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Godrej’s ’Chotukool’ Refrigerator May Take a Year to Launch
The much-hyped ’Chotukool’ refrigerator from the appliances division of Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Co Ltd may take a year to launch, according to company chairman Jamshyd Godrej. Godrej Appliances is test-marketing the product in Maharashtra. It was earlier eyeing a March 2010 launch. But, this may not happen, says Godrej, as the company looks at alternative channels of distribution. "By alternative channels, I mean a community-led distribution model. We are working ...
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- South Asia
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Saving Holds Key to Women’s Empowerment
Once upon a time, Sumitra used to roam the streets of the Indian city of Ahmedabad, collecting discarded caps which could be recycled and sold back to manufacturers such as Coca-Cola. She would spend the whole day sifting through the rubbish collecting the caps in return for a few hundred rupees - about $2. Then in 2006, Sumitra was introduced to a microfinance initiative which provided her with a small loan to start her own business. Four years on, she employs five women, a...
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- South Asia
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Helping Farmers Pedal Out of Poverty
He has reached over one million small and marginal farmers — those owning less than one acre — in India with his low-cost irrigation tools to meet their water needs. But ask Amitabha Sadangi, CEO of IDE (International Development Enterprises) - India, how we are treat...
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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Banking for Every Indian
The scale was striking. Here was the Finance Minister speaking to an audience of a thousand people last Sunday night at Mumbai’s hallowed Brabourne Stadium. His diminutive 150-cm tall frame perched on a high podium was yet a mere speck against a backdrop that stretched nine metres ...
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- South Asia
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Reserve Bank of India to MFIs: Shape Up or Face Music
HYDERABAD: India’s booming microfinance segment is under the scanner, with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issuing a veiled warning that it could be taken off the priority sector lending list of banks if the industry fails to improve its governance standards. This was spelt out at a meeting in late January between senior RBI officials, representatives of Sa-Dhan-the association of Indian microfinance institutions (MFIs)-and some senior MFI managers from Karnata...
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- Agriculture
- Region
- South Asia
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?Affordable Prices? is The Way to Get to The Bottom of the Pyramid: Tech4Society
If you want to provide a product or service to the poor, you have to start with what they can afford and work from there. "Whether it is America, India or Nepal, we work backwards and first think, ’What can the customer afford?’", social entrepreneur David Green said at a panel of innovators on the first day of the Tech4Society conference being held in Hyderabad this week. Others agreed that providing much-needed products and services to the poor at an affordable price req...
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- South Asia
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Schneider Makes Global Lighting Debut with LEDs in India
New Delhi: The Paris-based maker of electrical equipment, Schneider Electric SA, is looking to tap the growing Rs5,000 crore luminaire segment in India with its maiden venture into the LED (light emitting diode) lamps market. The launch by Schneider Electric India (SEI) will also mark the 174-year-old company’s global entry into luminaires. "One of the reasons why it would be launched here first is because it has been imagined, designed, engineered and produced here in India," said ...
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- South Asia