Jagendra repairs cycles for a living

P5 borrows many elements from SafeSave, including daily visits to each client, and loans without fixed repayment schedules. It also has a passbook savings facility, but unlike SafeSave, the savings are not at all linked to the loans. P5 is thus the only member of the SafeSave product `family` where savings and loans are entirely unlinked.  Please click here for a more detailed discussion of P5 and its implications for research.

This page is about the three products that are currently being tested in the Hrishipara experiment

Product P7 followed in Janury 2004. Click here for an English-language version of the rules for P7. Many traders in Kapasia Bazar, the market across the river from Hrishipara, were impressed by P5, and asked for an opportunity to open an account. We decided, instead, to offer them a new product designed with them in mind - P7. As with all products in the SafeSave family, the service is delivered to individuals through a daily visit to each client, and there are no groups, no meetings and no joint liability. Please click here for a more detailed discussion of P7 and its implications for research.

Product P9 is still very new, having opened its first client account in March 2007. Click here for an English-language version of the rules for P9.  The SafeSave family of products has hitherto been even-handed between savings and loan products, on the grounds that poor clients need both. But P9 shifts the focus decisively to building up substantial savings, with the loans there just to provide much-needed liquidity to cash-starved clients as they save. A remarkable  feature of P9 is that the loans are offered free of interest and can be topped up at any time. Please click here for a more detailed discussion of P9 and its implications for research; and here for the latest news about P9 (as at end October 2008).

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P7 client Rakhal fries and sells snacks from an open-air market stall

Product P5 was the first to be offered, in April 2002. Click here for an English-language version of the rules for P5.

P5 client Jhorna working at home

P7 loans begin bigger and grow in value faster than those in P5, to match the demand of small retail traders. Clients build up savings both by deposits made during the daily visit, and by additional deposits at the time of taking loans that bring their savings balances to within $60 of their maximum loan balance.