Dr. Alok Misra
CEO & Director - MFIN

Dr. Alok Misra has 28 years of professional experience in international development, rural finance, microfinance, inclusive finance and research at both policy and implementation level. He started his career with India's apex rural development bank (NABARD) in 1992 wherein his work spanned financial sector supervision, institutional development, microfinance, agricultural/rural finance and rural livelihoods/MSME finance. He was also a part of the multi institutional task force (2003-2004) responsible for setting up India's first online demutualized commodities exchange (NCDEX).
In 2008, he shifted to a global microfinance rating, policy analysis and technical advisory agency. Last five years, Dr. Misra was Professor and Chairperson, School of Public Policy & Governance at Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon. He has served as a board member of MFIN, Vaya Finserv and member of NABARD's strategic group on microfinance.
He is a member of Inclusive Finance India Group of Advisors, member of Digital finance working group constituted by ITU, Geneva. Dr. Misra is closely associated with international initiatives like SPTF and Smart Campaign. He has written numerous articles and reports and for last two years authored "Inclusive Finance India report".
Dr. Alok Misra holds a PhD in Development Studies from Victoria University of Wellington, Master in Development Management (Gold Medallist) from Asian Institute of Management, Manila. He was awarded ADB-Government of Japan scholarship for MDM programme and NZAID scholarship for his PhD. He has been trained at Harvard Business School in "Strategic leadership for Microfinance" and was a Fellow, Fletcher Leadership Program for Financial Inclusion at Tufts University.
The Enforcement Committee (EC) primarily handles issues of non-compliances and grievances arising from customers requiring redressal. EC members are as under :
Name | Particulars |
Mr. Arnab Roy (Chair) | Independent Member, Former Principal CGM and Regional Director - Reserve Bank of India |
Ms. Veena Mankar | Independent Member, Founder and Chairperson - Swadhaar FinAccess |
Mr. Nitya Kishore Sahu | Independent Member, Former CGM - Reserve Bank of India |
Mr Anujeet Varadkar | Industry Member, CEO - Svatantra Microfin Pvt Ltd. |
Mr Sadaf Sayeed | Industry Member, CEO - Muthoot Microfin Pvt Ltd. |
Ms Sugandh Saxena | Non-voting ex-officio Member, Head - Self-regulation & Compliance Officer - MFIN |
Mr Sankalp Tripathi | Member Secretary |
The SROC provides oversight and direction to all the SRO functions and acts as the appellate body for EC decisions.SROC members are as under:
Name | Representative Organization |
Dr Aruna Sharma, Chair | Independent Member, Indian Administrative Service Officer (Retd.) |
Mr Sudarshan Sen | Independent Board Member, Former Executive Director, Reserve Bank of India |
Mr Devesh Sachdev | Industry Member, MD & CEO - Fusion Microfinance Pvt. Ltd |
Mr Vineet Chattree | Industry Member, Director - Svatantra Microfin Pvt. Ltd |
Mr. Manoj Kumar Sharma | Independent Member, Director - MicroSave Consulting |
Mr. Arnab Roy | Independent Member, Former Principal CGM and Regional Director - Reserve Bank of India |
Dr Alok Misra | CEO & Director, MFIN |
Ms Sugandh Saxena | Member Secretary |
MFIN has three Board Committees.
