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Bajaj to Get into Water Purification Biz
Bajaj Electricals Limited has decided to foray into the water purification business in the country and plans to roll out its water purifier product in the current financial year. The company sees a huge opportunity in the water purification business in the country the size of which is estimated at Rs 2,000 crore per annum and is growing at the rate of around 20 per cent. "We are looking to enter the water purification business as it offer...
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- South Asia
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Threat of Microfinance Defaults Rise in India as SKS Plans IPO
June 15 (Bloomberg) -- Savita Ramesh Rathore stood at the door to her dimly lit workshop in Mumbai’s Dharavi slum, filled floor-to-ceiling with bundles of old clothes, and tallied up the cost of her son’s wedding last year. "Jewels, clothes, food, the town hall," said Rathore, 50, who makes towels from discarded clothes. She borrowed 30,000 rupees ($645) from moneylenders charging 60 percent interest and took additional loans from frien...
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- South Asia
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Janalakshmi to Focus on Financial Inclusion of Urban Poor
Narayan Ramachandran, Ex-Country Head and Managing Director of Morgan Stanley India has decided to focus on financial inclusion of the urban poor. He has been now appointed as the Director on the board of Janalakshmi Financial Services run by Ramesh Ramanathan, who is the Chairman of the organisation. Here is a verbatim transcript of an exclusive interview with Narayan Ramachandran and Ramesh Ramanathan on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.
- Region
- South Asia
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Microfinance Grapples With Success
Microfinance is in the news, again for the wrong reasons. Five years ago, it was tension over multiple lending and coercive recovery in Andhra Pradesh. Now it is Muslim community leaders in a couple of districts in Karnataka issuing a fiat to their members to renege on microfinance institution (MFI) loan repayments as they do not approve of such borrowings. What’s worse, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued a severe warning to MFIs against wrong practices. RBI’s main concern, re...
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- South Asia
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Acumen Fund Announces Investment in Husk Power Systems
New York, NY ( PRWEB ) March 2, 2010 -- Acumen Fund, a nonprofit venture firm addressing poverty in South Asia and East Africa, today announced a new investment in Husk Power Systems (HPS), an innovative rural electrification company that will establish decentralized power generation to remote villages in India. The company uses novel biomass gasification technology to convert abundant rice husks into combustible gases, which then drive a generator to produce...
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- South Asia
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India Budget to Push Harder for Financial Inclusion
The Indian government’s push for financial access for hundreds of millions of the unbanked is helping secure its vote base and creating lucrative opportunities for financial institutions, technology and mobile services firms. In his budget speech on Friday, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee may announce funds for a common technology platform to reach the goal of a banking outlet in every village of more than 2,000 people by March, 2011, senior government officials say. The gov...
- Region
- South Asia
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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...
- Region
- South Asia