Drawing on data collected in rural South India, and using mainly a comprehensive approach, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the effects of microfinance on the financial vulnerability of its clients. First, we observe that microfinance is a double-edged sword: it can either reduce the financial vulnerability of households or push them further into debt.Second, we argue that an understanding of the uses and processes of microfinance is inseparable from one of the broader local dynamics pertaining to employment, financing and consumption. We also argue that the effects of microfinance depend upon how clients articulate and coordinate microfinance with the other financial tools to which they have access and the whole range of strategies deployed to cope with vulnerability and to build assets, both tangible and intangible.