India boasts of a population of 1.1 billion of which 26% are living below the poverty line. On one hand‚ Indian economy has been rated as one of the fastest growing in the world and on the other hand‚ number of people surviving on income of less than US $1 for a day‚ is still on the rise. The vice like grip of poverty on society, almost negates the growth component fuelled by our smartest infotech companies.

As women form the nerve centre of our social structure‚ it is she who is forced to bear the brunt of poverty the most‚ along with the everyday challenge to “keep everything going”. Thus, its understood without saying that the women are worst affected from the bane of poverty. The activity aimed at supporting the women in attaining financial sufficiency help in improving the status of her family and also ensures better education for her children on way to a brighter future for the entire nation.

In 1997‚ we established Mahasemam trust with the aim of helping the women attain financial sufficiency and stability helping a poverty free life with the family. Today‚ Mahasemam Trust is one of the fastest growing microfinance organizations‚ actively undertaking the poverty alleviation efforts through the coordinated and disciplined women centric work culture. Mahasemam provides loans to poor women for various income generation activities‚ trains them in basic marketing skills to equip them harness their skills and supports them to start livelihood projects of their choice to generate a steady income for her family. This multi pronged focused approach for helping the poor‚ which have shown unbelievable results in poverty alleviation and creating sustainable livelihood opportunity for the members. The micro credit loan disbursed till date has been Rs.222.45Cr. Micro Credit Rating International Ltd. (M-CRIL) has rated Mahasemam as the Beta + microfinance institution .At present Mahasemam is serving 221‚613 poor women spread in 754 villages across Tamilnadu. We aim to reach out to two million poor women by 2015.

Today when other microfinance organizations across the world are thinking of integrating health with Microfinance‚ Mahasemam which conceived the idea much in advance‚ has already implemented it. The Trust has been providing health services to its members since 2004 at their doorsteps by organizing free health camps and also extends free healthcare facilities up to Rs.5000.

Mahasemam is the first microfinance institution in India to start Bio Diesel and Bio Gas projects for generation of clean eco friendly energy and also to give a boost to employment generation. Members will get additional income by cultivation of Jatropha plant‚ which is the raw material for Bio Diesel.

All the operations of Mahasemam will be fully computerized by the year 2007. Our organization is the first microfinance institution in India to introduce SMART CARD to its members. The pilot project has been undertaken at Chennai. SMART CARD keeps the accounts and the records of loan transactions. SMART CARD technology has helped us to ease the tedious process of collection of repayments from micro loans. We aim to introduce this technology to all the members of Mahasemam. In future more applications such as insurance and health information will be upgraded.

Although we made a humble beginning and started our organization with a team of 7 members‚ it gives me immense satisfaction and pride to state that today we have a team of 750 committed and specialized staff who work hand in hand towards the mission to eradicate poverty.

On behalf of Mahasemam trust‚ it’s my privilege to convey my heartfelt gratitude to all our donors‚ funding agencies‚ bankers‚ financial institutions‚ investors‚ members and staff for their overwhelming support and co-operation. We hope to get your continued patronage in making our dream of “Poverty free society” a success.