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Lack of Funding Still Plagues India Microlenders
Six months after the state of Andhra Pradesh slapped restrictive laws on India’s microlenders, availability of funding continues to plague the once-thriving lenders to the poor despite official encouragement. Confidence building is needed to revive financing for microfinance operations, said Mathew Titus, executive director of Sa-Dhan, an industry body. "You need somebody to step up and say the industry is fine," Titus said on the sidelines of a conference organised by Sa-Dhan...
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- South Asia
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IFC Invests in New Microfinance Bank to Help Pakistan?s Farmers Get Loans
Islamabad, Pakistan. IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is improving access to finance for Pakistan’s farmers by investing to transform microcredit operations of the National Rural Support Program-one of the country’s leading microfinance institutions-into a regulated, deposit-taking microfinance bank. IFC will...
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- South Asia
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Microcredit: Prevent it from Collapse
Noted economists and analysts yesterday urged the critics of microcredit, including the government, not to underrate the contribution of microfinance institutions that help lift millions out of poverty. Their calls came from a roundtable discussion on microcredit and poverty alleviation, organised by the country’s most-circulated national daily Prothom Alo at its office in Dhaka. The sector that lends funds to more than two crore families across the country has been passing th...
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- South Asia
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Banks Say Inclusiveness Is Costly
The Reserve Bank of India may want all banks to focus on financial inclusion-service the poor at the bottom of the pyramid-but is it a viable business? "It’s not really profitable to have people in financial inclusion," admitted Neeraj Swaroop, regional chief executive India and South Asia, Standard Chartered Bank. "A lot of the accounts are dormant and not activated because there’s no credit as those people are really poor," he added. "You can’t have financial inclusi...
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- South Asia
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U. Project Hopes to Buy Cows for Cambodia
SALT LAKE CITY - What do University of Utah students, cows and Cambodia have in common? They are linked through a project to help people rise out of poverty. "We have some very dedicated students who have educated themselves on microcredit, its potential, the impact it can have on lives," said economics professor Wade Roberts. Members of his international economics class want to take an idea - microcredit - halfway around the world. They have only seen video or pictures of the pov...
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- South Asia
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XLRI ties up with SCU
JAMSHEDPUR: The premier B school of the country, XLRI, Jamshedpur and Santa Clara University (SCU), California , USA, have signed an MoU to promote and foster social entrepreneurship in India. The two institutes have decided to collaborate where...
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- South Asia
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Smart Launches (BoP-Focused) P500 Phone
MANILA, Philippines-Dominant carrier Smart Communications Inc. is bringing one of the world’s most affordable phones to the country to reach the people at the "base of the pyramid" that still do not have access to basic telecommunications services. In a briefing on Thursday, Smart announced the launch of its "Panalo Phone," which would sell at a price of P499 each. The new phone, which comes in two models made by the Chinese brand ZTE and local phone maker Cherry Mobile, is set to h...
- Region
- South Asia
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Rural Electrification to Raise $200 Mn by March End
Mumbai: India’s state-run lender Rural Electrification Corp (REC) plans to raise $200 million from the offshore loan market by the close of the current fiscal year ending this month, a company official told Reuters. The $200 million foreign currency loans will have a tenor of five years and could be denominated in yen or dollars, H.D. Khunteta, director of finance, said. The all-in cost of funding the loans is 170 basis points plus Libor. The company is awaiting the Reserve Ba...
- Region
- South Asia
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