Case Study: How Field Research Helped an MNC Finance Brand See the True Impact of Its Loans in Rural India
When a leading global finance company wanted to assess the on-ground impact of its loan disbursement programs across Indian states, it faced a key challenge — data gaps.
While internal dashboards reflected numbers and repayment trends, there was no visibility into how these loans were actually being used in the lives of rural borrowers — farmers, micro-entrepreneurs, and women-led households.
That’s where the right market research field agency made all the difference.
🧭 The Challenge:
The MNC sought to understand:
- How loans were being utilized at the last mile
- Whether the financial products were driving real development outcomes
- And most importantly, the emotional and socio-economic impact on borrowers
But this required reaching the real India — far from metro boardrooms and digital dashboards.
✅ The Solution:
A seasoned field research agency stepped in, equipped with:
- Deep reach into rural and semi-urban belts
- A network of trained local interviewers fluent in regional languages
- Tech-enabled data collection with real-time uploads and geo-tagged photos
- Fast recruitment and high-quality, face-to-face interviews
They conducted quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews in hard-to-reach areas — where banks seldom go, but financial transformation quietly unfolds.
💡 The Insights:
The result? Rich, grounded insights that numbers alone couldn’t reveal:
- A poultry business in Bihar that scaled production with the loan
- A women’s tailoring unit in Madhya Pradesh that began employing two more locals
- Farmers switching to high-yield seeds after training funded by their loan
The team uncovered real human stories of aspiration, discipline, and transformation — the very pulse of financial inclusion.
📈 The Business Outcome:
These insights didn’t just add depth to the research — they sparked strategic action:
- The client restructured product messaging to reflect actual borrower benefits
- Created impact marketing collaterals from real-life borrower stories
- Strengthened its pitch to global investors with authentic, field-driven evidence of impact
- Most importantly, it validated the mission: the loans were indeed making lives better
🧩 The Takeaway:
In market research, what you ask matters — but where and how you ask it matters even more.
The success of this study reinforces a simple truth:
A reliable, quality-driven field agency isn’t just a vendor — it’s your lens into reality.
And when that lens is clear, businesses don’t just gather data — they make informed decisions that resonate with human impact.
💬 Let’s Discuss:
Have you seen field research reshape a project outcome? Or faced challenges getting quality data from Tier 2/3 markets?
