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Viewpoint: Why Microfinance Is an Ugly Word in India’s Villages
Vidarbha, the cotton bowl of India - which has been periodically witnessing the spectre of suicide with farmers plagued by unmanageable debts taking their lives - is now back in news for almost similar reasons. This time, in the centre of the storm are microfinance institutions. Borrowers in four districts - Nagpur, Amravati Yavatmal and Wardha - have started defaulting on their loans, egged on by politicians.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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Tanzania: 86% Are Financially Included, a New Twaweza Study Says
The number of Tanzanian adults who have access to financial services has increased to 86 per cent compared with 16 per cent recorded in 2009, a new study reveals.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Opportunity International Sells Share of Rwanda’s Largest Microfinance Bank to HOPE International
Opportunity International and its affiliates in Canada and Germany have completed a share purchase agreement to sell its 50 percent ownership of Urwego Opportunity Bank (“Urwego”) to HOPE International, a network of Christ-centered microenterprise development programs in 16 countries.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Could Trump’s Election Be Good News For The Underbanked?
On the surface, the incoming Trump administration looks like a disaster for consumer activists. After eight years of successfully pressing the government to back financial protections for consumers, they could see their work quickly unravel in January.
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- Uncategorized
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Islamic Banking has No Relevance in India: Union Finance Ministry
The Union Finance Ministry said Friday that Islamic banking was not relevant any more in achieving the objectives of financial inclusion as the government has already introduced programmes like Jan Dhan Yojana and Suraksha Bima Yojna for all citizens towards that end.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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Vodafone launches M-Pesa Pay feature to enable merchants in India to receive mobile money payments
With an eye on the spurt in cashless transactions which will come about after the Government's demonetisation move, second largest telco Vodafone today launched a special feature on its mobile wallet to enable merchants for receive payments.
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- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Microcredit isn’t dead
The concept — reducing poverty in impoverished countries by giving very small loans to people without collateral — was once the most promising innovation in development economics. But after its inception in the early 1980s and its subsequent explosion in the following decades, one thing was missing: results.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
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3 Lessons to Guide Designing Better Financial Tech For The Developing World
On a recent development project in Pakistan, researchers and designers watched closely as a woman picked up a smartphone and opened an app. For someone with a low literacy level, and who had never used a mobile money app, she moved across the screens with surprising ease.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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