Muthoot Fincorp, part of the Muthoot Pappachan group, discovered that Kerala's gold rush was finding new converts in rural areas when it offered women a micro-finance loan program called Mahila Mithram along with an existing gold scheme. The program provides women with loans of Rs. 10,000-15,000 coupled with a one gram gold loan at the beginning of the period, with the one gram of 24K gold given at the end, and the only guarantee required is a group guarantee.