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India’s microfinance industry gets some relief
It’s a period in history that India’s microfinance industry would probably rather forget: In late 2010, more than 200 poor residents of the Andhra Pradesh state committed suicide allegedly due to excessive pressure from microcreditors for debt repayments. Backlash against microfinance institutions not just in the state but the whole of India followed.
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- South Asia
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- microfinance
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Future Group to pitch Mother Earth chain against retailer Fab India
MUMBAI: Future Group, the country's largest retailer, will pitch its Mother Earth chain directly against ethnic products retailer Fabindia by expanding rapidly and borrowing its rival's social enterprise-style business model.
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- South Asia
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‘Innovation must happen spontaneously’
R. Gopalakrishnan, Director, Tata Sons, on Thursday said that innovation is not just about being first in the market or taking big bets. Innovation is rather something that happens spontaneously.
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- South Asia
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Government assisting SMEs development to reduce poverty
Islamabad—The government has made strategic shift in its strategies to assist infrastructural development of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in order to enhance productivety and exports of this particular sector to help reduce poverty in the country.
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India’s RBI Eases Regulations for Non-Bank Microfinance Lenders
India’s central bank eased norms for non-bank microfinance companies, removing a cap on lending rates and relaxing risk-provision standards, after some lenders found it difficult to meet existing regulations.
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Ideas man: professor in quest for India’s rural inventions
t's 43 degrees Celsius, and Prof. Anil Gupta has been hiking the scorched plains of central India for hours. But he smiles widely as he enters a tiny village in search of another unsung genius. "If you have any new ideas or you have any new inventions, I'm here to promote you," he tells farmers squatting beside a dusty roadside shrine to Lord Shiva.
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- Agriculture
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- South Asia
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Test-driving the ‘World’s Cheapest Computer’
India’s “Aakash” project, a tablet billed as the cheapest computer in the world, hopes to revolutionize learning in Indian colleges and universities. We’ve been following the ups and downs of the Aakash project closely here at India Ink and were delighted when we were allowed to test drive the new, improved version, known as the Aakash-2, at the ministry of Human Resources Development.
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- Technology
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- South Asia
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Acumen Fund Invests INR 1.5 Crore ($300K) in Edubridge Learning
Mumbai, India, July 25, 2012 – Acumen Fund, a pioneering nonprofit global venture fund addressing poverty across Africa and South Asia, today announced a INR 1.5 Crore ($300K) equity investment in Edubridge Learning Private Limited, a growing company that provides vocational skills training for low income youth across Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Chhattisgarh
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- South Asia