GRAMEEN BANK and also MICROFINANCE

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The Grameen bank has received worldwide attention for offering loans to ultra-poor ladies to start up "micro-enterprises." the founder Muhammad Yunus has actually been praised in ~ home and abroad by politicians and also financiers together the "banker to the poor." "Grameen" is the Bangla (Bengali ) word because that "Village” or “Rural.” proponents for microfinance to speak the concept and system it has achieved much. They to speak that prolonging credit to the bad has fostered little businesses, helped promote gender equality, lifted incomes, and improved access to food and also education for some of the world"s most desperate citizens.
Microfinance has actually excelled at getting a most money come a most borrowers quickly, disrupting established networks of power and patronage in the process. In 2009, an ext than 128 million of the world"s poorest family members took microloans - up from just 7.6 million in 1997 - and also investment funds for microfinance totaled end $11 billion, according to a Microcredit Summit Campaign.
Jacques Attali composed in the Christian science Monitor, “Grameen financial institution is unrivaled in the human being of classic banks. The workers care tremendously about helping the poor, every spending practically a year living among the population they space going come serve. Through the organization being for this reason intimately associated with the precepts that its founder, the leadership transition has to be taken on with great care.”
Bangladesh’s federal government owns 25 percent of Grameen while customers hold the balance. It lends to its 8.35 million clients, of which 97 percent space women and more than 112,000 beggars, making use of funds indigenous its deposits. The financial institution employs 26,000 people and has 2,565 branches throughout the South oriental nation, whereby the Asian development Bank estimates almost fifty percent the populace of 144 million stays on much less than $1.25 a day. Grameen has lent $10.3 billion due to the fact that it began operations in 1976 and also had a loan recovery rate of 97 percent as of the finish of February, follow to the lender’s website.
Book: The Price that a Dream: The Story of the Grameen Bank and also the Idea the is help the bad to readjust Their stays by David Bornstein (1998, Simon & Schuster).
Mohammed Yunus and also Early background of the Grameen Bank

Yunus returned to Bangladesh in 1971 ~ it became independent and also took a position at Chittagong University, where he motivated students to close your books and also study village life. ~ the great flood and famine in Bangladesh in 1975 Yunus started visiting villages near Chittagong.
Yunus reportedly got the because that Grameen idea one afternoon in 1976. He took a walk come a town a mile or so away from Chittagong University, whereby was head the the department by that time, and also he ran into an old woman selling bamboo stools who said she made just two cent a work from she business. When Yunus asked her why he made for this reason little. The mrs told Yunus she required loans come buy materials and also said the person who lent she money to be the same human who purchase her last product. The buyer bought her stools in ~ an artificially low price, maintaining the woman perpetually in debt, in a sort of town version the indentured servitude. . Yunus gave the woman and also 47 various other villagers loan of $27. All of them paid him back.
Yunus and also his students did surveys in various other villages and found the villagers had virtually no funding to invest in their business and also were thus quickly manipulated by moneylenders and middlemen who bought their products. Yunus initially offered out the loans in one town from a tea stall. Over time the system advanced into micro-financing.
History that the Grameen Bank

The Grameen financial institution was unofficially founded in 1977. In 1978, Yunus and also some the his graduate students opened up the very first branches the the BANK. The financial institution expanded by operation from unique windows in standard banks.
In 1983 Yunus formally founded the Grameen bank. In the year the financial institution became a different entity, v 86 branches, 58,000 clients and support indigenous the joined Nations, the Ford structure and the Bangladesh Bank. As time walk the financial institution grew really quickly and also received global attention. Through 1988, it had actually 501 branches and also 490,000 borrowers.
explicate the Grameen financial institution headquarters in Dhaka in the mid 1990s, David Bornstein composed in Atlantic Monthly, the office has "no receptionist, no carpets, no elevators, and few telephones. The rooms room equipped with ceiling fans, manual typewriters, paperweights and stacks the ledgers. Only the computer room ~ above the fifth floor has air conditioning."
as of 1998, the Grameen bank had 1,050 branches and had loaned much more than $2 billion. The employed 10,000 university and high school graduates scattered throughout the country.By 2000 Grameen had provided out loan to 2.4 million borrowers, largely women, in 39,000 villages. Together of 2001, the bank had given out $3 billion precious of loans in Bangladesh.
In 1986, bill Clinton, then branch of Arkansas, invited Yunus come the unified States. Clinton wanted to establish a similar banking mechanism in Arkansas. The 2 men ended up being friends. End the years Yunus has won a variety of awards consisting of 1993 care Humanitarian award for advancement and the 1994 civilization Food Prize.
Philosophy of the Grameen Bank and Skepticism the Its Success

