Leading micro-lender SKS Microfinance today hinted that it could move the courts if the recent Andhra Pradesh notification prohibiting collection of loan repayments on a weekly basis is not withdrawn.The notification stipulated that the periodicity of repayment by self-help group (SGH) members to MFIs should not be less than a month, even under existing loan agreements.However, microfinance institutions operating in the state have railed against the move."In the event the...

Sample some data on the microfinance performance in India: According to the data provided by www.mixmarket.org, microfinance in India reached close to 270 lakh active borrowers in 2009, with the average loan size close to Rs 8,000. This translates into total borrowing to over Rs 20,000 crore. Though this number seems large, it represents only 0.3% of our GDP. Thus, large swathes of poor, both in our villages and urban...

Several newspapers and TV channels, some of them among India’s biggest, have claimed credit for exposing the Adarsh society scam in which the who’s who of India’s defense and political establishment are involved. The scam exposes the nexus between bureaucrats, politicians and unscrupulous defense service officers. Obviously it wouldn’t be anyone’s ‘exclusive’ if so many newspapers and channels broke the news. Or else there would be one journalist who reported...

Having failed to reach an agreement with the government on the price control mechanism, Opposition parties, including the Left parties, Samajwadi Party and Telugu Desam Party, plan to oppose the contentious Seeds Bill, 2004 that the government is going to move in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday for consideration and passing. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has given notice for at least 30 amendments to the Bill on which there are major...

The Union Food and Agriculture Ministry has turned down requests from Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh for resuming export of non-basmati rice. The government has banned export of wheat and non-basmati rice from February 2, 2007 and April 1, 2008 to stabilise prices of these commodities in the domestic market and to maintain sufficient stocks for ensuring food security in the country. Not acceded to “Requests were received from the State governments of...