Microfinance institutions are teaming up with leading mobile phone makers to offer cheaper handsets customized for rural customers, according to a news report from the Indian Economic Times. The report also noted that Nokia, the world leading mobile phone supplier, is running a pilot project to sell handsets in the Andhra Pradesh state through SKS Microfinance, a non-banking finance company. Likewise, Nokia is about to launch mobile information services revolving around agriculture, education, and entertainment in the rural state of Maharashtra, in addition to partnering with a host of existing content providers to deliver information on seed, fertilizer, and pesticide costs, prevailing market prices for crops, and weather.
Search Results for: Microfinance Institutions Bill India
MICROCAPITAL STORY: India Arman Financial Moves into Microfinance; Microfinance Portfolio Will Be Core Business
Arman Financial Services Ltd, a “Non-Banking Financial Corporation” under Indian law, is planning to enter into the microfinance market for female entrepreneurs, according to a news report from the Hindu Business Line. The company’s Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Mr. Jayendra Patel noted that the decision was made partly due to the low default rate in microlending. He further commented that, “the Reserve Bank of India says that there is a 99.5 percent recovery ratio in microfinancing and our experience says that low income groups of people [seeking assistance jointly] are more bankable.”
MICROCAPITAL PAPER WRAP-UP: 2008 MIX Global 100 Composite: Rankings of Microfinance Institutions
Published by Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX), 13 pages, available for viewing here.
The Microfinance Information Exchange, Inc. (MIX) has released its 2008 MIX Global 100 Composite: Rankings of Microfinance Institutions. The business results of 971 MFIs for the 2007 financial year were surveyed, from which 652 profitable MFIs were sampled to present the 100 leading MFIs. The ranking measures the balance achieved by an individual MFI of three key attributes: outreach, efficiency and transparency. Outreach is determined by the number of borrowers, the growth in borrowers, market penetration, deposit to loan portfolio ratio and the depositors to borrowers ratio. Efficiency is measured by the cost per borrower to GNI per capita ratio, profit to loan portfolio, the portfolio at risk greater than 30 days and the write off ratio. Transparency is measured by the annual reporting on MIX Market and audits on MIX Market.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Bill and Melinda Gates Provide US$700,000 to Microcredit Summit Campaign’s “Movement Above US$1 Per Day Threshold” Project
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated USD 700 thousand in the form of a grant to the Microcredit Summit Campaign‘s (MSC) project entitled “Movement Above the US One Dollar Per Day Threshold“. The funds will be used to form expert panels who will develop credible methodologies for determining the number of microfinance clients who have crossed the USD 1 a day threshold between 1990 and the current year. The funds will also be used to research and produce studies based on the recommendations of these panels. A Bangladesh Expert Panel has already convened, an India Expert Panel is currently being formed, and an Ethiopia Expert Panel is being planned for 2009. While this is the first time the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has provided funding to the Microcredit Summit Campaign, it has previously provided funding to the RESULTS Educational Fund, MSC’s founding organization.
PRESS RELEASE: Microcredit Summit Campaign to Expand Efforts to Document Success of Microfinance
Source: Microcredit Summit Campaign
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to Give $61.7m to MFIs
The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) intends to lend Rs 300 crore, USD 61.7 million, to microfinance institutions in Orissa, India, by the end of 2010. To date, SIDBI has disbursed Rs 250 crore, or USD 51.4 million to MFIs in Orissa. The terms of the financing were not disclosed. Currently Rs 100 crore is outstanding to 20 Orissa MFIs. The bank plans to increase this number by 50 new MFIs over the next two years.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Azerdemiryolbank of Azerbaijan Receives $3m Loan from ING Bank to Support Microfinance Business
Azerdemiryolbank of Azerbaijan received a 12-month loan worth USD 3 million from the ING Bank of the Netherlands. According to a press release on Trend Capital, the loan would support microfinance businesses in Azerbaijan. The release quoted Mr. Yusif Jabbarov, the Vice-Chairman of the Bank, as saying the stated loan was the first cooperation in micro-crediting between a Dutch bank and an Azerbaijani lending agency.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: ACCION Invests $4.2m in Two Microfinance Companies: Mauritius Based Leapfrog Investments Ltd and Swiss Based Paralife, Invests in Initiatives Aimed at Moving Microfinance ‘Beyond Credit’
ACCION International, a microfinance organization founded in 1961, has invested a total of USD 4.2 million in ParaLife, a Swiss microinsurance holding company and LeapFrog Investments, a USD 100 million microinsurance investment fund headquartered in Mauritius. In a press release found on Microfinance Gateway, Ms. Monica Baron, the principal director of ACCION’s Gateway Microfinance Innovation Fund, said that the investment by ACCION was aimed at moving microfinance ‘beyond credit’. The press release quoted Ms. Baron as saying the future of financial inclusion lay in offering the working poor a basic suite of all financial tools instead of providing only credit. In this regard, Ms. Baron mentioned that ACCION believed both ParaLife and LeapFrog Investments would be leaders for the industry, developing flexible, responsive insurance products that would meet the needs of a broad range of low income clients.
