Micro finance News - India Together

TECHNOLOGY FOR DEVELOPMENT
What a cell phone could mean for a poor woman

Innovative use of information technology through mobile phones is enabling improved financial literacy and increased access to credit for economically disadvantaged women in rural and urban areas. Swapna Majumdar reports.

Economy Finance

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MICROFINANCE BILL

Regulating small loans

The government has introduced the Microfinance Bill in Parliament, empowering RBI to oversee small lenders as well. The law will take MFIs outside the jurisdiction of state-level laws, and bring them under federal regulation.

Laws

ECONOMY/MICRO

Growing business at the bottom of the pyramid

It is tempting to take a rosy-eyed view of the future of successful entrepreneurship at the BOP. But what is the picture really? Richa Govil takes you through some recent stories and the lessons they may hold.

Economy

MICROCREDIT MELTDOWN

Living with 'installments'

Many micro-credit loans do no more than allow a family to juggle its finances for a month-to-month existance. As investors embrace this 'market', MFIs are increasingly under scrutiny. Jaideep Hardikar reports.

Economy

WOMEN

Adivasi women turn turmeric traders

In this small sleepy Orissa village with a population of barely 400 adivasis, where there is no electricity and harsh conditions prevail, there is something remarkable about the women. Their level of awareness, their attitude and their personality have undergone a dramatic change in the last few years. Pradeep Baisakh has more.

Women Odisha

PRS LEGISLATIVE BRIEF

Microfinance Bill

The draft bill comes at a time when there are differing opinions on the cost efficacy of the MFO model for reaching credit to the poor. Moreover, the bill itself contains some perplexing ideas - such as the choice of NABARD, itself an MFO, as a regulator of others such organisations. Kaushiki Sanyal presents a legislative brief.

Laws

BANKING FOR THE POOR

Micro credit gathers force

There is now mounting hope that micro finance can be a large scale poverty alleviation tool. Banks too are shedding their old reluctance to lend to the poor, and are looking to tap the expertise of micro credit groups to create a new market. Ramesh Menon reports on the status quo and the challenges ahead.

Economy Finance

Money talks, ... and walks

B V Narasimham

Economy Odisha

Rescuing the coconut economy

A community-based microcredit programme attempts to revive the economy of coastal Kerala's villages. Prathapan B reports.

Economy Kerala

Urban poverty alleviation : Conclusion

Concluding article of the series from Urban Poverty Alleviation Initiatives in India : A General Assessment and a Particular Perspective (2002), a publication of the Ramanathan Foundation.

Livelihood Poverty

An apex bank for urban microcredit

From Urban Poverty Alleviation Initiatives in India : A General Assessment and a Particular Perspective (2002), a publication of the Ramanathan Foundation.

Poverty

Urban microcredit : The current scenario

From Urban Poverty Alleviation Initiatives in India : A General Assessment and a Particular Perspective (2002), a publication of the Ramanathan Foundation.

Poverty