CONTENTS:- 1. Introduction. 2. Why intervene in credit markets? 3. Roots of microfinance: Roscas and credit cooperatives. 4. Group lending. 5. Beyond group lending. 6. Savings and insurance. 7. Gender. 8. Measuring impacts. 9. Subsidy and sustainability. 10. Managing microfinance.
DESCRIPTION
Access to finance by the poor and vulnerable groups is a prerequisite for poverty reduction and social cohesion. This has to become an integral part of our efforts to promote inclusive growth. In fact, providing access to finance is a form of empowerment of the vulnerable groups. Financial inclusion denotes delivery of financial series at an affordable cost to the vast sections of the disadvantaged and low income groups. The various financial services include credit, savings insurance and payments and remittance facilities. The objective of financial inclusion is to extend the scope of activities of the organized financial system to include within its ambit people with low incomes. Through graduated credit, the attempt must be to lift the poor from one level to another so that the come out of poverty.
