PM's economic advisory council chairman C Rangarajan has asked microfinance institutions (MFIs) to overhaul their "flawed" business model for sustainability.
As the Andhra crisis continues to deepen, proponents of financial inclusion might find both unexpected challenges and inspiration in a short film called 'The Future of Money'.
At Economic Editors' Conference in New Delhi, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said he has suggested to the Andhra Pradesh Government to address some stringent provisions of its recently promulgated ordinance to rein in MFIs.
Catamaran Management Services, the venture capital fund promoted by Infosys Technologies Chairman N R Narayana Murthy, is free to exit SKS Microfinance.
Stocks of most non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) were on a crash course on Wednesday, with the Reserve Bank of India excluding loans given to the sector from the priority sector list.
The year 2010 was a tumultuous one for micro-finance institutions (MFIs) in India.
At the Gurukul session, Vijay spoke about 'managing your psycho-dynamics' (a phrase Vijay claims ownership to), various ways of managing it, and why managing it plays a crucial role in an enterprise's success.
As many as 61 companies hit the primary market in the 2010-11 fiscal.
The Bill's 2007 version covered only MFIs not regulated by the Reserve Bank of India.
In the backdrop of questions on functioning of microfinance institutions (MFIs), Chief Economic Advisor to the government of India, Kaushik Basu, has called for regulating MFIs for more transparency in their loan contracts with the beneficiaries. However, he also warned that over-regulation of MFIs could imperil their survival.
According to estimates, there is a possibility of $24 billion being raised from major IPOs, including that of Coal India, SBI and Indian Oil, for the balance period of 2010-11.
The ensuing liquidity crisis has prompted many MFIs to seek a moratorium on loan repayment to banks.MFIs raise 75-80 per cent of their funds via bank borrowings, 15 per cent from equity and another 10 per cent from other sources like cash securities.
After raising Rs 1,600 crore through an initial public offer in August, the Hyderabad-based company on October 4 terminated the services of Gurumani four years ahead of the expiry of contract and named M R Rao as his successor. Gurumani had a five-year contract starting from April 1, 2009.
Bandhan Financial Services, which was given a banking licence on Wednesday, hopes to come up with a unique business model, with a mix of doorstep and retail banking.
Four Indian-Americans, including Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla, are among Forbes 400 Richest People in America, a list topped by Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
Micro-finance institutions (MFIs) are planning to take legal action against YES Bank's move to recall a part of its loans to them.
Five to six issues may hit the market if Chalet Hotels's IPO is successful and if there are no negative surprises in the Union Budget on February 1.
Bangladesh Central Bank in an order on March 2 removed Dr Muhammad Yunus as head of the bank, which he founded, citing that he had violated country's retirement age.
Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy on Wednesday said exit of his investment firm Catamaran from SKS Microfinance, which is in the thick of controversies, was legally not possible at this juncture.
Banks in India have to live by the quality of their service, not anti-competitive practices
One of India's most successful bottom-of-the-pyramid entrepreneurs parries questions on several issues that have arisen around his venture.
Gurumani have been roundly criticised for booking eye-popping profits on share sales of exercised options.
Following a spate of suicides by poor and rural people in Andhra Pradesh allegedly due to pressure from MFIs, SKS Microfinance on Friday said that as many as 17 borrowers from their firm figured in the list, but none of them were loan defaulters.
In a major management change at the top, SKS Microfinance on terminated the services of Suresh Gurumani as CEO, triggering a six per cent fall in the company's stocks.
The scheme is in the lines of Nabard's self-help group bank linkage programme, which is recognised as one of the largest microfinance programmes in the country.
Bandhan financial Services will raise funds via internal accruals.
'If the RBI blesses us with a banking licence, we would like to launch a successful bank.'
Murthy's fund, which has invested through Catamaran Management Services, will hold 1.3 per cent in the company after the IPO.
As a result of this moratorium, individuals' EMI payments of loans taken will not be deducted from their bank accounts, providing much needed liquidity to borrowers whose income has been disrupted due to the lockdown till May 31.
Looking inward, innovating for the Indian market, and IT-led innovation to make possible no-frills accounts and microfinance loans will be key elements of the medium-term strategy for corporate India.
With the mantras 'Explore, Dream, Discover,' the 17th edition of the three-day Network of Indian Professionals in North America (NetIP) conference to be held in Boston offers to the 800 participants opportunities to hear industry leaders and stalwart professors, including Gururaj 'Desh' Deshpande of Sycamore Networks; Tarun Khanna, professor at Harvard University Business School; and Vikram Akula of SKS Microfinance.
Envirofit International, an US-based non-profit organisation, has introduced a range of clean-burning and biomass-based cooking stoves , which are reaching homes in rural Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Unlike in the past, when old private banks compromised upon underwriting standards to take on the bulk, they've now realised that scaling up at the cost of quality isn't worth the while. These banks have also readjusted growth targets when required, and rebalanced books to preserve capital and asset quality.
'India has been cleaved into two by a government that has shown amazing consistency in cleaving.' 'One India is gasping for life, and the other is doing yoga and clapping from balconies and WhatsApp groups,' observes Debashish Chatterjee.
And the response it received was tremendous: About 7,200 memoranda of understanding, worth Rs 7,000 crore (Rs 70 billion), have been signed. The MoUs aim to generate more than 2,80,000 jobs in Gujarat. What's more, four major banks, including State Bank of India and Commonwealth Microfinance India from the UK, signed MoUs worth Rs 60,000 crore (Rs 600 billion) with the Gujarat government to support the SME sector.
The bank will have around 501 branches.
The top performing microfinance institutions the world over are achieving high growth and profitability.
As many as 17 Indians -- including Wadia Group chairman Jeh Wadia, SKS Microfinance CEO Vikram Akula, Bhatia Enterprises chairman Sabeer Bhatia, music composer A R Rahman, and sitar player Anoushka Shankar -- have been named the Young Global Leaders for 2008, in a list announced by the World Economic Forum on Tuesday. As many as 245 leading executives, public figures and intellectuals -- all aged 40 or younger -- were chosen from around the world by the WEF.
Increased bank interest rates and new capital adequacy norms of the Reserve Bank of India will soon weigh heavily on the poorest of the poor as microfinance institutions are also contemplating raising interest rates.
Such cold-shoulder by banks also indicates a credit freeze that is hard to overcome, unless the government comes out with credit guarantee schemes for loans given by banks. Since that is not happening, and there is no indication of that too, banks are not willing to listen to RBI prodding.
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