are playing a very significant role in poverty eradication, employment generation, women's economic empowerment and overall improving the socio-economic conditions of the deprived segment of the society through offering easy credit access. The overall activities of the microfinance institutions i.e recovery mechanism, sources of finance, monitoring and inspections, etc. are almost stopped in the district since March 2020. The pandemic ending point is still unpredictable which will further affect the working of microfinance institutions in the district. Under this backdrop, the very first aim of the present investigation is to study the issues faced by the microfinance institutions in the district during this pandemic and secondly to study prospects of microfinance in the district. The study was carried out in August 2020 and 19 financial institutions were selected for precise study. The entire study was based on primary data collected from the questionnaire. The study found that all the sample 19 financial institutions are badly suffered and experienced heavy financial loss during this pandemic.