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Intuit Taps Text Messages, Economics To Boost Farmer Incomes In India
"How can technology help the places I grew up in?" That’s Deepa Bachu, describing her personal mission. Bachu was born in Bangalore, India, but spent a decade at Intuit’s Mountain View headquarters developing flagship products like Quicken. She returned home several years ago, for family reasons, and after becoming the director of emerging market innovation at Intuit, set out to build products for many of the neighbors she grew up with. "It’s so motivating," she says. "It...
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- South Asia
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Exclusive: Michael & Susan Dell Foundation Invests In Mobile Payments Platform BASIX Sub-K
BASIX Sub-K iTransactions Limited , a mobile payments platform promoted by Vijay Mahajan’s BASIX Group , has raised an undisclosed amount of equity investment from Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. Sub-K provides residents of rural, urban and semi-urban areas with a mobile technology based transactional platform for access to services like banking, NREGA, utility p...
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- South Asia
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DLF Foundation and Laurus Edutech Sign An MOU to Setup Over 18 Centres Jointly in First Phase
New Delhi, Delhi, January 5, 2012 / India PRwire / -- In a significant development, Laurus Edutech- A leading skill Development Company signed a MoU with the DLF Foundation, the philanthropic arm of DLF Limited. DLF Foundation has launched a programme called DLF Life where LIFE stands for Learning Initiatives for Employment. As part of the LIFE Program and MoU, DLF Foundation and Laurus Edutec...
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Majority of Indian MFIs May Have to Shut Shop
Mumbai: At least 80% of microfinance institutions (MFIs) may have to shut down in the next two-three years because of tough new regulatory requirements laid down by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and a shortage of funds, industry executives warn. For MFIs categorized as non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), which are run as for-profit organizations, the threat comes from RBI regulations pertaining to minimum funds, loan provisions and capital adequacy. The reluctance of commercial b...
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?More Poor People Own Mobile Phones, But Productive Use Still a Far Cry’
NEW DELHI, DEC. 19: Hamid owns a grocery shack in a village. He travels about 80 km once in 15 days to get stuff to stock up his store. Every year his village gets flooded during the rains, leaving him with no earnings during that time. But, one, small device has changed his life. After he got a mobile phone, Hamid does not need to travel 80 km and lug stuff for his store. He simply calls, places the order and gets stuff delivered. It costs him a bit for the cartage, but the...
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Could Thinking Small Be The Next Big Thing in Agricultural Development?
In India, every street corner has small shops displaying colourful strips of 1 rupee (about 1p) shampoo sachets, or stacks of mini soap bars. Creative marketing has even brought these sachets to isolated villages, draped on the back of camels. Hindustan Unilever was behind this "adapting to the poor" approach. Realising their soaps and shampoos were too expensive for poor people, they repackaged them into small, affordable sachets. These were initially sold door-to-door by "shakti ladie...
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A New Beginning for Microfinance in India?
A new report on India’s microfinance industry says that the troubles in Andhra Pradesh have been "one of the best things that could have happened to the sector." Really? Looking back at a year of microfinance in India, words like "crisis," "collapse" and "catastrophe" seem more fitting - and it all started in Andhra Pradesh, a state that used to be India’s microfinance hub. The decision by the local government to clamp down on collection practices last year spiraled into a crisi...
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- South Asia
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Waterlife Gets $4.2 Million Investment from Matrix Partners India
Waterlife India Private Ltd (Waterlife) has announced that it has received Rs 22 crore investment from Matrix Partners India. The company provides quality potable water solutions. The Hyderabad-based company has installed safe water systems in more than 1,500 villages and urban areas covering more than a million people in a sustainable manner, a release said. Intellecap was the sole advisor for this transaction. The capital infusion would help Waterlife to expand. Having sta...
- Region
- South Asia
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