MICROCAPITAL EXCERPT: “The Battle for the Soul of Microfinance,” by Financial Times Senior Columnist Tim Harford
What follows is an excerpt from Tim Harford’s piece “The Battle for the Soul of Microfinance,” which appeared in the Financial Times’ Weekend Reportage section on December 6, 2008. Mr. Harford, a Senior Columnist at the Financial Times, has written an excellent introduction to the competing commerical and altruistic motivations behind microfinance–and the current disputes they have generated–that have come to dominate so much of the industry today. The full piece also cites several interesting studies whose findings may affect microfinance institutions’ (MFIs) procedures for vetting micro-loan applicants or their manipulation of interest rates resulting from either profit-driven or philanthropic motives. The full article is available online to those who have registered for free with the Financial Times.
NEWS WIRE: India: Big Microfinance Firms Taking Over Clients of Smaller Players
Source: Live Mint .
NEWS WIRE: Mumbai: Big Microfinance Firms Taking Over Clients of Smaller Players
Source: Live Mint.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: India’s Ujjivan Increases Equity With Investments By Unitus Equity Fund, Bellwether Microfinance Fund, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Sequoia Capital, Lok Capital, India Financial Inclusion Fund and SIDBI
Ujjivan Financial Services, a Bangalore-based microfinance institution (MFI), has completed the fourth round of equity infusion by raising Rs 940 million (USD 18.7 million) making it the fourth highest capitalised MFI in India with total paid up capital and reserves standing at over Rs 1.08 billion (USD 21.5 million) The increase in capital was largely invested by existing shareholders including Unitus Equity Fund (UEF) managed by Elevar Equity L.L.C., Bellwether Microfinance Fund, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, A.W. Holdings and individual investors including promoter & CEO Samit Ghosh. The five new investors in this private placement transaction will include: Sequoia Capital, Lok Capital, Unitus Equity Fund II, India Financial Inclusion Fund and SIDBI.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: New Insights Into The Impact of The Global Credit Crisis Envisage A Slow in Growth for Microfinance According to Reuters, World Bank, ACCION and YES Bank
Two stories on how the global financial crisis will impact microfinance were released this week, by Reuters and the World Bank. These reports are only the latest in a slew of reports and analyses on how microfinance will be impacted by the credit crisis, ranging from extremely cautious pessimism to undaunted optimism. While these new reports remain mostly speculative, with little documented evidence of actual changes, they offer fresh insights by experts in the microfinance industry into whether any impacts have been experienced a few months into the credit crisis. As there have been a myriad of articles on the topic, this article highlights the unique or new information addressed in the two reports, with a list of past articles on the topic listed in the Additional Reading section below for further information.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: USAID Note from The Field, Greening Microfinance to Turn Waste Into Wealth
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) recently published a note about efforts in India to provide an integrated approach in addressing poverty alleviation, global health and energy. Shortage of cooking fuel is a key problem in India where approximately 260 million of the country’s total 1.2 billion population live below the poverty line. Some households burn cow dung cakes as an alternative fuel source, creating environmental hazards and causing harmful health consequences, including acute respiratory infections in children. According to a 2006 Shell Foundation Report, deaths linked to biomass smoke exposure compete with malaria as the leading cause of death in adults in developing nations every year.
NEWS WIRE: Leading Indian MFI Cashpor Adopts ClassifEye Secure Mobile Transactions Solution
Source: Classifeye.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: FINO Reaches Two-million Unbanked Populations in India and Releases Micro-Loan Management Software
Financial Information Network and Operations Ltd. (FINO), a technology organization that produces biometric smartcards and micro-loan management software, has completed 2 million enrollments of customers in India. The number of enrollments increased from 1 million to 2 million in less than 4 months with an average of 20,000 customers being enrolled per day. FINO’s rapid growth is in part due to the extensive network of banks and other financial and government institutions utilizing their technology. That network includes Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, Corporation Bank, DGB, ICICI Bank, ING Vysya, OBC, PNB, and UBI.
NEWS WIRE: Offshore Microfinance – The Only Legitimate High Yield Investment Program?
Source: CNWins.
MICROCAPITAL PAPER WRAP-UP: Islamic Microfinance: An Emerging Market Niche, by Nimrah Karim, Michael Tarazi and Xavier Reille
Written by Nimrah Karim, Michael Tarazi and Xavier Reille and based primarily on secondary research by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), released in August 2008 as Number 49 of Focus Note, a publication of CGAP, 16 pages, available on October 27, 2008 at: http://www2.cgap.org/gm/document-1.9.5029/FocusNote_49.pdf.