Seven Indian micro-finance companies have made it to the top 50 in the Forbes list. A World Bank study found that in rural households in Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, 59% lack access to deposit account and 78% lack access to credit. There are 360 million "poor" households, both rural and urban, as the potential customer base for micro finance institutions to reach.
Still much of the microfinance action is happening in South India, mainly Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. But just in the last five or so years micro finance has moved from the periphery of the financial sector to the forefront. As Forbes puts it "even philanthropy aimed at alleviating poverty can be profitable".
In India, in Andhra Pradesh the three MF institutions, Share, SKS and Spandana, has extended from servicing about 1 lakh families to more than 15 lakh families today. Almost all major financial organizations, ICICI, Citi Group, HDFC, SIDBI, Grameen Group, have a share in the pie.
Empowerment of the poor seems to have become the buzz word globally. One just has to wait and see where this leads to in another 10 years time. The transformation of this nation depends on the power being passed on to the farmer, the small entrepreneur, 'the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker'.
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