Source: The Times of London.
Complete article available online.
LONDON, October 22 – Plans for a stock market flotation by India’s largest private microfinance lender have further inflamed the debate over whether the industry should be putting profits or the wellbeing of its impoverished clients first.
SKS Microfinance specialises in lending small sums to very poor borrowers, many of them women, a process that it argues is helping to tackle poverty by funding small businesses.
The group, whose investors include Sequoia, the venture capital firm that famously backed Google, has talked to three investment banks — Citigroup, Credit Suisse and Kotak — about a listing in Mumbai that could raise up to $250 million (£150 million).
The deal, earmarked for the autumn, would be the first of its kind in India, one of the world’s biggest microfinance markets, and would offer investors exposure to a sector that many believe has huge potential. Some estimates have suggested that global demand for microcredit stands at about $250 billion, ten times the amount lent so far….
Remainder of article available online.
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