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GSK, Nestle, Coca-Cola & Dabur Top Up Effort to Tap Rural Consumers
NEW DELHI: Consumer product makers such as GlaxoSmithKline, Nestle, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Hindustan Unilever, Marico, Godrej and Dabur ar are rushing to the bottom-of-the-pyramid market with custom-made products six years after management guru CK Prahalad said consumers with incomes less than $2 a day can be a profitable segment for marketers. Estimated at close...
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- South Asia
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Pakistan: USAID to Finance Gov’t for Livestock Uplift
KARACHI - The Sindh government has planned to set up Sindh Dairy and Meat Development Company and to initiate master plan study on livestock meat and dairy development under JICA grant during current fiscal year. This was informed at Provincial Development Working Party meeting held under the chairmanship of Additional Chief ...
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- South Asia
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Say Goodbye to Kerosene Lamps, Here’s Kiran!
Their mission is to bring light to millions of households that do not have access to electricity. Betting big on solar lighting products, Sam Goldman and his team have embarked on an enduring journey to remove darkness from the remotest corners of the world. Sam was moved by an unfortunate incident, while working as a US Peace Corps volunteer in the West African nation of Benin between 2001 and 2005, which led him to focus on this segment. "My neighbour’s son ...
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- South Asia
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As Microfinance Grows in India, So Do Its Rivals
By Ketaki Gokhale Mahabubnagar, India The practice of making tiny loans to poor people, or microfinance, was supposed to help drive traditional village moneylenders from rural India. Instead, traditional moneylenders, who typically charge high interest rates, are thriving, even in areas most heavily targeted by microfi...
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- South Asia
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India Food Prices Climb 19.95%, the Most in 11 Years
Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- India’s wholesale food prices rose at the fastest pace in eleven years, making it more likely that the central bank will raise borrowing costs to curb inflation. An index of food articles compiled by the commerce ministry increased 19.95 percent in the week ended Dec. 5 from a year earlier, following a 19.05 per...
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- South Asia
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Manipal BOP Centre Receives Rs 60 Lakh for Research
The Manipal - Philips BoP (Base of Pyramid) Centre has been granted access to a fund of 90,000 Euros, thanks to the European Union sponsored Manipal Centre for European Studies that was launched a few days ago at Manipal University. BOP deals with designing technology that can help people who live at the base of the pyramid -- a strata that indicates their poverty-ridden lives.Some of the projects that have been developed under ...
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- South Asia
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State Bank of Pakistan: Microfinance Role Vital to Alleviate Poverty
KARACHI - Governor, State Bank of Pakistan, Salim Raza on Saturday said that microfinance banks/institutions have a key role to play in creating economic opportunities for the poorest sections of the society by broadening their outreach. Delivering a keynote address on “ Economic Empowerment for the Base of the Pyramid “ at the Acumen Community Gathering here, Mr. Raza said that the regulatory role develops infrastructure of service delivery, cross fertilizes from resea...
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- South Asia
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Microfinance: Treading a Fine Line Between Financial and Social Objectives
According to the 2009 Microfinance India State of the Sector (MISS) Report, the microfinance industry’s client outreach has grown by 30% over the last year to 76.6 million and the total outstanding loan portfolio has grown by a staggering 56% to INR 359 Billion over the same period. The growing integration of the sector with the capital markets has led to an influx of funds from various channels and has accelerated the transition of the Indian Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) into mainstr...
- Region
- South Asia