The target of Grameen-style program is to get local world to run businesses and keep castle going ~ the help agencies have left. Grameen financial institution proverb is: "If you offer a guy a fish you feed him for a day. If girlfriend teach him to fish, you feed him because that a lifetime.” another objective of Grameen-style program is to improve the condition of women and aid them begin businesses so they delay having children and don"t contribute to overpopulation.
Yunas said Atlantic Monthly, "You look in ~ the tiniest village, and also the tiniest human being in that village, a really capable person, a really intelligent person. You only have actually to develop the ideal environment to assistance these human being so that they can adjust their lives."
before the Grameen bank came along villagers were compelled to lend money from moneylenders who charge together high interest rates (10 to 20 percent a week) the all the profits a villager makes ends increase going to the moneylender, This means villagers have no money to get ahead or boost their her businesses. Yunus has referred to as the moneylender catch "a type of external inspection labor."
Yunas emerged three key criteria because that borrowers: 1) the loans had actually to it is in repaid ~ above time: 2) only the poorest, landless villagers to be eligible ;and 3) most of the money would be lent come women."
Erika Kinetz created in AP in 2011, “Evaluations i beg your pardon benchmark results against control groups so much haven"t uncovered evidence the microloans alone are sufficient to solve the complex problems the the deep poor. Still, numerous warn the a human being without microfinance would certainly be much worse off.”
"Microcredit is a an excellent thing but has been oversold," stated Yale professor Dean Karlan, that authored one together study. "It will certainly not raise world out that poverty, certainly not single-handedly. However there are benefits that room important."
Grameen Bank and Women

Yunus told Newsweek, "Initially us tried to uncover equal number of men and women borrowers...Then us realized than countless positive things can be completed by loan to women because when a woman"s earnings increases, the instant beneficiaries space the children. A woman looks to the future with a to plan strategy to enhance the household situation. Guys don"t pay attention to together things. Due to the fact that women performed better in bringing changes to the family, we made decision to provide priority come women."
together for the husband of ladies borrowers Yunas stated "At first...men ere angry v their wives for managing money. Us tried to show them the it is good if the wife contributes to the family members income: that way the family might move out of poor faster...So the the husband does no feel humiliated the his mam gets the money, we have
Grameen Bank additionally pursued a social agenda v its females borrowers, After many women obtain their money castle recite the following pledge: "We shall plan to store our family members small. We shall keep totally free from the curse of dowry. Us shall not practice child marriage." In Bangladesh double as countless Grameen financial institution women use contraceptives together the national average.
Grameen financial institution Loans

One reason for the bank’s success is its device of self-regulation, Everyone who takes out a loan becomes a member the a five-person take out loan group, a 40-member center and attend meetings every week. Groups share obligation for the loan repayments and defaults.
If one member the the group stops working to salary the entire group loses your loan. This means that members are mindful to pick new members who, there is no fail, will certainly pay back their loans. If all five members repay their loan quickly they are guaranteed access to credit transaction for the remainder of your lives,
Loan programs operation by help agencies have actually not to be as effective as those run strictly choose a bank. When the Grameen bank’s attention rates---often 25 percent or more---may seem high they room infinitely far better than prices of up to 1,000 percent charged by neighborhood moneylenders and also loan sharks.
Microfinancing and also Businesses started with Grameen bank Loans

