Archive for the ‘Featured News’ Category

By Naagesh Naaraayana Microfinance Focus, Sept. 1, 2009: Achieving 9 per cent growth rate is possible when millions of people at the bottom of the pyramid are brought into the banking network, said Dr K.C. Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India, in New Delhi at the 62nd International Banking Summer School (IBSS) jointly organized by the Indian Institute of Banking and Finance and Indian Banks’ Association on Monday. This is possible when financial products being offered by banks reach this segment and to achieve this, integration of IT with microfinance or small rural or urban banking sector is an essential step to achieve the ultimate goal of financial inclusion, he said. Full story

By Naagesh Naaraayana Microfinance Focus, Aug. 31, 2009: Apparently there is no avenue of microfinance that it does not enter.  Kolkata-based microfinance institution Bandhan has recently launched a new product for the unemployed youth called "Employing the Unemployed". In less than two months, it has reached 35 beneficiaries in 18 districts spread over two districts in West bengal. Unlike Bandhan's other ... Full story

By Naagesh Naaraayana Microfinance Focus, Aug. 27, 2009: Orissa-based BISWA (Bharat Integrated Social Welfare Agency) has raised Rs 10 crore from SNS Water Fund, an initiative by the Dutch-based SNS Group, to provide microfinance loans for installation of individual household toilet and drinking water. Mr K.C. Malick, Chairman of the Sambalpur-based microfinance institution informed Microfinance Focus that the target groups will be both urban slum-dwellers and rural poor. The loans will be distributed mainly to provide water and sanitation through BISWA instead of making them dependent on government projects, he said. Full story

Microfinance Focus, Aug 26, 2009: Admitting that lack of awareness among rural masses and delayed payment of wages have affected the implementation of NREGA in several states of India, the Union government has assured to set up monitoring committees in every district under local MPs within a fortnight. Full story

By Naagesh Naaraayana Microfinance Focus, Aug. 26, 2009: Here is another innovative idea in microfinance. A new "loan guarantee" offer from the portal 'United Prosperity' is enabling individual lenders to nearly double the 'impact' of their small contributions to fund the poorest entrepreneurs in the world. The non-profit United Prosperity is a person-to-person microloan website based on a concept of loan guarantees. Under ... Full story

By Naagesh Naaraayana Microfinance Focus, Aug. 24, 2009: The panel on Lead Bank Scheme constituted by the Reserve bank of India has recommended a sub-committee at the district level to draw up a roadmap to provide banking services in every village with a population of over 2,000, through mobile banking, business correspondents among others, by March 2011. In states where banking penetration is better, the date may be advanced, said a statement by the central bank. Full story

Microfinance Focus, Aug. 22, 2009: There have been startling losses in microfinance institutions that have wandered too far from their original microfinance mission due to fierce competition or of profit-minded management, writes David MacDougall, Director of Risk Management at Swiss microfinance fund manager BlueOrchard. Servicing traditional microfinance clients is expensive because ... Full story

Microfinance focus, Aug. 21, 2009: The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has launched a new Water Finance website at World Water Week, the international annual conference that brings together more than 2,000 experts, practitioners, decision makers and leaders from around the globe to exchange ideas, foster new thinking and develop solutions. USAID's new publicly available resource provides a structured yet flexible approach to help practitioners ... Full story

Microfinance Focus, Aug. 19, 2009: A two-day forum co-organized by the National Bank of Cambodia, IFC, the European Union, and the Cambodia Microfinance Association, senior microfinanciers, bankers, regulators, and local authorities began discussions on how microfinance institutions could boost the country’s economy, promote financial inclusion, and enhance customer protection. “The microfinance sector in Cambodia has grown fast and significantly contributed to improving access to financial services for the rural population,” said H.E Chea Chanto, Governor of the National Bank of Cambodia. “The success of the sector is vital to ensuring quick financial inclusion. We have adopted legislation that enables microfinance institutions to mobilize public deposits to help them access cheaper sources of funds while allowing rural populations to safely save their hard-earned cash.” Full story

Microfinance Focus, Aug. 19, 2009: Nokia India has announced plans to roll out a unique microfinancing offer in 12 states to make mobility more accessible to rural markets and notably, to the female population in rural India. The company has recently concluded a successful pilot in partnership with a leading microfinance institution in the rural areas of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, said a press release. Under this pilot, an easy payment scheme was offered on handsets to women consumers at a weekly installment of Rs100 over 25 weeks. Conducted across over 2,500 villages, the pilot received a heartwarming response and received over 27,500 applications, the release added. Full story

By Naagesh Naaraayana Microfinance Focus, Aug. 19, 2009: A Reserve Bank of India Working Group has recommended appointing non-deposit taking NBFCs, whose microfinance portfolio is not less than 80 per cent of their loan outstanding in the financially excluded districts, as Business Correspondents (BCs) for banks in rural and semi-urban areas, among others. Others recommended for the role include: Individual kirana/medical/fair price shop owners; Individual Public Call Office (PCO) operators; Agents of Small Savings Schemes of Government of India/Insurance Companies; Individuals who own petrol pumps; Retired teachers; and authorised functionaries of well run Self Help Groups (SHGs) linked to banks, said a statement issued by the country's central bank. Full story

Microfinance Focus, Aug. 18, 2009: Rose Marie Gayle received a US$200 micro-loan that helped her expand her small business selling sweets, juice and phone cards outside a high school in Kingston. Following a longtime customer’s suggestion, Rose Marie visited the Kingston and St. Andrew Action Forum – a civil society organization with offices in 72 communities in Jamaica’s capital city – to learn more about the loan initiative. In May 2009, she received the equivalent of US$232 (20,000 Jamaican dollars), which enabled her to buy more goods, and to sell new items customers had been asking for, such as cold beverages. When her business boomed, she was able to repay her loan in two months – a month before the due date. Full story

Microfinance Focus, Aug. 17, 2009: Acumen Fund, a nonprofit venture capital firm focusing on poverty in South Asia and East Africa, announced on Monday the list of new fellows selected for 2010. The program received 370 applications from 49 countries, a statement said. The program will have an eight-week training course followed by a nine-month assignment with one of Acumen's portfolio companies in health care, housing, water and energy. The Fund's 2010 Fellows are: Full story

In European colonialism, all were very risky investments at the time but how would you describe the return? So is the case with microfinance investments today By Garrett Wyse in Tramore, Ireland Microfinance Focus, Aug. 17, 2009: Long ago, the kings and queens of old Europe invested in ‘risky’ ventures. Their investments ranged from the Spanish voyages to the Far East and bumping into America, the Portuguese venturing into Africa and the British entering India. All were very risky investments at the time, but how would you describe the return? And many of these investments were funded by the bankers of Europe. In fact, colonialism and investing in it became an asset class in its own right then. Even now, there are those who may take similar perspective to microfinance investments. Full story