SKS Microfinance is reportedly scaling up its non-core businesses of financing Samgam stores, which are retail grocery stores owned by poor women, and increasing its gold lending operations in efforts to diversify its revenue stream.
Search Results for: India
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microcredit Summit Campaign: 45m Indians Move Out of Poverty, Earning Over $1.25 Per Day Because of Microfinance
The Microcredit Summit Campaign, a program of the US-based advocacy group RESULTS Educational Fund, recently released a report indicating that nearly 9 million Indian households involved in microfinance began earning more than USD 1.25 per day between 1990 and 2010.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Indian Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) Share, Spandana Sphoorty, Asmitha Consider Merger, Continue Debt Restructuring Talks
As part of their ongoing efforts to manage significant losses in the state of Andhra Pradesh, Indian microfinance institutions (MFIs) Share Microfin Limited, Spandana Sphoorty Financial Limited and Asmitha Microfin Limited reportedly are in the early stages of considering the possibility of merging with one another.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Commercial Banks, Private Equity Investors Reevaluate India’s Microfinance Sector in Light of Draft Microfinance Bill
Since the Indian government released a draft microfinance bill in July 2011, commercial banks and private equity investors reportedly have expressed a new willingness to consider investing in microfinance institutions (MFIs).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Indian Government Publishes Draft of Microfinance Institutions Bill, Would Make Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Sole Regulator, Establish Microfinance Development Council, Microfinance Development Fund
After months of deliberations and input from academics, policymakers and practitioners, the Indian government has published a draft of its “Microfinance Institutions (Development and Regulation) Bill,” as the first version of a future authoritative policy to govern the domestic microfinance sector.
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Mobile Money Southern Asia Conference and Expo, Mumbai, India, September 26 – September 29, 2011
Event Name: Mobile Money Southern Asia Conference and Expo
Event Date: September 26 to September 29, 2011
Event Location: Mumbai, India
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: India-based Joint Venture Universal Sompo General Insurance Announces Forthcoming Microinsurance Products
Universal Sompo General Insurance Company Limited (USGI), an India-based joint venture of Japanese insurance company Sompo Japan Insurance and a group of unidentified Indian companies, recently announced that two new microinsurance products, Saral Suraksha Bima and Sampoorna Suraksha, were submitted to regulatory authorities for approval.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Industry Players Say Indian Microfinance Institutions Should Not be Crushed Even Though “Some MFIs Have Gone on the Wrong Path”
The Times of India, an Indian newspaper, recently reported on microfinance industry actors arguing that microfinance institutions (MFIs) should not be compromised by “the greed of a few big MFIs” and associated regulations such as the Andhra Pradesh Microfinance Act, which was passed in December 2010 to regulate MFIs following multiple suicides.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Indian Microfinance Institution Satin Creditcare Reports $22m in Capital Raises, Securitizations; Upgraded by CARE Ratings to “MFI 2”
Satin Creditcare Network Limited (Satin), a microfinance institution (MFI) headquartered in Delhi, recently announced that it received an upgraded credit rating from India-based CARE Ratings following a fundraising streak totaling INR 1 billion (USD 22.3 million).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Indian Microfinance Institution Bhartiya Samruddhi Finance Limited (BSFL) Raises $150m from Institutional Investors, Commercial Banks
Bhartiya Samruddhi Finance Limited (BSFL), an Indian microfinance institution (MFI) and member of the BASIX Group of companies, has reportedly raised INR 7 billion (USD 150 million) in debt and equity commitments from institutional investors and commercial banks, in what has been described as a “lifeline” by BASIX chairman Vijay Mahajan.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: United Bank of India to Loan $22m to Microfinance Institution Bandhan Financial Services Amid “Opening Up of Bank Credit”
The government-owned United Bank of India (UBI), recently sanctioned a loan of INR 100 crore (USD 22.5 million) to Bandhan Financial Services, a microfinance institution (MFI) in India [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Boston Consulting Group Publishes “Socio-Economic Impact of Mobile Financial Services” for Telenor, Exploring Effects of Mobile Financial Services in Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Serbia Over the Next Decade
Boston Consulting Group, a US-based management consulting firm, recently released a study it conducted for Telenor Group, a Norwegian communications service provider with operations in 11 European and Asian markets, looking at what effect mobile financial services may have through the year 2020 [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Indian Microfinance Institution SKS Reports Quarterly Loss, Looks to Raise $200m Through Private Placements
SKS Microfinance, a publicly-listed Indian microfinance institution (MFI), recently reported a net loss of INR 2.18 billion (USD 48.1 million) for the quarter ending June 30, compared to a net profit of INR 669 million (USD 14.3 million) in the same period last year.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Indian Microfinance Institution BSFL Threatened by Deterioration in Portfolio Quality, Urgently Seeks New Funding to Stave Off Potential Collapse
Bhartiya Samruddhi Finance Limited (BSFL), an Indian microfinance institution (MFI) and member of the BASIX Group, has witnessed a sharp downturn in the quality of its loan portfolio and reportedly may not be able to continue operations without additional funding.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Reserve Bank of India Urges Banks to Increase Credit Provision to Micro- and Small-Sized Enterprises
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reportedly emphasized to commercial banks at the recent annual review meeting of its standing advisory committee on micro- and small-sized enterprise (MSE) that MSE lending should grow at a rate similar to that of overall bank credit growth, which recently has been approximately 20 percent per year.
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: Micro-loans, Insecticide-Treated Bednets and Malaria: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Orissa (India); By Alessandro Tarozzi, Aprajit Mahajan, Brian Blackburn, Dan Kopf, Lakshmi Krishnan, Joanne Young; Working Paper Published by The Centre for Micro Finance, IFMR Research
By Alessandro Tarozzi, Aprajit Mahajan, Brian Blackburn, Dan Kopf, Lakshmi Krishnan, Joanne Young; published by the Center for Microfinance (CMF) at IFMR (Institute for Financial Management and Research); March 2011; 58 pages; available at http://ifmr.ac.in/cmf/publications/wp/2011/Bednets.pdf
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Costs Decrease, Account Openings Increase via India’s Branchless Banking Model, Microfinance Institutions Remain Excluded
The National, an English-language newspaper owned by the Abu Dhabi government, recently reported that the branchless banking model in which local agents, or business correspondents, use handheld computers to offer banking services in areas of India with no traditional banking branches is “transforming lives”.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Aviva Life Insurance India, Microfinance Institution Bhartiya Samruddhi Finance Limited (BSFL) Launch “Straight Through Processing” System to Streamline Microinsurance Enrolment
Bhartiya Samruddhi Finance Limited (BSFL), an Indian non-banking finance company (NBFC) and member of the BASIX Group, has launched an automated microinsurance processing system in collaboration with Aviva Life Insurance India in a bid to reduce the transaction costs associated with microinsurance enrolment.