A news source called “MySME News” has been launched in the Indian states of Karnataka and West Bengal, and Nepal, with the goal of reporting tailored business news via newsletters, mobile messaging, and community radio to microfinance customers and small and medium enterprise owners. MySME News is the initiative of three organizations: Internews Europe, a Paris-based company that funds community media projects around the world; Plural India, a New Delhi-based non-profit with a focus on reducing information asymmetries in the low-income sector; and Mahiti Infotech Pvt. Ltd., a social enterprise (for-profit, with all proceeds funneled back into the mission) that provides low-cost information technology to civil society groups. Shivendra Sharma, executive director of Plural India and former executive director of microfinance support network, PlaNet Finance, explained that the main source of information among the low-income sector is word of mouth, “Most people get it from 10 houses this side and 10 on that side.” Mahiti’s executive director, Sreekanth S. Rmeshaiah, said that the information gap is an impediment to smart investment choices: “The main idea of the project is to offer the poor a chance to make intelligent decisions through information.” Business information is also important to foster competition among microfinance enterprises (MFIs), as borrowers become more aware of their options.
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MICROCAPITAL EVENT: Bankers Institute of Rural Development (BIRD) to Organize Conference on ‘Building Efficient Human Resources in MFIs’: February 28, 2009, Lucknow, India
Conference on ‘Building Efficient Human Resources in MFIs’
Feb 28, 2009, Lucknow, India
The Bankers Institute of Rural Development (BIRD) in India is organizing a conference to address issues faced by microfinance institutions (MFIs) in recruiting and retaining the right talent. The conference would prepare a roadmap for MFIs to build an efficient human resource base. The conference will focus on the following modules:
- Human Resource challenges in the microfinance sector
- Microfinance in management courses
- Equipping microfinance organizations to promote/ provide for financial literacy of its clients.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: FINO and NCR to Install 30 Thousand Smartcard Micro-Deposit Machines in India Over 5 Years in an Effort to Reduce the Cost of Microfinance Services
Financial Information Network and Operations Ltd. (FINO), an Indian technology company that produces biometric smartcards, collaborated with the National Cash Register Corporation (NCR), the automated teller machine (ATM) manufacturing company, unveiled a new micro depository machine in Mumbai called the EasyPoint 70 Tijori. As part of the partnership, FINO has committed to release 1000 of the machines, and has reported to have already reached an accord to roll-out an additional 30 thousand machines over the next five-years. However, the company has not specified who will buy the machines. The machine is designed for semi-urban and rural areas, which are traditionally underserved by banks. It is estimated that 560 million people in India (about 51 per cent of the population) are financially underserved. The companies hope to reach 25 million unbanked people with the EasyPoint 70 Tijori by 2011.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Indian SKS Microfinance Teams Up with Mobile Phone Vendors Nokia and Bharti Airtel to Provide Service for Rural Customers
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.
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 STORY: Indian Bank Launches The Latest Of Its Rural Development Initiatives, Financial Literacy and Credit Counselling Centres (FLCC) and Micro State Branches, to Support Microfinance
Indian Bank, a Government-owned banking institution, has established the first of its Financial Literacy and Credit Counselling Centres (FLCC) in Dharmapuri, one of the 32 districts in Tamil Nadu on the Southeast coast of India. The FLCCs are being established under the umbrella of the newly created Indian Bank Trust for Rural Development (IBTRD). FLCCs will provide information on various financial products and services and advice on managing debt and finances as well as helping people to understand their rights and responsibilities with regards to finances. A proposed second FLCC may open in Puducherry a Union Territory bordering Tamil Nadu. The FLCCs will provide information at no charge to the client. Additionally, training institutes entitled Indian Bank Self Employment Training Institute will be established under the IBTRD in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Rural Impulse Fund of Belgium’s Incofin Invests in Asomi, an Indian MFI
Incofin, a Belgian private social investment company that invests in MFIs, has signed an agreement with Asomi, an MFI operating in Assam, India. Incofin’s Rural Impulse Fund, which makes debt and equity investments in rural MFIs, acquired 25% of the capital of Asomi for an undisclosed amount. The investment represents Incofin’s first entry into India.
