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Creating Value at the Bottom of the Pyramid
Acumen has been spotting entrepreneurs keen to invest money in low-income markets in the areas of health, energy, housing and water. Can markets work for the poor? Acumen Fund, a non-profit venture fund, believes so. In Mumbai, the fund has tied up with the pharmacy chain Medicine Shop, which has 140 shops in high-end locations like Gurgaon bordering Delhi. The tie-up has given Medicine Shop, a new identity. It has opened new branches in the slums of Mumbai. The shops hav...
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- South Asia
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Micro-finance firms turn into delivery boys
India?s microfinance, which is perhaps the ruling flavour of private equity players, is actually turning out to be a distribution highway for a variety of goods and services given the huge outreach of over one million customers each that large entities like Share, SKS, Basix and Spandana have managed to create. Fuelled by private equity investment and expansion, many of these entities are looking at reaching as ma...
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- South Asia
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Dubai’s Legatum invests Rs125 cr in Share Microfin, picks 51% stake
In the second major investment by a foreign investor in an Indian microfinance firm, Legatum Capital, a Dubai-based privately-owned finance firm, committed a $25 million (Rs125 crore) investment in Share Microfin Ltd, a Hyderabad-based microfinance institution which is India?s largest. Recently, Sequoia Capital, one of the largest venture capital firms in the world, led a consortium that invested $11.5 million in SKS Microfinance, India?s second-largest microfinance f...
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- South Asia
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Microfinance Institutions Act soon in Parliament
The micro financing sector in Sri Lanka is to be streamlined under a regulatory framework to prevent aid wastage, duplication of funds and corruption in the implementation of projects aimed at alleviation of poverty which is one of the prime objectives of the government. No government could solve this national issue on their own, according to microfinance experts, adding that it?s a collective responsibility of all sectors, including private, non-government and the...
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- South Asia
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Citibank India & SKS Announce USD 44 Million Rural Microfinance Program
SKS Microfinance and Citibank today announced a USD 44 Million (Rs.1.8 Billion) groundbreaking financing program involving Citibank India purchasing loans that are originated by SKS. Representing Citibank’s increased foray into rural microfinance, the program will deliver income-generating loans of between Rs.5000 to Rs.20,000 to a population of over 200,000 unbanked customers spread across 7,000 villages in 11 States of the country by financial year 2007-08. The partnership combines SKS’...
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- South Asia
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Green businesses attract Rs.100 crores investment from venture capitalists
There is a need to get a structured plan in a sustainable ecological mode to attract venture capitalists to India, said Dr. Nachiket Mor, Chairman, New Ventures India Steering Committee and Deputy Managing Director, ICICI Bank at a seminar on Emerging Business Opportunities in India and Venture Capital Finance. Dr. Mor also announced Rs.100 crore investment towards the innovation and development of green businesses in India. Th...
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- South Asia
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Microfinance Bill Sends Confusing Messages
A move to review and regulate when and how microfinance providers should be allowed to accept savings deposits is picking up speed. In a bid to police the booming sector, finance minister P. Chidambaram introduced a Bill to regulate small micro-credit institutions through the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) requiring them to meet more stringent accounting standards. Continue reading ...
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- South Asia
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World Bank Study reveals $5 trillion market
The poor have substantial purchasing power too ? purely because there are so many of them. The 4 billion people across the world, who stand at the base of the economic pyramid (BOP) have purchasing power of $5 trillion (Rs 2,25,00,000 crore) according to a new report released on Monday by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank. The report, The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid, measures the purch...
- Region
- South Asia
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