numerous women purchase Nokia cellular phones through their loans. By marketing calls at about 10 cents a minute they deserve to make about $2.00 a day ($700 a year) in profit and pay earlier the loan in 3 years. Rwanda’s farming minister Agnes Kalibata, , who has actually helped set up micro-financing because that female farmers and given them access to markets and co-operatives,
Micro-financing bodies room playing a crucial role in setup up alternate energy sources in villages. Praddep Dadhich that the power research institute TERU told Reuters, “They room reaching human being who otherwise have restricted or no accessibility to electricity and also depend ~ above kerosene, diesel or firewood because that their power needs...The applications not only accomplish these needs, they additionally improve the quality of life and also reduce the carbon footprint.”
Grameen Phones

GrameenPhone Ltd was started in 1996 in Bangladesh through the aid of a Norwegian telephone agency after a Bangladeshi expat living in the U.S. Called Iqbal Quadir posed a inquiry to Grameen founder Muhammed Yunus: if friend can offer a micro-loan to a woman to purchase a cow why can not you offer her one come invest in a phone. The firm focused on 2 sectors: 1) city customers and 2) village phone schemes in i beg your pardon people---mostly town women---took out tiny loans to acquisition cell phones and they in turn sold time on cell phones come others.
GrameenPhone Ltd do a pre-tax profit of $27 million after only 5 years in business and also attracted almost $200 million in invest as that 2002. By the mid 2000s, the mechanism employed 250,000 “phones ladies”, who offered microcredit loans to buy specially-designed cabinet phone kits costing about $150 outfit v special long-lasting batteries. The ladies often operate in towns as phone operators who charge a small commission to make and receive calls. By the late 2000s, GrameemPhone to be pulling in annual revenues the $1 billion a year.
similar systems have actually been collection up in Indonesia, Rwanda, Uganda, Cameroon and other countries. Quadir, that is now at MIT, called the brand-new York times magazine, “Poor countries are bad because they space wasting their resources. One source is time, another is opportunity. Allows say you have the right to walk end to five people who live in your prompt vicinity, it is one thing. Yet if you’re connected to one million people, your possibilities space endless.”
Profits and also Benefits from Grameen financial institution Loans

The Grameen Bank likewise helps villagers to obtain loans come buy medicine, pay for their children"s education and build houses, they are likewise involved in setup up village-based health-care, pension and also insurance systems.
The Grameen financial institution make a profit yet some regarded the profits as no "real" since Grameen receives funding at low rates from international help groups and the financial institution of Bangladesh. Beginning in the 1990s Grameen started borrowing money at interest rates paid by normal companies and also was authorize bonds.
Grameen retained going ~ the 1991 cyclone-flood. It experienced in 1998 when a irreversible flood destroyed the enterprise of many people and also made them unable to pay earlier their loans. At that time Grameen was required to lend $100 millon from the World bank to continue to be afloat.
Influence the the Grameen Bank and Growth the Microfinancing
Grameen financial institution has launched a transformation in the method towards advance and noted a model for "microcredit" programs almost everywhere the 3rd World. By 2001 the Grameen bank idea had actually spawned 7,000 comparable banks.
tranquility Corps workers have set up credit unions which begin with one farmer being given crop and also fertilizer loans. If the loan is payment back, various other villagers obtain loans. The idea is that peer pressure will aid prevent the farmer from squandering his money ~ above something other than seed and fertilizer.
much more and more large banks, pension funds and also private equity firms are acquiring into micro financing and also are investing billions the dollars in it. People in the breakthrough field welcome the money, enhanced competition and brand-new financial services offered but likewise worry the the trend will certainly put profits ahead of help the poor and exploit the poor and also put lock in debt.
Erika Kinetz wrote in AP in 2011, In India, government lending programs for the bad in India have been shedding ground come microfinance groups. In 2007, state-backed self-help groups, which connect local borrowers through banks, sometimes at subsidized attention rates, included 8.5 million clients, when microfinance groups included 3.2 million. 2 years later, self-help groups included just 6.7 million clients, when microfinance groups included 8.5 million, follow to M-CRIL, one Indian micro-credit rating agency.
Problems because that Grameen Bank and also Microfinancing

