An article in the Financial Times titled, “Microfinancing Spreads Beyond India’s Grassroots,” discusses recent concerns raised by some microfinance experts surrounding the increase in microlending by profit-oriented companies in India. Continue Reading »

SKS Microfinance has launched India’s first initial public offering (IPO), anticipation of which stretches at least back to a report by MicroCapital on March 29, 2010. Continue Reading »

SKS Microfinance reported it has raised INR 2.98 billion (USD 64 million) in a share allotment to 36 undisclosed anchor investors prior to its initial public offering (IPO) scheduled to open July 27, as was previously reported by MicroCapital on July 22, 2010. Continue Reading »

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ – German Technical Cooperation Center), a German government-owned international development organization, are providing technical assistance to the Philippines’ central bank in order to strengthen its supervisory and regulatory capacity for lending to small and medium-sized enterprises. A study last year by Asia Business Monitor showed that approximately 83 percent of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Philippines have experienced difficulties in accessing credit from banks. According to Will Beloe, IFC head of advisory services in the Philippines, greater support from central bank supervisors for commercial banks specializing in lending to small and medium enterprises is expected to increase credit flow to the sector. Continue Reading »

Since 2008 Saija Finance Private Limited, a nonbanking finance company with total assets of INR 11 million (equivalent to USD 240,000), has been providing microfinance services in the Indian state of Bihar, which according to a report by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), has a credit-demand supply gap of 96 percent. Continue Reading »

The State-Owned Enterprises Minister of Indonesia recently announced that state-owned banks will increase their microcredit loan targets this year to IDR 18 trillion (USD 1.9 billion) from IDR 13 trillion (USD 1.4 billion) following the government’s increase of its loan targets for micro-, small and medium-sized businesses. Continue Reading »

India’s SKS Microfinance has recently announced that it is planning to expand capacity and double employee count to 42,000 by the end of the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2011, after the initial public offering (IPO) which is scheduled for July 27, 2010, as previously reported by MicroCapital on March 29, 2010. Continue Reading »

The Quantum Group of Funds, which consists of several privately owned hedge funds based in the Netherlands and Cayman Islands and managed by George Soros through Soros Fund Management, has purchased 300,000 shares in SKS Microfinance from Yatish Trading Company Pvt Ltd, an Indian securities firm. Continue Reading »

The Finance Minister of India, Pranab Mukherjee, recently commented that mainstream financial institutions are not currently, but should be, reaching India’s poor. Continue Reading »

The government of Sri Lanka has recently approved a draft microfinance bill to set up a Microfinance Regulatory and Supervisory Authority. An article from LankaBusinessOnline.com, a Sri Lankan business news website, reports that new authority will license, register, regulate and supervise micro-finance institutions whether they are companies, non-governmental organizations or cooperative societies. Continue Reading »

Village Financial Services Private Limited (VFS), a microfinance institution (MFI) in eastern India, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), a consumer goods company based in Mumbai, India, to improve access to safe drinking water. The partnership will enable poor households to take a loan at a zero rate of interest to buy HUL’s Pureit water purifiers. Continue Reading »

The Agricultural Bank of China Limited (ABC), a state-owned bank with total assets of USD 5.6 billion as of 2009, has reportedly provided microloans of USD 12.2 billion to Chinese farmers within the first three months of 2010. Continue Reading »

Indian microfinance institutions (MFIs) have reportedly attracted private equity investment totaling INR 3.86 billion (USD 84 million) between January and June of this year – an increase of approximately 15 percent over the first half of 2009. According to unnamed “industry experts,” the increase is a result of the high profitability of the majority of Indian MFIs, brought about by the high interest rates that MFIs charge (30-60 percent per year) and high repayment rates (exceeding 95 percent). Continue Reading »

Malaysian microfinance institution (MFI), Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM), has made a claim on the “world’s highest” microcredit repayment rate of 99.2 percent. A report from the Malaysian National news agency, Bernama, also states that of the 87 AIM branches in Malaysia, 61 have 100 percent repayment rates. AIM began operations in 1987. It reports total assets of USD 232 million, a gross loan portfolio of USD 133 million and 165,000 borrowers as of 2008. Continue Reading »

As initially reported by MicroCapital on March 29, 2010, India’s SKS Microfinance has filed for an initial public offering, and it has recently announced that it is planning to raise INR 1,500 crore, or INR 15 billion (USD 317 million) through the IPO. Continue Reading »

The Sahulat Microfinance Society, an Indian social service organization, recently announced plans to establish 500 interest-free cooperative branches in India by the end of 2016. Continue Reading »

The Credit Rating and Information Services of India Ltd. (CRISIL), an Indian agency, recently announced its ‘BBB/stable’ rating for Equitas Micro Finance Private Ltd., an Indian microfinance institution. Continue Reading »

Credit Analysis and Research Limited (CARE Ratings), a rating company based in Mumbai, India, has rated the upcoming initial public offering (IPO) of SKS Microfinance, a microfinance institution (MFI) that caters to women in India, as Grade 4/5, which indicates ‘above average fundamentals.’ The grading system takes into account the company’s financial position including asset quality, capital adequacy ratio, liquidity position and access to diverse sources of institutional funding; recent industry growth; prospects for future growth; and good corporate governance practices. As reported by MicroCapital, SKS Microfinance announced its intentions to sell shares as part of a USD 250 million IPO from July 28 to July 30. Continue Reading »