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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | India's Finance Minister to Review Microfinance by Paul Beckett

India's Finance Minister to Review Microfinance by Paul Beckett

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published Published on Nov 20, 2010   modified Modified on Nov 20, 2010

Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Friday he intends to regulate but not strangle the microfinance industry, which is in crisis because of new regulations and political attacks in its biggest Indian market, the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

In comments at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi, Mr. Mukherjee said a committee of the Reserve Bank of India is looking at all aspects of microfinance, which has come under sharp criticism in Andhra Pradesh with regulators introducing new restrictions and politicians urging borrowers not to pay, leading to a dramatic drop in loan repayments.

Mr. Mukherjee said he expects to receive the committee's report by December and "I will take appropriate measures in consultation with the RBI."

"My idea is not to strangulate" the business, he said, noting that it can be an effective tool for reaching poor people with financial services who fall outside the banking mainstream. But he also suggested that interest rates on loans could be regulated and that the rate of interest should be "moderate."

He also said banks that lend to the sector are being urged to monitor their microfinance clients.

When asked whether the industry could wait weeks for his recommendations, Mr. Mukherjee replied, "I want to act quickly but at the same time I cannot hit the panic button."

Politicians in Andhra Pradesh, which accounts for as much as 35% of the Indian industry and is headquarters to its largest lenders, recently urged borrowers to stop paying amid criticism that lenders were being overly aggressive in collections.

And Andhra Pradesh, in its ordinance last month, proposed microfinance institutions register all their members with the government and decrease their interest rates, according to V. Vasant Kumar, the state's minister for rural development.


The Wall Street Journal, 19 November, 2010, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704170404575624233195046078.html


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