Recently, traditional income generating activities, specifically those associated with self help groups (SHGs), have gained acclaim as effective tools for poverty alleviation. The assumption is that if, for example, Sunita, a woman from an agricultural community in Gujarat,…

Livemint reports that India’s insurance companies (private and state-owned) are expanding rapidly in rural markets, and have topped the IRDA’s mandatory rural targets.

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) is Government…

The Hindu just published a great interview with Mr P.N. Vasudevan of Equitas Micro Finance, a start-up MFI based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Vasudevan is an interesting entrepreneur, having spent 20 years in the traditional banking industry working with…

In a recent interview with IndiaKnowledge@Wharton, Vikram Akula of SKS Microfinance touted mobile banking (conventionally used for performing balance checks, account transactions, payments etc. via a mobile device such as a mobile phone) as the future…

The ThinkChange India staff is committed to providing our readers with interviews with people we believe are at the brink of something special but have for the most part been overlooked by the mainstream media. Readers will be able to…

Editor’s note: In order to more quickly provide our readers with pertinent information, ThinkChange India has created TC-I FundWatch, a regular post that summarizes important investments made by social and traditional venture capital firms that directly affect the lives of…

A recent article on www.sramanamitra.com postulates that SKS Microfinance, which offers “several microfinance options to the poor in India for a variety of businesses from agriculture and livestock purchase to basket weaving and photography,”…

A new report released by the Women’s World Banking (WWB) observes that as many microfinance institutions transform from non-profits to traditional financial intermediaries, they tend to shift away from their original focus on helping poor women and instead focus…

Here is your daily dose of headlines about innovative or anti-innovative ideas from around the country:

• Microfinance
  • ACCESS Development Services and Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development will work to build cooperation between Europe and India

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• Microfinance: SKS Microfinance is getting serious about microinsurance, by partnering with Bajaj Allianz to provide coverage to its members. Also, ACCESS Development Services will be providing intensive capacity building support to MFIs in India, and access to

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