Microfinance News Synopsis: Rich I.P.O. Brings Controversy to SKS Microfinance

Microfinance Focus, July 30, 2010: Microfinance News Synopsis brings a compilation of industry headlines broadcasted by other news media from across the world.

Rich I.P.O. Brings Controversy to SKS Microfinance: An Indian company with rich American backers is about to raise up to $350 million in a stock offering closely watched by philanthropists around the world, showing that big profits can be made from small helping-hand loans to poor cowherds and basket weavers. The company, SKS Microfinance, is one of the biggest players in the field known as microfinance, which involves loans, often as small as $20,that banks might consider too tiny and risky to bother with. SKS was set up as what philanthropists call a “social enterprise” — a business based on the concept of doing well by doing good. And there is no question that the company’s 41-year-old Indian-American founder, Vikram Akula, and investors who include prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalists will do very well indeed from the I.P.O. [The New York Times]

SBI ties up with Oxigen: State Bank of India on Thursday tied up with Oxigen Services Pvt. Ltd. and its supported company Sahyog Microfinance Foundation to offer banking services by connecting directly to SBI’s core banking system by Oxigen web retailers. Existing web enabled Oxigen retailers will be appointed as customer service points of Sahyog Micro Finance Foundation, a business correspondent to SBI, to carry out banking transactions on behalf of the bank. “This kiosk-based banking model will provide the necessary ease and comfort to customers in all parts of India with inherent benefits like flexi timings and reach through current Oxigen footprint of over 20,000 web enabled retailers. This localisation of retail banking services is much needed for financial inclusion of the unbanked population in both rural and urban India [The Hindu]

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