NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Can India’s Tata Make Cheap, Distributed Energy?

BOSTON--For the most part, the world’s energy system is highly centralized. Tata Power of India is exploring whether smaller-scale distributed energy can work in a country where hundreds of millions of people don’t have access to electricity. Earlier this month, I met with Avinash Patkar, the chief sustainability officer of Tata Power, which is the power division of India-based Tata, an industrial giant with businesses in steel, software, autos, chemicals, and telecommunications...

Source

CNET (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

$18 Bn Worth of Projects Discussed at India-Africa Conclave

NEW DELHI: Projects worth $18 billion were discussed at the India-Africa conclave that concluded here on Tuesday after two days of deliberations in sectors ranging from education to energy. The seventh edition of the CII-Exim Bank conclave on India Africa Project Partnership was attended by two prime ministers and over a dozen ministers from Africa. The conclave witnessed the largest ever participation with 650 delegates, who discussed 204 projects worth $18 billion.

Source

The Economic Times (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Microcredit Pioneer in Grameen Bank Survival Battle

It is not the usual routine for Professor Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace laureate and a pioneer of microcredit. Instead of travelling the world advising governments on microcredit, Mr Yunus has been confined to his native Bangladesh fighting court battles. Mr Yunus founded the microcredit Grameen Bank in 1983. He now finds himself in the uncomfortable situation of fighting to save his job. On Tuesday, Bangladesh’s Supreme Court is set to reo...

Source

BBC News (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Growth as Tool to Alleviate Poverty

The Prime Minister’s focus on double-digit growth is not due to any ’growth mania’. It is for the benefit of the poor. At a recent function for police officers, the Prime Minister observed: "If we don’t control Naxalism, we have to say goodbye to our country’s ambition to sustain a growth rate of 10 to 11 per cent per annum." Some commentators (like Prof Prabhat Patnaik of JNU) interpret this (in a newspaper piece) as the Prime Minister prioritising 10-11 per c...

Source

The Hindu Business Line (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Afghan Dressmaker Helps Inspire Other Start-ups

Journalist Gayle Tzemach Lemmon arrived in Afghanistan in 2005. She had come to Kabul on an assignment to write an article for the Financial Times about local women entrepreneurs who emerged when the Taliban took control of the city in 1996. Lemmon was not a novice at covering women in war zones. She had worked in Bosnia and Rwanda reporting on female entrepreneurs in post-conflict counties. But in Afghanistan, Lemmon was "a first-timer." When she met her interview subject, she re...

Source

PBS Newshour (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Consumer Goods to Consumer Centricity: Not Easy to Navigate for HUL

It’s lunchtime at the sprawling campus - the walk through inside the corporate nerve centre of India’s largest FMCG Company - the Rs17700 crore turnover (March ended 2010) HUL. The campus is crowded with employees taking their post prandial walk, some using WiFi to work out of their work stations and some milling around the branded food court from the company stable. So there’s Swirl Parlour, Bru Cafes and the latest addition Knorr Food Kiosk. It’s at the Knorr Fo...

Source

The Economic Times (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Tags

poverty alleviation

Yunus Says Borrowers Are Core of Grameen Bank

Bangladeshi Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus is facing challenging times. On March 2, Bangladesh’s central bank ruled that he must step down as managing director of Grameen Bank, the institution he founded in the 1970s to get small loans to poor farmers without collateral. The success of Grameen won Mr. Yunus international acclaim and helped spawn the global microfinance industry. The bank and Mr. Yunus shared the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. But Mr. Yunus is facing pressure at home. ...

Source

The Wall Street Journal (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Gates Foundation: $23 Million for Health Diagnostics in Bihar

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has committed $23 million to help improve the diagnosis and treatment of diarrhea, tuberculosis, kala azar and childhood pneumonia in the Indian state of Bihar. The funding will go toward an international non-governmental health organization that will lead an initiative to improve prescription practices across Bihar’s private health sect...

Source

Devex News (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia