The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), a government agency charged with overseeing the Indian financial sector, has revised its regulations to permit non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) that do not accept deposits to act as business correspondents for Indian banks, providing limited financial services to clients in unbanked areas.
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MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Reserve Bank of India Simplifies “Know Your Customer” Requirement for Establishing Bank Accounts
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India’s central banking authority, has announced that it has simplified the “Know Your Customer” (KYC) process that it requires commercial banks in India to undertake before opening bank accounts for individuals.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Industrial Development Bank of India Federal Life Insurance Launches Seven Individual, Group Plans
Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) Federal Life Insurance, a joint venture of the government-backed IDBI, the commercial Federal Bank of India, and Belgian insurer Ageas, has launched four individual and three group insurance plans in India.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Absolute Portfolio Management’s Vision Microfinance Funds Loan $9.4m to Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in Armenia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Peru, Sri Lanka, Tanzania
Absolute Portfolio Management (APM), an arm of Austria-based asset group C-Quadrat, recently informed MicroCapital that it has distributed credits worth approximately USD 9.4 million through its two Vision Microfinance funds to unspecified microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Armenia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Peru, Sri Lanka and Tanzania.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFMR of India Receives Approval to Launch “FImpact Investment Fund”
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has approved the launch of the “IFMR FImpact Investment Fund” (IFMR FImpact), a social-venture scheme managed by IFMR Investment Managers Private Limited (IFMR Investments), the asset management arm of the Chennai-based, nonprofit IFMR Trust Group.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Bandhan Financial Services of India Plans Public Offering (IPO) Within Three Years
Bandhan Financial Services, an Indian microfinance institution that recently received a provisional banking license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), reportedly is planning to raise capital through an initial public offering (IPO) sometime within the next three years.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Elevar Equity, Omidyar Network, Saama Capital, WestBridge Capital Invest $27m in Equity in India’s Vistaar Finance for Lending to Micro-, Small, Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs)
Elevar Equity, which invests in “disconnected communities” from offices in India and the US; Omidyar Network, a US-based investor in “socially responsible” organizations; Saama Capital, an India-focused venture capital fund registered in Mauritius; and WestBridge Capital, an India-based investment company with offices in India, Mauritius and the United States, reportedly have collectively invested INR 1.6 billion (USD 27 million) in Bangalore-based non-banking finance company Vistaar Finance (Vistaar).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited (CRISIL) Upgrades Rating of Evangelical Social Action Forum (ESAF) Microfinance
Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited (CRISIL), an Indian ratings, research, risk and policy advisory company, has elevated the rating of Evangelical Social Action Forum (ESAF) Microfinance, a microfinance institution (MFI) based in the Indian state of Kerala, to “mfr2.” [1][2]
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: MicroVentures Invests $13.5m in Equity in Microfinance Institution Grameen Koota of India
Indian non-banking financial company Grameen Financial Services Private Limited, which is also known as Grameen Koota, reportedly has received an equity investment of USD 13.5 million from Italy-based private equity firm MicroVentures.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Lok Capital, Creation Investments Invest Total of $13m in Indian Microfinance Institution Equitas Holdings
Two institutional investors, Lok Capital LLC (Lok Capital), a Mauritius-based investment vehicle, and Creation Investments Capital Management Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) (Creation Investments), a US-based alternative investment management company, reportedly have invested a cumulative sum of INR 800 million (USD 13.7 million) in Equitas Holdings Private Limited (Equitas), a Chennai-based microfinance institution (MFI).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Vodafone, ICICI Bank of India Launch Mobile Payments of Government Health Care Subsidies via M-Pesa
Vodafone Group Private Limited Corporation, a British mobile network operator, and ICICI Bank, a commercial bank in India, reportedly have launched a pilot service to deliver subsidies to individuals via M-Pesa, a mobile-money system developed by Vodafone from Janani Suraksha Yojna, a government scheme to decrease neo-natal and maternal deaths by providing delivery and post-delivery care.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Gives 2-Year Extension to Share, Asmitha, Spandana Sphoorty to Meet Capital Requirements
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given three microfinance institutions (MFIs) a two-year extension to meet the requirements to qualify as non-banking financial company (NBFC) MFIs.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Bandhan Financial Services of India Reduces Lending Rate to 22.4% per Year
Bandhan Financial Services, a microfinance institution (MFI) based in the Indian city of Kolkata, reportedly announced that it has reduced its lending rate by 50 basis points, or 0.5 percent, bringing its annual interest rate down to 22.4 percent.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to Allow Minors Over Age 10 to Open Savings Accounts
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), a government agency charged with overseeing the Indian financial sector, reportedly has decided to allow minors over 10 years of age to open savings accounts at banks without the supervision of a guardian.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: State Bank of India Names Reliance Money Infrastructure a Business Correspondent
The State Bank of India (SBI), an Indian state-owned financial services company, reportedly has finalized an agreement with Mumbai-based Reliance Money Infrastructure Limited (RMIL), a service provider to banks, under which RMIL will take on some of SBI’s transactions as a business correspondent[1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Lok Capital Sextuples Investment With Partial Exit from Indian “Socio-commercial” Outsourcing Firm RuralShores
Lok Capital (Lok), a Mauritius-based venture fund focused on the microfinance and social business sectors in India, reportedly has sold part of its equity stake in RuralShores Business Services, an India-based company offering business process outsourcing to public and private clients in the microfinance, banking, insurance, telecom and information technology sectors.
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Responsible Equity Exits in Microfinance; Greenfield Microfinance Models in Africa; Mobile Financial Services Usage Among Rural Women in India, Philippines
“The Art of the Responsible Exit in Microfinance Equity Sales;” by Daniel Rozas, Deborah Drake, Estelle Lahaye, Katharine McKee and Danielle Piskadlo; published by CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor); April 2014; 32 pages; available at http://www.cgap.org/sites/default/files/Forum-Art-of-the-Responsible-Exit-April-2014.pdf
This paper explores how microfinance investment intermediaries (MIIs) and development finance institutions (DFIs) can exit responsibly from microfinance institutions (MFIs) in which they have invested equity as well as how investors can contribute to healthy development of the overall market. The authors conducted six case studies and interviewed representatives from MIIs, nongovernmental organizations, DFIs, MFIs and merger-and-acquisition specialists.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Yes Bank’s Sampann, Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) Bank Use “Doorstep” Banking in Rural India
Two private commercial banks based in the Indian city of Mumbai, Yes Bank and the Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) Bank, reportedly have started using “doorstep” banking in rural India to reach more customers by offering services such as credit, savings and insurance at customers’ homes.