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India’s Most Famous Investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala Pledges to Give Away 25% of His Wealth
MUMBAI: Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, India’s most famous investor, has pledged to give away 25% of his wealth during his lifetime. He is the fourth Indian businessperson - after Azim Premji, Shiv Nadar and GM Rao - to make a statement of intent to give away a substantial part of their personal wealth to philanthropy. Announcing this on Monday evening at an event organised by GiveIndia, a giving facilitator, the 51-year-old said he planned to route all his charity through his R Jhunjhunwala ...
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- Agriculture
- Region
- South Asia
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Citi, OPIC, Bank Danamon Back Indonesia?s Microfinance with USD20 Million Loan
Citi Indonesia, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and Bank Danamon will extend a USD20 million term loan to fund the growth of Bank Danamon’s microfinance programme, Danamon Simpan Pinjam (DSP), and to promote the financial inclusion of microentrepreneurs and small businesses in Indonesia. This loan will be the first from Citi and OPIC for the microfinance sector in Indonesia, and is part of Citi’s and OPIC’s USD250 million joint global initiative to support micro...
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- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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The Microfinance Crisis: Is There a Way Out?
For the better part of nine months, the microfinance industry has been in paralysis because of restrictions put in place by the government of Andhra Pradesh, the state that was the center of micro-lending in India. Almost immediately, banks turned off the credit tap that allows microfinance lenders to operate, and borrowers abandoned the high repayment rates of the past and stopped paying. Recently, the full impact of the crisis has been revealed. SKS Microfinance, the stock market-list...
- Region
- South Asia
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Meet Mr Sunshine
Mumbai: For A Ramon Magsaysay awardee, Harish Hande is surprisingly easy to reach. Scarred by my previous experiences with tight-fisted companies’ fortress-like PR mechanisms that make it as difficult as possible for the media to reach their clients, I dialled the number on the website of the Solar Electric Light Company (SELCO) India with consternation, only to be greeted by an affable team that put me in touch with their Managing Director, no less, in a matter of ...
- Region
- South Asia
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Working With GE to Develop Products for Rural India: MART
New Delhi, Jul 29 (PTI) Consultancy firm MART today said it is working with US-based diversified giant GE to develop affordable healthcare products for the Indian rural market. The firm that advises big firms such as HUL, Shell, Colgate, Heinz, Intel and John Deere, said it is currently helping GE in developing a host of products, including baby warmers and products to treat cardiac problems. "We are working with GE to develop very affordable healthcare products for rural India," ...
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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- scale
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Debate on the Role of Growth and Redistribution in Poverty Alleviation in India
The capacity of Indian intellectuals to argue even when they lack data either to refute the opponents’ position or support their own far exceeds that of their counterparts anywhere else in the world. This means that issues that have been largely settled elsewhere remain subject of endless heated debate in India. Nothing illustrates this better than the debates on the role ofgrowth and redistribution in alleviating poverty, which go unabated in the real and virtual forums around the countr...
- Region
- South Asia
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India?s Oldest Microfinance Firm on the Verge of Closure
Mumbai: The controversial Andhra Pradesh microfinance law is set to claim its first victim. Vijay Mahajan-promoted Bhartiya Samruddhi Finance Ltd (BSFL), India’s oldest microfinance institution (MFI), is collapsing under the burden of bad loans. With borrowers in Andhra Pradesh refusing to repay, bad loans are growing and threatening to wipe out its entire net worth and reserves. "We are unlikely to survive beyond the next two to three months if we don’t get fresh funds," ...
- Region
- South Asia
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Low-cost Innovations Make Life Easier for Rural Poor
Often, people living on the margins of society don’t need path-breaking innovations to improve the quality of life. They need simple innovations that will make their daily life easier, and a number of social entrepreneurs have come up with precisely such innovations. For instance, Pune-based Ossian Agro Automation Pvt Ltd invented Nano Ganesh, a GSM mobile-based remote control system exclusively for use with water pump sets in agricultural areas. The system allows farmers to address...
- Region
- South Asia
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