Micro Finance And Poverty Eradication

The book emphasizes the importance of studying the local context, and then considering the macroeconomic factors which may be operating upon the economy of a particular country. Five extended case studies, in the Gambia, Ecuador, Mexico, Pakistan, and the UK are examined with reference to further aspects of sustainability and impact assessment.

Since independence in 1947, the government of India and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have made concerted efforts to provide the poor with access to credit. Despite the phenomenal increase in the physical outreach of formal credit institutions in the past several decades, India's rural poor continue to depend on informal sources of credit. Institutions have also faced difficulties in dealing effectively with a large number of small borrowers whose credit needs are small and frequent and their ability to offer collaterals is limited. Cumbersome procedures and risk perceptions of the banks have left a gap in serving the credit needs of the rural poor. This has led to a search for alternative policies, systems and procedures, saving and loan products, other complementary services, and new delivery mechanisms that would fulfill the requirements of the poor. It is in this context that micro credit has emerged as the most suitable and practical alternative to conventional banking in reaching the hitherto unreached poor population. Micro finance is the provision of a broad range of financial services - such as deposits, loans, payments, money transfers, and insurance - to the low-income households and their micro enterprises. The basic purpose of micro finance is to provide access to financial assistance, including credit to the poor, enabling them to start/expand micro enterprises and break out of poverty. Micro credit helps the poor in making available the credit and other financial services for improving their income and living standards. The micro credit program - which was formally heralded in 1992 with a modest pilot project of linking around 500 Self-help Groups - has made rapid strides in India, exhibiting considerable democratic functioning and group dynamism. The micro credit program in India is now the largest in the world. This book contains 45 scholarly papers in the field of micro finance in India, categorized in five parts: Micro Finance: General Observations . Micro Finance, Self-help Groups, and Financial Inclusion . Micro Finance, Poverty Alleviation, and Empowerment of Women . Technical Aspects of Micro Finance . Micro Finance: Case Studies in India and Abroad.

The attempt of the Grameen Bank to alleviate poverty and enhance the skills and productivity of its rural women clients provides the fascinating backdrop to this important study of micro-credit institutions. Tazul Islam examines the real extent to which the Grameen Bank's credit-alone policy has been successful in securing the Bank's financial sustainability; its practical role in alleviating poverty and its actual impact on the productivity of its clients. This book concludes by considering alternative policy options that hold out the possibility of increased poverty alleviation.

This book is an empirical study of how microfinance impacts on poverty reduction in Nigeria. The book examined conceptual issues in poverty and microfinance with focus on the nature and incidences of the poverty phenomenon, justification for the establishment and growth of microfinance in Nigeria. This book with theoretical and empirical findings investigates the previous attempts by the governments in alleviating poverty and specifically how microfinance have helped in reducing the poverty menace especially since the promulgation of the microfinance banking act in 2005 by the Central bank of Nigeria.

The founding of financial institutions in the developing countries, whose target groups are supposed to be poorer people and, in particular, income-generating micro, small-scale and medium-sized enterprises, originated in the industrialized nations. Soon after Western development policy began in the 1950s and 1960s the donors noted that investment in infrastructure was insufficient to achieve growth. Reflecting on the experiences of Europe, state or mixedenterprise development banks were founded in many developing countries with the support of various donors. The banks were to promote industrialization as a subsituation for imports, as well as farming, housing construction and regional development. Their common feature was that they combined the characteristics of a bank and a public authority. On the one hand, they managed loan holdings and handled payment transactions, and one the other they prompted development by non-repayable grants. Since these functions each followed a very different logic, the banks were required to undertake a difficult tightrope walk.

The social and economic systems of any country are influenced by a range of factors including income and education. As such, it is vital to examine how these factors are creating opportunities to improve both the economy and the lives of people within these countries. Socio-Economic Development: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications provides a critical look at the process of social and economic transformation based on environmental and cultural factors including income, skills development, employment, and education. Highlighting a range of topics such as economics, social change, and e-governance, this multi-volume book is designed for policymakers, practitioners, city-development planners, academicians, government officials, and graduate-level students interested in emerging perspectives on socio-economic development.