In a significant step towards foolproof monitoring of micro finance institutions (MFIs) and gaining first-hand information on multiple lending, excessive rural indebtedness and irregularities in the sector, the state government has constituted four working committees that would integrate various databases of SHG bank linkage, ration cards & borrowers' data being submitted by MFIs on a priority. These committees would create and maintain the website on MFIs and also help in responding...

The Gujarat High Court has ordered the state government to submit the details of schemes, if any, to identify Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and Mahila Mandals that can buy grains and prepare food for children and pregnant mothers attending the 48,000 aanganwadi centres in the state. The order follows a suo-motu petition that questioned the implementation of several Central schemes for the poor, including why the state government had roped in a...

The Centre is planning to impose a ceiling of 18 per cent on the interest rate charged by MFIs on loans to SHGs. This was indicated by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to Chief Minister K. Rosaiah during a telephonic conversation recently. Disclosing this at a media conference here on Monday, Minister for Rural Development V. Vasanth Kumar and Minister for Agriculture N. Raghuveera Reddy said Mr. Mukherjee informed that the...

The Commonwealth Games were no showcase, but a mirror of India 2010. If they presented anything, it was this — Indian crony, casino capitalism at its most vigorous. The Commonwealth Games over, we can now return to those of everyday Indian life. For all the protests, though, there was nothing in the corruption that marked the Games that does not permeate every town and city, all the time. Just that, in...

The accumulated interest collected by microfinance institutions (MFIs) on loans shall not exceed the principal amount, according to the much-awaited ordinance promulgated by Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan here on Friday to put a check on their activities. However, the interest rate chargeable by the MFIs finds no mention in the ordinance as the government is of the view that this falls under the purview of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), according...