The microfinance bubble has burst. The AP government ordinance, the AP oppositionfs campaign asking borrowers not to repay and the sheer public hostility towards MFIs . all these have put the brakes on MFI activities for now. We need to rethink the role of MFIs in the rural economy . In order to do so, we must first grasp some of the myths on which the MFI sector has rested...

The term “bottom of the pyramid” (BOP), coined by the late C K Prahalad, became wildly attractive in the early noughties, in part because the concept, which suggests that it is possible and legit to make money from the poor, provided a leavening justification for the animal spirits of capitalism in poor countries like India and China with their growing list of Forbes billionaires. On the verge of the second decade...

The poster boy of microfinance is now seeking some anonymity. In Andhra Pradesh, the epicentre of the worst crisis faced by microfinance in India, SKS Microfinance is playing down its identity and going into preservation mode. At its modest office in a residential colony in Warangal district, India’s largest microfinance company has taken down its board. At its head office in upmarket Begumpet in Hyderabad, it hung a cloth mesh...

The heat on telecom minister A Raja is rising, with the Comptroller and Auditor General holding him personally responsible for the sale of 2G spectrum at dirt cheap rates in 2008, resulting in a loss of up to Rs 1.70 lakh crore to the national exchequer. The damning indictment stacks the odds even higher against Raja, who is already under intense scrutiny by the telecom watchdog, civil society and the Supreme...

“G20 nations must create 21 million jobs each year over next decade” Positive employment growth found in all countries in 2010: ILO analysis But it has not been strong enough to reverse the slack accumulated during economic crisis Though many countries including India are limping back to normality after facing economic slowdown over the past few years, the unemployment graph is still moving up and has touched an all-time high of 210 million...