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Tara Thiagarajan Wants the Poor to Get More Out of Their Micro Borrowings
Tara Thiagarajan believes that microfinance institutions (MFIs) have been pursuing the wrong goal. Instead of scale, they should be looking to make loans more effective. That means borrowers should get more out of their borrowings. Along with credit, they should also get the tools and the benefits of a large network to make the most of the credit.
- Categories
- Education
- Region
- South Asia
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What Went Wrong with Microfinance?
Long before “99%” became a symbol of Occupy Wall Street, the microfinance industry used the number to describe the share of its clients — poor entrepreneurs shunned by traditional banks — who repaid their micro-loans on time. It’s a number used less and less in microfinance these days — not because of Occupy Wall Street, but because many micro-borrowers are starting to default.
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- Uncategorized
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Interest-free Microfinance Hope for Poor Muslims
Making headlines in the recent past for crushing interest rates claiming lives of debtors, microfinance is now being offered with a more humane approach. The Human Welfare Foundation will now offer loans in the form of interest-free microfinance to the poor across the country including Hyderabad, said vice president of Jamat-e-Islami Hind Prof K A Siddique Hassan here on Saturday.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
- Region
- South Asia
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IFC To Start $100M Microfinance Debt Fund
International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector investment arm of the World Bank Group, along with two other investors, will set up a $100 million debt fund called Micro Finance Initiative for Asia (MIFA), to address the funding needs of microfinance institutions in developing and underdeveloped economies.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Using Microfinance to Bring Clean Water to India’s Poor
A unique public-private partnership involving private sector giants like Unilever and Heinz is improving the health of Indian children. Two hours outside India's tech hub Bangalore is Krishnagiri the Integrated Village Development Project (IVDP) is using interest-free microfinance loans to increase access to products people could not afford on their own.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- South Asia
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Reflections On Microfinance: Past, Present and Future
Microfinance institutions depended on very low default rates coupled with rapid growth to provide adequate investor returns. Aligning loan officer incentives with repayment rates and customer service may have helped microfinance institutions become more customer centric.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
- Tags
- microfinance
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Roundup – 3/3/12: Profiting Off the Poor, the Ends vs. the Means
So this week’s batch of articles primarily has focused on the growth of mobile money, be it in banking or in the form of an e-wallet. It also settled a key debate around profiting off the poor, at least between Vikram Akula, then the founder and CEO of SKS Microfinance, and Grameen Bank Founder Muhammad Yunus.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Tags
- microfinance
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Responsible lending key to microfinance
Mumbai: Microfinance institutions (MFIs) are still struggling for recovery after a crisis triggered by an Andhra Pradesh law in October 2010 that reined in MFIs, which lend small sums of money to poor borrowers; the state is India’s biggest market for such loans. The MFI sector was the subject of a Mint Clarity Through Debate event in Mumbai last week. Responsible lending is is key for the sector’s revival, according to the participants. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor K.C. Chakrabarty; director of the Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning Usha Thorat; Basix group chairman Vijay Mahajan; chairman and managing director of Small Industries Development Bank of India Sushil Muhnot; International Finance Corporation’s regional manager, financial markets and private equity, Manoj Prashar; and Bandhan Financial Services Pvt. Ltd chairman Chandra Shekhar Ghosh were the panellists in the discussion. Mint’s deputy managing editor Tamal Bandyopadhyay moderated the discussion. Edited excerpts:
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- microfinance
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