Using Regulation to promote Social Business: The case of IRDA

Livemint reports that India’s insurance companies (private and state-owned) are expanding rapidly in rural markets, and have topped the IRDA’s mandatory rural targets.
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) is Government of India body set-up to regulate the insurance sector, which has gone through significant liberalization in the last decade. IRDA has continuously emphasized the [...]

Maximizing efficiency in Microfinance: Interview with Equitas founder

The Hindu just published a great interview with Mr P.N. Vasudevan of Equitas Micro Finance, a start-up MFI based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Vasudevan is an interesting entrepreneur, having spent 20 years in the traditional banking industry working with Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Co Ltd and Development Credit Bank. Reading the interview, its easy to [...]

Vikram Akula of SKS Microfinance Touts Mobile Banking as the Future of Microfinance

In a recent interview with IndiaKnowledge@Wharton, Vikram Akula of SKS Microfinance touted mobile banking (conventionally used for “performing balance checks, account transactions, payments etc. via a mobile device such as a mobile phone” as the future of microfinance, but cited India’s regulatory environment as a significant limiting factor in expanding mobile banking networks (click here [...]

[TC-I Changemaker]: CGAP’s Gautam Ivatury on the linkage between technology and financial empowerment of the poor

The ThinkChange India staff is committed to providing our readers with interviews with people we believe are at the brink of something special but have for the most part been overlooked by the mainstream media. Readers will be able to see other conversations under our TC-I Changemakers tab.
This week, Vinay sat down (over the phone) [...]

TC-I FundWatch

Editor’s note: In order to more quickly provide our readers with pertinent information, ThinkChange India has created TC-I FundWatch, a regular post that summarizes important investments made by social and traditional venture capital firms that directly affect the lives of India’s poor. This way, on Tuesdays, our readers will be able to get a regular [...]

Op-Ed: Should SKS Microfinance go Public?

A recent article on www.sramanamitra.com postulates that SKS Microfinance, which offers “several microfinance options to the poor in India for a variety of businesses from agriculture and livestock purchase to basket weaving and photography,” and has to date “provided over $550 million in microcredit,” will most likely follow Compartamos’ model and go public. According [...]

MFIs tend to lose focus as they ‘evolve’

A new report released by the Women’s World Banking (WWB) observes that as many microfinance institutions transform from non-profits to traditional financial intermediaries, they tend to shift away from their original focus on helping poor women and instead focus on making larger loans a la a traditional financial institution. The results were disheartening as the [...]

TC-I Tidbits

Here is your daily dose of headlines about innovative or anti-innovative ideas from around the country:

Microfinance

ACCESS Development Services and Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development will work to build cooperation between Europe and India to assist 20 MFIs in the country.
SKS Microfinance and Bajaj Allianz will form a partnership to provide clients with insurance [...]

Headlines Digest

Microfinance: SKS Microfinance is getting serious about microinsurance, by partnering with Bajaj Allianz to provide coverage to its members. Also, ACCESS Development Services will be providing intensive capacity building support to MFIs in India, and access to loans from European cjompanies. The project is partially funded by the European commission [both stories via Microcapital]

Healthcare: [...]

Wrap it Up: Two Papers reviewed by Microcapital.org

Microcapital.org reviewed two recently released papers this week; here is a summary of those.
1. “Should Access to Credit Be a Right?” by Marek Hudon
This is a very interesting question as fields like microfinance have gained so much popularity and success. The paper takes both practical and normative approaches to this issue and frames the overall [...]

UNIFAD Seeks Innovative Remittance Proposals

The UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development is looking for innovative remittance schemes to invest $13 million into. The initiative is labeled the Financing Facility for Remittances (FFR) 2008 and the proposals need should focus on “[p]romoting innovative remittance systems and investment channels for migrants.” The objectives are the following:
* Improve remittance transmission and [...]

India’s first Social Investment Management Firm

Philanthropic giving in India is probably still in its early stages. However, given the recent economic boom, there is significant amount of wealth being generated and giving back becomes a priority. The Interface, is a Chennai based organization, which refers to itself as a ‘Social Investment Manager’:
We are dedicated Social Investment Managers who help redefine [...]

Job: Senior Associate at Unitus Equity Fund

The job, located in Bangalore, will consist of being part of a team that makes “equity investments in entrepreneurially driven microfinance institutions and related businesses that aim to create opportunities for the poor and unserved. The successful candidate must have significant transaction experience gained in a venture capital or private equity fund or in a [...]

SIMFLEX: MFI Financial Statements Made Simple and Flexible

According to Microcapital.org, Sheer Intelligence, an American technology consulting and software firm, recently launched an “online product for the creation of financial statements by microfinance institutions (MFIs)” called SIMFLEX. This product is especially relevant in light of a recent report released by the Center for the Study of Financial Innovation, which found that “management [...]

Evening Edition

Microfinance:

The Annual Policy Conference on Microfinance was held last week “to streamline India’s mircrofinance infrastructure, facilitating sustainability to support the Indian microfinance sector’s current rate of growth and provide for future growth rates.”

Accion International announced that it reached 3 million clients through 25 countries and 35 partner organizations.
Lok Capital LLC, an India focused microfinance [...]