Event Name: The Third International Conference on Institutional and Technological Environment for Microfinance (ITEM3): Cost Management & Social Performance in Microfinance
Event Date: January 4 – January 7, 2012
Event Location: India Habitat Center (Magnolia Hall), Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110003, India
Microfinance has been successful at bringing solar lighting to India’s rural villages, according to an article in Indian science and environment magazine Down To Earth.
Indian rural finance practitioner Mr Ramesh S Arunachalam recently addressed the need for due diligence in the business correspondent (BC) model that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India’s central banking authority, adopted in 2010 to increase financial access for low-income people [1].
An opinion piece by Rural Finance Practitioner Ramesh S Arunachalam that was recently published in Indian personal finance magazine Moneylife highlights the importance of management information systems (MIS) to microfinance institutions (MFIs) and calls for the establishment of minimum MIS standards as a prerequisite for MFI accreditation in India.
Indian rating agency ICRA Limited (ICRA) has assigned a conditional rating of A2(SO) to a series of pass through certificates (PTCs) backed by INR 7.18 crores (USD 1.45 million) in microloan receivables originated by Arohan Financial Services Private Limited (Arohan), a Kolkata-based non-banking financial company (NBFC).
Microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Andhra Pradesh, India, have started talks to recover outstanding loans amounting to INR 7,000 crore (approximately USD 1.4 billion), which they have been unable to collect since the repayment dropoff in the state started in 2010.
The consulting arm of Indian development bank National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), NABARD Consultancy Services (NABCONS), recently announced a training visit to India for African delegates entitled “India-Africa Agrifinance Confluence”.
IFMR Capital, a private India-based company that aims to provide liquidity and debt capital to financial institutions that serve poor people, recently securitized a “multi-originator” portfolio of 49,881 loans with a total value of INR 511 million (USD 10.5 million).
Self-help groups (SHGs) in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh will soon have an alternative source of microloans in the form of Stree Nidhi, a cooperative microfinance bank that has been formed by the state government and the Mandal Mahila Samkhyas (MMS), a representative federation of SHGs.
Indian microfinance institution (MFI) Bandhan Financial Services Private Limited (Bandhan) reportedly plans to apply for a banking license after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) finalizes its new guidelines for establishing new banks [1].
Ujjivan Financial Services, an Indian microfinance institution (MFI), reportedly plans to raise up to INR 6.2 billion (USD 138 million) from the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), a government-owned financial institution, along with other unspecified private and public-sector banks.
Indian microfinance institution (MFI) Bandhan Financial Services Private Limited recently raised INR 135 crore (the equivalent of USD 29 million) from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group [1].
Axis Bank Foundation (ABF), the corporate social responsibility arm of India-based Axis Bank, and Bandhan Konnagar, the non-profit branch of Indian microfinance institution Bandhan Financial Services Private Limited (Bandhan), have collaborated to launch Axis Bank Bandhan Holistic Assistance (ABHA), to provide financial, health and support services to the “poorest of the poor” in two districts in the Indian state of West Bengal.
Event Name: Indian Ocean / South Asia Mobile Payments & Banking Summit 2011
Event Date: November 21 – November 22
Event Location: Ramada Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka
LeapFrog Investments, a US-based private equity fund focusing on microinsurance activities, will invest USD 15 million in the Shriram Group, an India-based provider of financial services to low-income individuals, to help the organization expand its offering of microinsurance and savings products for up to 10 million clients.
Microfinance institutions (MFIs) in India have increasingly been exploring “crowd sourcing” to raise funds since traditional sources of funding such as banks and private equity houses have significantly decreased their investments following the “microfinance crisis” that began in 2010 in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
Suddanand Healthcare, a nongovernmental organization based in the Indian state of Karnataka, reportedly has developed a healthcare microinsurance system drawing on the existing customer base of local microfinance institutions (MFIs) to offer an “affordable micro-health program to the underserved section of society” [1].
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the country’s central banking authority, recently published circulars that will require new and existing banks to open one quarter of new branches in towns with populations of less than 10,000 people in an effort to further the government’s financial inclusion agenda.