The Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC), which is owned by the UK government; Creation Investments Capital Management (Creation Investments), a US-based alternative investment management company; Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellschaft GmbH (DEG), a German development finance institution offering long-term project and company financing; the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group; and Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), a Dutch development bank, recently announced that they will invest a total of INR 325 cores (USD 51.4 million) to acquire 40 percent of the shares of Equitas Holdings, an Indian microfinance lender.
Search Results for: Microfinance Institutions Bill India
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: US Agency for International Development (USAID) to Provide $71m to Government of India for Banking, Clean Energy, Water and Sanitation
The US Agency for International Development (USAID), a government agency that provides international economic and humanitarian assistance, recently committed up to USD 71 million to the Government of India to support the country’s banking, clean energy and water and sanitation sectors.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Center for Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD) Mutually Reinforcing Institutions, Microcredit Summit Campaign, Freedom from Hunger Partner to Launch “Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies” in Effort to Reach 600k Filipino Women
The Center for Agriculture and Rural Development Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI), a group of organizations in the Philippines that includes CARD Bank; the Microcredit Summit Campaign, a US-based advocacy organization; and Freedom from Hunger, a US-based non-governmental organization (NGO) that offers financial and health protection services in 23 countries, launched the program “Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies,” which is expected to provide maternal health services to 600,000 Filipino women.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: VisionFund Selling Georgian Microfinance Institution (MFI) Credo to Impact Investors AccessHolding, responsAbility, Triodos
VisionFund International, a subsidiary of US-based, Christian NGO World Vision International, recently received approval from the National Bank of Georgia to sell its stake in Microfinance Organization Credo, LLC (Credo), to “a consortium of social impact investors” including Access Microfinance Holding AG (AccessHolding), a holding company based in Germany that specializes in microfinance investments; responsAbility Investments AG (responsAbility), a company based in Zurich that primarily invests in developing economies; and Triodos Investment Management BV (Triodos), a subsidiary of Netherlands-based Triodos Bank.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to Provide $3.9m in Advisory Services to Airtel Uganda to Expand Mobile Money
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the US-based World Bank Group that aims to improve the living standards of people in developing countries, recently announced that it will partner with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a US-based nonprofit that supports innovations in health and education, to provide advisory services valued at USD 3.9 million to Airtel Uganda, a subsidiary of Indian telecommunications company Bharti Airtel.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Accion Acquires 10% Stake in Peruvian Microfinance Institution (MFI) Credinka from Diviso Grupo Financiero
Accion, a US-based nonprofit organization, recently announced the acquisition of a 10-percent stake in Credinka, a microfinance institution (MFI) based in the Peruvian city of Cusco, from Diviso Grupo Financiero, a financial group that has been listed on the Lima Stock Exchange since 2007.
SPECIAL REPORT: European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP) Announces Finalists for Fifth European Microfinance Award for Environmental Products: ESAF Investments of India, Kompanion of Kyrgyzstan, XacBank of Mongolia
The European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP), a Luxembourg-based network of approximately 130 microfinance organizations and individuals, has announced that there are three finalists for the Fifth European Microfinance Award, which is themed “Microfinance and the Environment” for 2014[1].
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Digital Financial Services Risk Assessment for Microfinance Institutions, Microinsurance Awareness in Ghana, G2P for Financial Inclusion: A Job Half Done
“Digital Financial Services Risk Assessment For Microfinance Institutions – A Pocket Guide;” by Tom Shaw, Marcella Willis, Daryl Skoog, Sonia Arenaza, Sudha Garg, Susan Salerno, Eve Hamilton and Shailee Adnolfi; published by The Digital Financial Services Working Group; September 2014; 15 pages; available at https://lextonblog.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/dfs_risk_guide_sept_2014_final.pdf
The authors of this “pocket guide”[1] argue for the importance of “Digital Financial Services (DFS)”[1] to reach low-income individuals who do not have access to traditional banking solutions.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Unitus Seed Fund Raises $7m in Capital for Equity Investment in Indian Startups
Unitus Seed Fund, a venture capital fund with offices in Bangalore, India, and the US City of Seattle, recently secured USD 7 million from multiple investors, bringing its fund size to USD 20 million.
