Search Results for: india

The Indian Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, has announced that his government will be establishing two new microfinance funds to help provide easier credit access for the nation’s poor. The two funds, the Financial Inclusion Fund and the Financial Inclusion Technology Fund, will be worth Rs 5 billion (USD 127 million) each.

The Bank of Baroda, a state-owned Indian bank, plans to establish a microfinance division as part of its strategy to service the rural areas of India that are largely unreached by financial institutions, according to Chairman and Managing Director of Bank of Baroda, Anil K. Khandelwal. As of March 2007, the Bank of Baroda had 38,000 employees and 2,700 branches in 21 countries. It had USD 36.4 billion (INR 143,146 crore or 1.43 trillion) in total assets and a return on assets (ROA) of 0.72 percent.

Birla Sun Life Insurance Company Ltd. (BSLI) has launched two microinsurance products aimed at the rural masses and the lower income urban communities in India. The organisation is a joint venture between The Aditya Birla Group, one of the largest business houses in India with a turnover close to Rs.49,440 crores (USD 12 billion) and Sun Life Financial Inc. of Canada, a leading international financial services organisation, with total assets under management of CDN 435 billion (USD 415 billion).

CapStone Financial Services Pvt Ltd., has been launched by the Development Innovations Group (DIG), a private international firm specialising in development finance. Its remit will be to provide microfinance to the urban poor. The first office is in Chennai, though the company intends to spread throughout all of India, focusing on towns with populations of over 8 million.

Shabby Apple, a designer dress company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, is releasing their new fall line of fashions, and will be donating 5 percent of its proceeds to Unitus, a non profit organization dedicated to alleviating poverty by increasing access to microfinance. The money will specifically be utilized to aid women entrepreneurs in India.

As India celebrates 60 years of independence, Usha Thorat, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) revealed that 40% of Indians do not have a bank account. Mr Thorat was speaking at the Financial Inclusion Conference 2007 in London, UK in June 2007.

The RBI, which is India’s central bank, collated nationwide data which showed that just 59% of adults have a bank account, assuming that every person has only one account. In fact the number could be far lower as the likelihood is that some individuals have multiple accounts.

Gradatim IT Ventures, a privately held IT (information technology) company with holding entities in Singapore and India, has commenced business operations in India. They have their corporate office in Bengaluru and BPU (Business Process Utility) operations based out of Chennai.

Aavishkaar Goodwell (AGI), a for-profit business development company that provides equity finance to microfinance organizations in India, is receiving USD 8 million in investments from the Netherlands Development Company (FMO), together with IFC, a member of the World Bank Group that provides financial products to build the private sector in developing countries, and global investment institution Deutsche Bank, to support the company in expanding its outreach.

Source: India PR Wire

Article available here.

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO), and Deutsche Bank today announced their joint investment in the microfinance private equity company Aavishkaar Goodwell. This investment will support the launch of up to 60 greenfield microfinance organizations and the expansion of up to 10 fast-growing microfinance institutions across India.

India’s Development Credit Bank will be expanding their services to include microfinance, in addition to increasing its focus on the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector lending.

“We want to venture into small credit and mid-ticket personal finance while continuing to serve the big customers,” Mr Gautam Vir, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer said.

Continue reading “MICROCAPITAL STORY: The Development Credit Bank of India Dives into Microfinance”

Aviva Life Insurance India, a joint venture between the Dabur Group (74%), India’s fourth largest FMCG company, and Aviva Plc (26%), the largest insurance group in the UK, announces the launch of Grameen Suraksha, a micro-insurance rural term life insurance plan for customers of BASIX, a major microfinance firm in India.
Continue reading “MICROCAPITAL STORY: Aviva Life Insurance India to Provide Micro-Insurance to BASIX customers in India, in a Plan Called Grameen Suraksha”