Gram panchayats in India are independent, constitutional bodies of governance that operate at the level closest to the people or the grass-roots.

Puneet Gupta is restless and visibly excited. The last ten days have been the culmination of many days’ efforts in creating access to finance to deserving high quality Microfinance Institutions (MFIs).

The financial sector crisis in Andhra Pradesh seems to be playing out like a very bad dream that doesn’t end.

In what could become a welcome trend, the RBI has started putting out detailed discussion notes on future policy steps.

With an objective to provide a long term savings option to its customers, KGFS has added NPS-Lite (New Pension Scheme) to its product portfolio.

IFMR Capital has been assigned a long-term-rating of LA- (pronounced L A minus) for its debt programmes by ICRA. The rating, which has been assigned a ‘Stable outlook’, comes at a time when the microfinance sector is clouded by regulatory and political risk. The ratings are the amongst highest long term ratings available to any […]

Finance Matters column in The Hindu Business Line – Farzana Najeeb of Advocacy writes the fifth article in the series.

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 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.

Having understood the deep transformative potential of access to finance and the barriers to accessing it, here's a look at the fundamentals of the MFI cost structure in delivering finance.