Microfinance is an effective tool for financial inclusion. Here are some elements of the recently embattled sector The recent controversy surrounding the microfinance sector has entirely eclipsed the fact that it is the first effort in India to have delivered financial services to remote corners of the country in a self-sustaining manner. The stakes are high for India’s poor, and we have to pave the way for orderly growth in the...
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UIDAI to capitalise on financial inclusion plan by Kirtika Suneja
Getting rural India to register for Aadhaar, the unique identification number scheme, is going to be a rewarding experience for banks. Leveraging on the government’s financial inclusion agenda, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has decided to pay Rs 50 per enrolment to banks and Life Insurance Corporation of India, which are acting as its registrars, for signing up residents till March 2011. Besides, any person who is below...
More »Nabard objects to proposal on business houses taking over RRBs by Dinesh Unnikrishnan
Even before the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) finalizes the guidelines for handing out new bank licences, its draft proposal has evoked unease in the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), which oversees the country’s 82 regional rural banks (RRBs). Nabard has taken exception to the banking regulator’s proposal to allow industrial houses to take over RRBs and convert them into full-fledged banks, saying such a move could dilute...
More »Smart cards for NREGA, pension beneficiaries
As part of its financial outreach programme in tune with national priority, city-based private sector Karnataka Bank Limited is all set to launch KBL-Empower Biometric smart card at Babbur in Hiriyur taluk of Chitradurga district on Wednesday. P Jayarama Bhat, managing director of the Bank, will launch the card in the presence of Range Gowda, CEO, Chitradurga ZP who will distribute the card to the beneficiaries. With this, the bank is...
More »The narcissism of the neurotic by P Sainath
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...
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