officials in Andhra Pradesh are preparing to prosecute 51 situations of suicide allegedly linked to coercive microfinance groups. On the other hand the central bank is considering brand-new regulations i m sorry would, among other things, cap microfinance interest rates. "Irresponsible lending leading to multiple loan without early diligence, incompetent loans for consumption and consumer durables, absence of transparency in operations, usurious interest rates, coercive restore practices, have actually all brought about hyper-profits to microfinance institutions and also impoverishment of the poor," R. Subrahmanyam, principal Secretary the Rural development in Andhra Pradesh, told AP.
movie critics say the industry has grown too quickly for its very own good, v too lot rapaciousness and also too tiny regulation. The has cultivated a break down in loan discipline, through multiple loan to overextended borrowers, and enabled some unscrupulous players to thrive.The dispute has struggle the heartland that microfinance in southern Asia hard. Together India prepares fees in 51 cases of self-destruction allegedly attached to coercive microfinance institutions, microfinance"s starting father, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, is fighting to organize onto his place as head that Grameen financial institution in a Bangladeshi court.
Crackdowns top top Microfinance
Shashi Tharoor composed in the Christian scientific research Monitor, In November 2010 “Andhra Pradesh, one of India’s many populous states, cracked down heavily on exclusive microfinance organizations (PMFIs), banning countless of their activities and telling borrowers they walk not must repay your loans. State authorities said they were prompted to take it decisive activity by a spate the suicides by borrowers who were unable to pay your debts. Roughly 80 clients were reported to have taken their very own lives last year---an alarming figure, though tiny loved one to the 26.7 million active borrowers native PMFIs in India.

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One school that received unwelcome attention was SKS Microfinance, when a poster kid for the PMFIs, which had done for this reason well and grown so large that its initial public giving last year to be oversubscribed 13-fold and raised $350 million. The earnings paid to its top executives---as a reward, essentially, because that lending efficiently to the poorest that the poor---were excoriated through leaders throughout India’s politics spectrum. SKS’ Chairman, Vikram Akula, supposedly made $13 million by marketing some that his shares critical year. Is that moral, critics asked, to profit so much from giving services that mitigate poverty?
Defenders that Microfinancing blame a couple of Bad Apples and also Vested politics Interests
Shashi Tharoor wrote in the Christian science Monitor, “But the counter-argument is that professionally-run personal microcredit is far better than no credit at all---the situation most of the poor confront. State financial institutions are claimed to loan generously come India’s rural poor, however their operations space mired in inefficiency and also corruption. Loans regularly require bribes, and the banks’ actions are bewildering to the unlettered. Timeless moneylenders room the just alternative, and they extort far much more than 30 percent a year---often in ~ the point of a knife, or worse.”
"To stifle whole industry is wrong," stated Vikram Akula, chief executive, management of SKS Microfinance, whose listing ~ above India"s stock industry last year sparked fierce debate around how lot profit is justifiable as soon as helping the poor. "It is the negative who will ultimately suffer the most if they need to return to town loan sharks for financial services."
part say the the impressive growth and also success the microfinancing triggered a backlash native vested politics interests. "The poor is a constituency politicians see together their own turf," stated Alok Prasad, chief executive of India"s Microfinance establishments Network, whose 46 members represent around 85 percent the the loan in the sector in India. "Anything which leader to higher empowerment that the poor makes castle insecure."
Erika Kinetz composed in AP in 2011, “In India, part say pandering because that voters, corruption and also competition v a state-backed lending program aided spark a crackdown the has basically frozen microlending in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, India"s most important microfinance market. The main bank had to step in to try and avoid microfinance institutions from walking bankrupt.