By Soumya Mukund, Maria Martin, and Dharmesh Ba
Short Story
Varsha is a married woman staying in Tumkur for more than 10 years now. She lives with her husband while her son stays in Bangalore with his family. Her son has a wife and a 3-year old child. Her husband runs a small-time business and together they manage a small farm. While she and her husband dream of building a house for their son, her personal desire is also to do a job that can be helpful for them. Here is the story of a lady who worked hard to give the best education she could to her son despite their financial difficulties.
This article is divided into two parts, you can read the first part here — Link
Assets
Excerpt from the transcript
S: Do you own any assets?
V: We have an acre of land. We do not have any property other than that. We have some chains like the one I am wearing, we have to change with the changing times right?S: Is this your own house?
V: Yes.
Loans
Getting a loan from a bank or the community is not as easy as it sounds. One of Varsha’s loan applications was rejected by the bank for the reason, “the house will be occupied by a road, so we couldn’t get a loan on the house” when they were seeking loan against the house.
- Varsha and her family have 3 loans — 1 personal loan from the community, 1 loan for the site for her son’s house and her son has a car loan.
- Out of the 5 lakhs loan taken, they have managed to repay ~2 lakhs in one and a half years' time.
- Varsha’s husband manages all the repayments and he co-ordinates with the banks. Her husband visits the branch to either deposit money via challan or the cheque his son sends. Her son manages his car loan and pays the installments.
- Varsha and her husband pay Rs.2,500 monthly for the community loan they have.
Excerpt from the transcript
S: Did you face any challenges while taking the loan?
V: They demanded a lot of things, documents, this and that. We have spent at least Rs. 10,000 on that. They did not give us a loan by pledging our house. They had given us earlier though. Now they denied saying that the house will be occupied by a road, so we couldn’t get a loan on the house and had to take it on my husband’s work instead.S: What was the previous loan for?
V: We had taken it to build a house. We had a small house before, we brought it down and built a new one. Our son repaid that loan. Now we needed a loan but could not get it on our house because of the road issue. We spent around Rs. 15,000 on this. My son enquired as to why they were rejecting the loan, although they had given it before. They did not budge. We had to make the record again, this time for my husband’s work.S: Who are repaying this site loan now?
V: Both my son and my husband are repaying it. He is paying Rs. 10,000 every month. We cannot pay every month. Sometimes when we get a surplus, or if we are able to sell more coconuts, then we repay the loan amount. We have not told that we will be paying every month, since the money we make is adequate for our living here.
Savings and Investments
- Varsha makes small savings in the bank account. Her majority of savings are from her husband’s business. She plans to use these savings for her son’s house in Bangalore.
- She has a Fixed Deposit in her name but it holds the loan amount for her son which she has kept as a backup.
Excerpt from the transcript
S: Have you done anything so far?
V: Not yet. We want to do so in future, be it making papads or rolling candle wicks. They told us about all this in the BuzzIndia meeting. They can pitch in small amounts, as and when our business starts making money we can repay them. If our village can get tailoring training, the girls in our village who have completed their education can take it up. We request you to give us these facilities. Everybody comes here to Lokamanahalli. It will become a good hub.S: How did you become interested in BuzzIndia?
V: They came and taught us how to make savings. About how even if we earn Rs. 100, we can set aside Rs. 20 as savings which will come in handy later. We will not have to depend on anybody else. So we felt they were speaking something useful.S: How were you saving before this?
V: We were not aware of all this before. We would spend haphazardly. We had no control over our spend. If we had Rs. 500 in our pockets we would spend it on a saree. Ever since the BuzzIndia training, in place of a Rs .400 saree, we can spend Rs. 300 and spare the Rs. 100 which will become our savings later on. Now if we can help our son, he will remember that his parents paved the way for him. That is how we have got interested in BuzzIndia.
Insurance
- Varsha’s husband has Jeevan Anand life insurance and they got it through an agent. They pay a premium of Rs. 10,400 every year.
- They also have insurance from the community where they pay Rs. 2,000 every year. They have paid for 9 years out of the 10 years tenure.
Excerpt from the Transcript
S: Do you have any other insurance?
V: We have a group insurance in our Sangha. We have to pay Rs. 2,000 once a year. Nobody has used it yet. We cannot use it for 10 years.S: What can the group insurance be used for?
V: Since we had taken a loan, this insurance is used as a backup. If any member dies without paying the loan, the insurance can be claimed. If the person is still alive, we cannot access the money for 10 years. After 10 years, the insurance money will be distributed among the members of the Sangha. If we fail to pay installments more than 3 times, we will not be given any money. So we have been paying the amount. 9 installments are over. We have one installment left.S: Do you own vehicle?
V: My husband owns a bike. My son has a bike and a car. He bought the car on a loan which he is repaying.S: Do you have vehicle insurance?
V: Yes, we have insurance for all 3 vehicles.
Goals and Lifestyle
- Varsha’s greatest desire is to able to support in building a house for her Son.
- Varsha hopes to see the girls from her village becoming tailors with the help of BuzzIndia’s initiative.
Excerpt from the transcript
S: What are your life goals?
V: We want to build a house for our son in Bangalore. He lives in a rented house now. We want him to save on rent. We want to somehow build a house for him even if it gets difficult.We have to make some savings and help our son. He is handling everything alone. A clap is a clap only when 2 hands come together. So we wish to help him somehow, it is our greatest desire. As long as we are alive. After that he can do whatever he wants.S: Do you have any plans of setting up your own business?
V: We are old and ageing now. What business can we do? If you can show us something that we can do from home, we will do it. We have the interest, we have told BuzzIndia facilitator too. We need someone who can market our products. We will make the things, but we cannot sell them ourselves, we cannot go from door to door asking people if they want to buy it. There won’t be any value for our work then. If somebody can sell what we make, it will be greatly helpful.
Our Observations/Aha Moments
- After ensuring that her son educated well, Varsha continues to work towards her dream of supporting him in getting his house. She is committed to the success of her family.
- She is interested in knowing more about how Buzzindia and similar organisations can help her and the community in getting more job opportunities or business opportunities. She is a woman who wants to learn more, earn more, and have a better life.
This interview is broken into two parts. The first part of the interview talks about Varsha’s family, background, income, and expenses.
Credits
- Interviewed and transcribed: Soumya Mukund
- Story by: Maria Martin
- Edited & Published for Medium: Dharmesh Ba
About the research:
This documentation is a result of the in-person interview along with the participants’ consent. The interviews might be conducted in their native languages and translated to English in the best possible way to reach a large audience.
Disclaimer: The names and organisations in this documentation are masked to honour the privacy of the participant.
About D91 labs:
This research was executed and documented by D91 labs. D91 labs is an open-source initiative by setu.co to help Bharat build great fin-tech products. We organize and publish user research, insights, and frameworks for fin-tech in India. Please follow us on medium for more exciting stories and insights on Bharat.
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