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

Banks support India microfinance lenders

India’s banking industry has thrown its support behind microfinance lenders after weeks of upheaval and confusion. Major banks like the State Bank of India, Standard Chartered and Citi have all agreed to continue lending to microfinance firms. The multi-billion dollar industry was on the brink of a mass default. ...

Source

BBC (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Bureaucrats Fight Back in Battle to Help the Poor

Some microlenders and analysts in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh say that the backlash against the microlending industry is being partly fueled by branches of government that have not been as successful as the private sector at helping the poor. Even N. Chandr...

Source

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

Region

South Asia

SKS Microfinance Cuts Lending Rates

MUMBAI - Indian microlender SKS Microfinance Ltd. Wednesday cut its lending rates to 24.55% on a reducing balance from 26.69% earlier in the southern Indian province of Andhra Pradesh, its spokesperson said. "Earlier in the month, our chairman (Vikram Akula) said that if the government and the central bank wants us to cut rates, we’ll be happy to do so," Atul Takle told Dow Jones Newswires. ...

Source

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

Region

South Asia

New Rules in India Sink SKS Shares

MUMBAI-Shares of SKS Microfinance Ltd., one of the world’s largest microloan companies in terms of borrowers, tumbled on Friday after the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh created new restrictions on the microfinance industry in reaction to a recent string of suicides by borrowers. SKS and many of India’s biggest microlenders are based in Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh. The state is planning to adopt new rules to govern ...

Source

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

Region

South Asia

FINO and NCR Launch Remittance Kiosks in India

Financial Inclusion Network & Operations (FINO), one of India’s leading Financial Inclusion service provider and NCR Corporation, a global technology company today announced the launch of an added functionality of remittance service to the FINO NCR EasyPoint 70 – &lsqu...

Region

South Asia

Gillette’s Latest Innovation in Razors: the 11-Cent Blade

Gillette’s newest shaving system has just one blade, a light plastic handle and a sharply lower price. And it isn’t available in the U.S. The Gillette Guard, the latest razor from the Procter & Gamble Co. unit, instead will begin hitting stores in India next week. The move by the maker of five-bladed, battery-powered gizmos reflects P&G’s aggressive push into emerging markets for new customers and growth. Tha...

Source

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

Region

South Asia

A Maverick Academic with a Hands-On Approach

Reuben Abraham was never really meant to be a business school professor. The maverick academic, whose lofty intellectual nature is grounded by a hands-on business approach, could have easily become India’s first Richard Branson. Instead he opted for a different route, one that has given him the chance to shape the country’s future in a more radical and entrenched manner. Born in the communist-ruled Kerala, Abraham’s love for business is borne out of a deep scepticism of the ...

Source

Financial Times (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

After SKS success, More Issues Are on the Horizon

It was merely a coincidence that the year after C K Prahalad’s bestseller, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty through Profits (2004), that Vikram Akula returned to SKS Microfinance, leaving a consultancy job at McKinsey & Company in Chicago that he took a year earlier. Akula, a Fulbright Scholar researching poverty and a student of arts, had founded SKS Microfinance as a non-profit venture in late 1997 with funding close to $52,000 raised from 357 peop...

Source

Business Standard (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia