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MFIs See Sharp Erosion in Loans, Net Worth
Mumbai: Afew large microfinance institutions (MFIs) are trying to cope with a funding squeeze that followed a crisis after Andhra Pradesh introduced a stringent law governing microlenders nearly eight months ago, which saw assets of some MFIs drop by at least one-fourth. Bhartiya Samruddhi Finance Ltd (BSFL), for instance, is focusing on fee income to tide over the crisis, and SKS Microfinance Ltd plans to diversify its business and start offering gold loans in a big way. Most MFI...
- Region
- South Asia
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Plans Don’t Work for Urban Poor?
VARANASI: Though there are provisions for poverty alleviation in urban areas, a number of urban poor and slum dwellers in Varanasi are bound to face financial hardships. However, officials claim things are improving with the implementation of programmes. "It is difficult to manage household expenses for people like us," said Gopal, a daily wager. Like him, there are a number of people living mostly in slum...
- Region
- South Asia
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Eko: The Mobile Bank for Low Income Customers
Eko is a low cost mobile banking solution for people in the low income groups. It is just the right service for India, where the workforce is 540 million-strong. Only about six per cent of these workers are employed in the organized sectors. The low cost mobile banking company Eko aims to serve the unorganized segments of our economy. Eko was founded in 2009 with the aim to reduce the cost of financial transactions. The reason? The bigger banks used to target only higher income group cu...
- Region
- South Asia
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Bottom of the Pyramid Is Not Only About Low-cost Products, Says Stuart Hart
BANGALORE: It has been a little more than a decade since the late management guru C K Prahlad and Cornell professor Stuart Hart introduced the concept of the fortune at the bottom the pyramid. It deals with how companies can profitably target the huge mass of consumers at the low-income and below the poverty line (BPL) level. Hart now admits t...
- Region
- South Asia
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AP Govt Sends Proposal for Microfinance NBFC to Centre
The Andhra Pradesh government has sent proposals to the Centre to start a non-banking financial institution to meet microfinance requirements of the state’s poor people, a senior state official said today. The proposed non-banking finance company (NBFC) will charge an interest of 15% against 24 to 26% being charged by private MFIs in the state, Reddy Subrahmanyam, principal secretary, rural development said. "The proposals have been sent and we are awaiting the Centre’s no...
- Region
- South Asia
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Unitus Labs, Unitus Impact Partner Over Livelihood Support Venture for Poor
Unitus Labs recently announced that it will support an initiative to build income-generating opportunities for millions of people battling poverty. Unitus Labs will partner with Unitus Impact Partners LLC (Unitus Impact), a new impact investing firm focused on livelihood acceleration for the base of the economic pyramid (BoP) in Asia and Africa, to implement this initiative. Unitus Impact will focus on supporting livelihoods ventures with the early stage ventures that require equi...
- Region
- South Asia
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Bottom of Pyramid Moves to 2.0 Version
BANGALORE: The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP), a dominant idea in business, will now move into a 2.0 framework. The concept in its original shape dealt with how large corporations can develop products for low-income and below the poverty line (BPL) customers for profit. Around 400 million people in India live below $1.25 per day. BOP 2.0 goes a step further in calling for co-creation of products with communities th...
- Region
- South Asia
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The WaterWheel Makes Clean Water Cheaper, Easier to Carry
Not everyone can just turn on the tap to access clean water; in the developing world, women regularly carry five-gallon, 42-pound buckets of water on their heads. The Hippo Water Roller, a device that allows users to easily roll 24 gallons of water along the ground, has made life easier for over 30,000 people in the past 15 years--while becoming something of a ...
- Region
- South Asia
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