NABARD could become a regulator for Indian microfinance sector

Microfinance Focus, Oct 25, 2010: The finance ministry could move a bill in the winter session of Parliament that will make NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) responsible for regulation of all non-profit microfinance institutions structured as trusts, cooperatives, or mutual benefit societies, an Economic Times report said.  

The new law will treat microfinance as a separate business and will also consider bringing non-banking finance companies in the microfinance sector under the ambit of the legislation, the report says.

The move has come in the wake of recent developments in Andhra Pradesh where a special ordinance was passed by the state government to put a check on coercive lending practices of microfinance institutions following a series of suicide cases in the state by microfinance borrowers

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