MML Intern - Microfinance Impact And Rural Livelihoods

MMLs ongoing effort to understand how micro-credit changes the lives of our customers. As the programme expands to branches across PAN India, interns will travel across their assigned state, meet Muthoot Microfin customers in person, understand their livelihoods and businesses, and study the growth they have achieved through micro-credit. The internship culminates in an Impact Assessment Report built on the interviews the intern has conducted.

• Complete the internship for the agreed duration.
• Travel extensively within the assigned state and be available for daily field visits.
• Conduct in-person customer interviews with empathy, respect and responsibility.
• Document each customers livelihood, business and growth journey accurately.
• Submit every interview to the team daily, in the prescribed format.
• Analyze the interview data to identify trends and prepare the final Impact Assessment Report.
• Maintain confidentiality of customer and company information.
• Follow all company policies, processes and field protocols.
• Work collaboratively with branch and field teams.

1. Customer Interviews & Field Visits

• Visit Muthoot Microfin customers in rural, semi-urban and urban
• locations across the assigned state, as per the field plan.
• Conduct structured, in-person interviews in the customers local
• language.
• Seek the customers consent, explain the purpose of the interview
• clearly, and treat every customer with dignity and respect.
• Cross-verify information through field observation and follow-up
• questions where required.

2. Livelihood & Business Growth Study

• Understand the customers household, occupation, livelihood
• activities and business.
• Study how access to micro-credit has affected income, assets,
• business scale, employment and household well-being.
• Capture the customers challenges, aspirations and unmet financial
• needs.
• Record customer stories and field observations that bring out the
• human side of impact.

3. Daily Reporting & Data Discipline

• Submit all interviews at the end of each field day, complete and
• accurate, in the prescribed format.
• Maintain a structured interview database and keep field notes up
• to date.
• Flag data gaps, inconsistencies or field issues to the reporting
• manager promptly.

4. Data Analysis & Impact Assessment Report

• Consolidate and analyze the interview data to identify patterns,
• trends and key insights, using Excel / Google Sheets and AI tools
• where appropriate.
• Prepare an Impact Assessment Report at the end of the internship,
• based on the interns in-person interviews.
• Present findings and recommendations to the Corporate Strategy &
• Transformation team.

5. Microfinance Ecosystem Exposure

• Gain practical exposure to branch and field operations: customer
• sourcing and onboarding, group / customer meetings, field
• verification, credit and livelihood assessment, collection and
• repayment processes, customer service and the digital applications
• used in the field.
• Work alongside branch and field teams, and support customer
• engagement activities as required.

Job Location / State : Kerala, Assigned Districts / Regions - Extensive field travel is mandatory

Fresh graduates / recent pass-outs who are available to undertake a 3 month full-time internship, genuinely interested in fieldwork, rural markets, customer interaction, rural enterprise development and understanding the microfinance ecosystem are particularly encouraged to apply .

Fluency in the local language of the assigned state is mandatory (read, write and speak), along with working proficiency in English.

Good To Have : Knowledge of AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot) for data analysis and report drafting an added advantage

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR STUDENTS: This internship provides an opportunity to gain practical exposure to microfinance operations, rural customer engagement, field surveys, socio-economic data collection, market outreach and rural livelihood ecosystems. The internship is designed to provide practical, on-ground exposure to the functioning of a Microfinance Institution (MFI) and the rural financial ecosystem. Interns will work closely with branch and field teams and will be involved in customer interaction, field surveys, socio-economic data collection. This is not a desk-based internship. This is a field-intensive internship and requires extensive travel within the assigned districts/region to meet customers and community members and to conduct surveys and collect field-level information.

• Field activities may include:
• 1. Visiting villages and rural locations
• 2. Meeting existing customers
• 3. Conducting household/customer surveys
• 4. Collecting socio-economic data
• 5. Visiting micro-enterprises
• 6. Conducting market surveys
• 7. Participating in customer/community meetings

Candidates should therefore be physically comfortable with extensive local travel and fieldwork. Candidates who are not willing to undertake extensive field travel are advised not to apply.