Every month, a microfinance founder or operations head calls us with the same story. They signed up with a software vendor three years ago. It worked for two branches. Now they have forty, collection staff are sending photos of handwritten sheets on WhatsApp, and every new branch costs them a new licence fee.

This is the checklist I give them before they sign anything again. If you run a microfinance institution, chit company or co-operative, it applies to you too.

1. Unlimited branches and staff, in writing

Per-branch and per-user pricing punishes growth. In lending, growth is the entire business model. Ask for a contract that clearly states there is no cap on branches, centres, groups, staff logins or customers. Our Microfinance ERP is priced that way for exactly this reason.

2. Group loans and individual loans in one system

Real portfolios are mixed. You may run JLG or SHG group loans in rural centres and individual loans in towns. The ERP must handle both with different interest methods, EMI schedules, collection frequencies and approval rules, without separate databases.

Test it during the demo: ask the vendor to create a weekly group loan with flat interest and a monthly individual loan with reducing balance, then show you the schedule and the day book entry for each.

3. A field agent app that works without network

Your collection agents work in villages with patchy signal. If the app needs live internet to record a receipt, they will go back to paper. Insist on offline collection with automatic sync, receipt printing over Bluetooth and a clear conflict policy for duplicate entries.

Then ask about live tracking. A good field app shares the agent's route and visit history with the branch manager so you can verify that a collection actually happened at the centre. This single feature reduces cash leakage more than any report.

4. A customer app, not just a back office

Borrowers increasingly expect to see their balance, next EMI, receipts and loan statement on their own phone. A customer app cuts "what is my balance?" calls to the branch and builds trust. Make sure it supports regional languages.

5. Staff attendance with GPS and selfie

Payroll disputes and ghost attendance are a quiet cost in branch networks. A staff punch-in app with geo-fencing and a selfie check gives HR a clean record, and lets you see which branches open on time. We include this app with every finance ERP.

6. AI that earns its place

"AI based" is on every brochure now. Ask for specifics:

  • Credit risk scoring from actual repayment behaviour, not a generic bureau score
  • Early-warning list of accounts likely to slip next month
  • Duplicate and fraud detection on KYC documents
  • Collection route optimisation so agents cover more centres per day

If the vendor cannot show these on a demo dataset, it is a marketing line, not a feature.

7. Accounting that your auditor will accept

Full double-entry accounting, branch-wise trial balance, day-end control, receipts and payments, and a complete audit trail of who changed what. If your auditor has to export everything to Excel to do their job, the accounting module is incomplete.

8. Data ownership and exit

Ask one uncomfortable question: "If I leave in two years, how do I get my data?" You should be able to export every table in an open format at any time, with no fee.

9. Local support in your language

When a collection sheet does not tally at 6 pm, you need a human on the phone who understands your product, not a ticket queue in another time zone.

The short version

| Demand | Why it matters | |---|---| | Unlimited branches and staff | Growth does not raise software cost | | Group + individual loans | Real portfolios are mixed | | Offline field app with live tracking | Honest, verifiable collections | | Customer mobile app | Fewer calls, more trust | | Staff attendance app | Clean payroll | | Specific AI features | Lower NPA | | Audit-ready accounts | Smooth audits | | Data export | No lock-in |

If you would like to see all of this on a live demo with your own loan products, book a free demo and we will configure it before the call.