Much – too much – is hoped for from the Indian Microfinance Bill.  But this is nothing new in the global annals of microfinance.  For more than a decade stakeholders across the spectrum in countries around the world have pinned hopes on ‘just the right microfinance regulation’ solving problems only indirectly affected by regulatory policy.  [...]

The draft Indian Microfinance Institutions (Development and Regulation) Bill 2011 has been made available by the Central Government for comments. The bill has been under preparation for a long time and in its last avatar left out the for-profit Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) outside its ambit completely.  However, in its new avatar, the bill appears to [...]

The draft Microfinance Bill placed by the Ministry of Finance on its website on 6 July 2011 represents a major step forward in the government’s engagement with the microfinance sector.   In the first main paragraph of its circular of 3 May 2011 the Reserve Bank of India made a clear statement of the decision to [...]

The Government of India promised a new draft microfinance legislation, and it has delivered.  The consultative process adopted, the work done by the Malegam Committee, and the regulations issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the participation of the lenders, practitioners and others have made the draft comprehensive and well-rounded.  The Andhra Pradesh [...]

India’s microfinance bill is a very positive development for the microfinance sector because it brings the sector into the ambit of organized financial services. It continues the process initiated by the Malegam Committee Report earlier this year and then followed by the first set of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulations on May 3, 2011. [...]