Village Financial Services

Village Financial Services Ltd (VFS), headquartered in Kolkata, was incorporated on 28 June 1994, as a private limited company over a decade before it got its present name.
The name Village Financial Services Private Limited (VFSPL) was registered by the Registrar of Companies on 23 January 2006. Subsequently, the Reserve Bank of India granted it a certificate of registration dated 1 December 2006. In 2013, VFSPL became the first microfinance institution (MFI) in eastern India to get the status of an NBFC-MFI or Non-Banking Financial Company-MFI from the RBI.
On 7 November 2017, the company was converted into a public company, after which the RBI granted it a fresh certificate of registration on 4 January 2018. VFS is also the first ISO-certified microfinance company in India. The microfinance operations under VFS have grown phenomenally. It has touched the lives of thousands of poor families by providing them credit for income-generating activities and helping them become economically self-sufficient, besides empowering women (who are the borrowers) and so letting them live with dignity.
History.
In 1978, a group of young people got together to help flood victims of West Bengal. In 1982, that developed to Village Welfare Society (VWS) and was registered as a not-for-profit organization. VWS began microfinance activities in 1996 which led to the setting up of Village Micro Credit Services in 2004, a Section 25 not-for-profit company to undertake microfinance activities. The firm was renamed to Village Financial Services Limited, regulated by the RBI. It was reclassified by the RBI as an ‘NBFC-MFI’ on 27 September 2013.
The company was incorporated on 28 June 1994, in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, as a private limited company under the Companies Act, 1956, under a different name.
The company has been included in academic studies of micro finance.
Awards and recognition.
Awards received by the organisation are listed on its webpage.