Calcutta, April 8: City-based microfinance firm Village Financial Services has set an aggressive growth target for 2017-18 backed by expansion in new markets.

The MFI has 200 branch offices across Uttarakhand, Tripura, Odisha, Sikkim, Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar and Bengal with a customer base of 2.56 lakh across 10,000 villages. The institution's outstanding loan book is Rs 460 crore.

"We are planning to add 100 branches this year. Besides strengthening our presence in existing locations, we are expanding in states such as Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh and parts of Maharashtra are also on our radar," said Kuldip Maity, managing director and CEO of VFS.

The MFI has recently opened its 200th branch in Tripura. The company hopes to increase the loan book to Rs 900 crore through the expansion.

Maity said the expansion in new states is expected to begin only after September by when the base in the existing locations will be strengthened.

"There is enough demand for micro credit both in the places where we are present and the states where we plan to expand. The new branches not only expand our footprint but will complement the aim to reach 20 states by 2020," Maity said.

In terms of regional distribution of portfolios of the NBFC-MFIs, south India accounts for 33 per cent of the total industry portfolio, followed by north at 27 per cent, west at 24 per cent, and east at 16 per cent.