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: India’s IDBI Bank Ltd. Increases Credit to MFIs While Orissa State Government Calls for Banks and MFIs to Meet Lending Targets
India’s state-owned Industrial Development Bank of India Limited (IDBI) has announced measures to increase the amount of credit to the microfinance industry. According to the Trading Market, the IDBI has reduced the interest rates for microenterprises, increased working capital limits, reduced the margin payment and provided softer loan terms for micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs). Loans for microenterprises have been reduced by 100 basis points from interest rates on November 30, 2008. It is also planning to grant need-based “ad hoc” working capital demand loans to MSMEs repayable in one year, as well as providing “adequate” increases in working capital limits to MSMEs.
PRESS RELEASE: INCOFIN has Realized its First Equity Participation in India in ASOMI, the Leading MFI in the State of Assam (North-Eastern India)
Source: Incofin
MICROCAPITAL EVENT: Parishkaar Advisory Services of India Hosts Three Day Training on Process Mapping For Managing Microfinance Institutions
PROCESS MAPPING TRAINING
JANUARY 6 – 8, 2009, HYDERABAD, INDIA
MICROCAPITAL EVENT: Pondicherry University’s 2009 International Conference on Indian Microfinance
JANUARY 21 TO JANUARY 23, 2009, PUDUCHERRY, INDIA
Pondicherry University’s Commerce Department will host an “International Conference on Microfinance” with support from various Indian agencies, including the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), and the National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD). The conference will be held at the Department of Commerce in the School of Management of Pondicherry University in Puducherry, India. University researchers, banking professionals, and representatives from non-governmental agencies (NGOs) and microfinance institutions (MFIs) are welcome to attend.
NEWS WIRE: India: Indian Microfinance Grows Fast But Without Purpose
Source: Business Today.
NEWS WIRE: India: Big Microfinance Firms Taking Over Clients of Smaller Players
Source: Live Mint .
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Cisco, SIDBI and TREC-STEP Partner to Create ICT Entrepreneurship Pilot Project in Tamil Nadu, India
A unique information and communications technology (ICT) entrepreneurship development programme will be launched in the Tamil Nadu state in the South-eastern part of India. The project will be run through a partnership between Cisco Systems, the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and Tiruchirappalli Regional Engineering College-Science and Technology Entrepreneurs Park (TREC-STEP). Each partner will play an active role in the pilot programme, with SIDBI providing finance to small ICT businesses in India which will be run by former and current Cisco Networking Academy students. Cisco will subsidize the interest repayment and guarantee fees on the loans and TREC-STEP will provide customized training and mentoring to participants.
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: Nirantara Community Services, Arohan, and Sanghamithra Rural Financial Services Win National Awards at the PlaNet Finance India’s 2008 Microfinance Process Excellence Awards
The nineteen awardees of the Royal Bank of Scotland and PlaNet Finance India’s Microfinance Process Excellence Awards were announced recently at a conference in Delhi. They were the third annual awards and the winners for the awards were selected from a pool of 67 nominees, which were shortlisted after receiving applications from the initial pool of applicants. The award winners were announced at the Microfinance India Summit 2008, held Nov. 11th to 13th in New Delhi. National winners for the three categories of awards were Nirantara Community Services, Arohan, and Sanghamithra.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Indian Microfinance Org Cashpor Adopts ClassifEye Secure Mobile Transactions Solution
ClassifEye, a developer of secure fingerprint authentication technology, announced that Cashpor India, an Indian microfinance institution (MFI), has adopted ClassifEye’s camera-phone-based transactions and authentication solution. Casphor hopes to broaden its customer base and allow their agent-serviced customers to improve their financial reach. Cashpor India is piloting the service in parts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.