- Nominations & Renumeration Committee
- Audit Committee
- Associates Committee
The Board Committee on Nomination & Renumeration is responsible for the overall direction on HR related issues of MFIN including HR policies, appraisal of vertical heads and to identify candidates for independent positionson the Board, SROC and the EC. Composition of the Committee is as under :
Name | Representative Organization |
Dr Harsh Bhanwala (Chair) | Independent Board Member, Former Chairman - NABARD |
Mr DR Dogra | Independent Member, Ex MD & CEO - CARE Ratings |
Mr Devesh Sachdev | MD & CEO, Fusion Microfinance Pvt. Ltd. |
Mr Manoj Nambiar | MD, Arohan Financial Services Ltd. |
Dr Alok Misra | Member Secretary |
The Board Committee on Audit reviews the quarterly and annual financials of MFIN including utilization and variance analysis among other things. The Committee also guides investments of surpluses. The composition of the Committee is as under:
Name | Representative Organization |
Mr DR Dogra (Chair) | Independent Member, Ex- MD & CEO - CARE Ratings |
Mr Dibyajyoti Pattanaik | Director, Annapurna Finance Pvt. Ltd. |
Mr Harish Raghu | Co-Founder, MD & CEO of SaGgraha Management Services |
Mr Prashant Thakker | ED & CEO, Centrum Microcredit Ltd. |
Dr Alok Misra assisted by Mr Sharad Garg | Member Secretary |
The Committee for Associates represents the Associate Members comprising Banks, Small Finance Banks, NBFC, Banking Correspondents, among others. The composition of the Committee is as under :
Name | Representative Organization |
Mr Harish Raghu (Chair) | Co-Founder, MD & CEO of SaGgraha Management Services |
Mr Dibyajyoti Pattanaik | Director, Annapurna Finance Pvt. Ltd. |
Mr Manoj Nambiar | MD, Arohan Financial Services Ltd. |
Dr Alok Misra | CEO & Director, MFIN |
Ms Bhavna Dayal | Member Secretary |
The Task Force on Advocacy & PR is responsible for steering and guiding the advocacy agenda within MFIN. It supports the Secretariat in drafting policy notes to various stakeholders including RBI, MoF and other Central & State Governments. The Task Force engages with key policy makers and sector participants to create a conducive policy and business environment for the industry. The composition of the Task Force is as under
Name | Representative Organization |
Mr Manoj Nambiar (Chair) | MD, Arohan Financial Services Ltd. |
Mr Devesh Sachdev | MD& CEO, Fusion Microfinance Pvt. Ltd. |
Mr Vineet Chattree | Director, Svatantra Microfin Pvt. Ltd. |
Dr Alok Misra | CEO & Director, MFIN |
Mr. Swetan Sagar | Member Secretary |
The Task Force on Credit Bureau is responsible for strengthening the credit bureau ecosystem for the microfinance clients in the country. The composition of the Task Force is as under:
Name | Representative Organization |
Mr Vineet Chattree (Chair) | Director, Svatantra Microfin Pvt. Ltd. |
Mr Gyan Mohan | Director & CEO, Adi Chitragupta Finance Ltd. |
Mr Kiran Kumar G | Director and CEO, Svamaan Financial Services Pvt. Ltd. |
Mr Malkit Didyala | Co-Founder & CEO, Sindhuja Microcredit Pvt. Ltd. |
Mr Neeraj Sati | VP & Product Head, RBL Bank |
Mr Prashant Thakker | ED & CEO, Centrum Microcredit Ltd. |
Mr Rahul Kotabage | DVP, Business Intelligence & Analytics, Suryoday Small Finance Bank |
Mr Sundar Arumugam | Head, New Business & Innovation, CreditAccess Asia |
Ms. Sugandh Saxena | Member Secretary |
This Task Force is responsible towards the development of a comprehensive framework of MFIN’s state level engagement and put in place an effective model through state chapters and associations to deepen advocacy and self-regulatory functions of MFIN at state and district level. The composition of the Task Force is as under:
Name | Representative Organization |
Mr Devesh Sachdev (Chair) | MD & CEO, Fusion Microfinance Pvt. Ltd. |
Mr Gyan Mohan | Director & CEO, Adi Chitragupta Finance Ltd. |
Mr Kuldeep Maity | MD & CEO, Village Financial Services |
Mr Rakesh Kumar | CEO, Light Microfinance Pvt. Ltd. |
Mr Soham Shukla | COO-Rural Banking, Fincare Small Finance Bank |
Mr Vivek Tiwari | MD ,CEO & Chief Information Officer(CIO), Satya MicroCapital Ltd. |
Ms Achla Savyasaachi | Member Secretary |
The Task Force on Medium & Small MFIs specifically focuses on the issues related to medium & small MFIs including access and cost of funding, impact of RBI Directions on pricing of credit in lowering interest rate regime and capacity building support. The composition of the Task Force is as under:
Name | Representative Organization |
Mr Gyan Mohan (Chair) | Director & CEO, Adi Chitragupta Finance Ltd. |
Mr Abhisheka Kumar | Co-Founder & MD, Sindhuja Microcredit Pvt. Ltd. |
Mr Mohammad Nooruddin Amin | MD & CEO, Adhikar Microfinance Pvt. Ltd. |
Mr Prashant Thakker | ED & CEO, Centrum Microcredit Ltd. |
Mr Vasant Vasu | Director & Sr. VP - Operations, MSM Microcredit Ltd. |
Mr. Swetan Sagar | Member Secretary |