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: Symbiotics 2014 MIV [Microfinance Investment Vehicle] Survey Report: Market Data and Peer Group Analysis
“Symbiotics 2014 MIV [Microfinance Investment Vehicle] Survey Report: Market Data and Peer Group Analysis;” published by Symbiotics Group; 2014; 36 pages; available at http://www.symbioticsgroup.com/media/72461/symbiotics-2014-symbiotics-miv-survey-report.pdf
Symbiotics, a Switzerland-based investment company that is “specialized in emerging, sustainable and inclusive finance”, recently performed a survey of microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs) regarding their financial and social performance during 2013.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Incofin, Triodos Invest in Microfinance Institution (MFI) Arvand of Tajikistan
Belgium-based Incofin Investment Management (Incofin), a private company that manages funds investing in microfinance institutions (MFIs), and Netherlands-based Triodos Investment Management (Triodos), the subsidiary of Triodos Bank that manages funds in “energy and climate, emerging markets, arts and culture and sustainable real estate”[2], jointly acquired a 36-percent equity stake in Microcredit Deposit-Taking Organization Arvand (Arvand), an MFI that operates in and around Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan as well as in the country’s Sughd region.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Franklin Templeton Investments Launches Financial Inclusion Drive in India
Franklin Templeton Investments India, the Indian division of a Us-based mutual fund company Franklin Templeton Investments, in partnership with the Security Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the regulator for the securities market in India, reportedly has launched a financial inclusion campaign aimed at enlightening people on the mutual funds industry in India’s Rangareddy district.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Lok Capital, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Bellwether Microfinance Fund Exit Janalakshmi Financial Services of India
Lok Capital, a Mauritius-based venture capital fund; the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, a US-based philanthropic organization that seeks to improve the lives of poor urban residents in India, South Africa and the US; and the Bellwether Microfinance Fund, an Indian investor of equity and in start-up and medium-sized businesses, reportedly have exited their private equity investments in Janalakshmi Financial Services (JFS), a Bangalore-based microfinance institution (MFI).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to Encourage Banks to Deploy Rural Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs), Use Unclaimed Funds for Financial Education
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the country’s central banking authority, reportedly has initiated a program under which banks are requested to install an unspecified number of automatic teller machines (ATMs) in rural areas that will dispense bank notes in relatively small denominations.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: India’s ESAF Microfinance and Investment Issues $7.8m In Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) to Triodos
Evangelical Social Action Forum (ESAF) Microfinance and Investment Private Limited (EMFIL), a non-banking financial institution (NBFC) based in the Indian state of Kerala, reportedly has raised INR 475 million (USD 7.8 million) by issuing non-convertible debentures (NCDs) to Triodos Investment Management, a subsidiary of Netherlands-based for-profit Triodos Bank [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Symbiotics Issues $30m in Bonds to MicroCred China; India’s Arohan, Grameen Koota, Annapura Microfinance
Symbiotics, a Switzerland-based investment company that focuses on emerging markets, has completed bond transactions worth a total of USD 30 million with MicroCred China, an affiliate of the France-based MicroCred and PlaNet Finance groups; Arohan Financial Services Private Ltd., an Indian financial services company; Grameen Financial Services Private Ltd., a Bangalore-based microfinance institution (MFI) also known as Grameen Koota; and Annapurna Microfinance Private Ltd., an MFI based in the Indian state of Odisha.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: India’s Rashtriya Gramin Vikas Nidhi North East (RGVN) Microfinance Raises $7m in Equity Funding from Norwegian Microfinance Initiative Fund III, Oikocredit of the Netherlands, Dia Vikas Capital of India
Rashtriya Gramin Vikas Nidhi North East (RGVN), a microfinance institution (MFI) based in the Indian state of Assam, reportedly has raised approximately INR 420 million (USD 6.98 million) in equity funding from new investors [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Absolute Portfolio Management’s Vision Microfinance Funds Loan $14m to Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in Armenia, China, India, Peru, Tajikistan
Absolute Portfolio Management (APM), an arm of Austria-based asset group C-Quadrat, recently informed MicroCapital that it has distributed credits in several currencies that total approximately the equivalent of USD 13.5 million to unspecified microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Armenia, China, India, Peru and Tajikistan through its Dual Return Fund-Vision Microfinance and Dual Return Fund-Vision Microfinance Local Currency.