Credit scoring is perceived as an important innovation for microfinance institutions in managing the credit risk of their clients. Increase in defaults has necessitated microfinance institutions to improve their credit analysis by incorporating objective procedures. Various studies have confirmed that credit scoring can increase efficiency and reduce costs for microfinance. However, the take up...

Distributing loan using group lending method is one of the unique features in microfinance, as it utilises peer monitoring and dynamic incentive to lower credit risks in extending collateral-free loan to the poor. However, many microfinance institutions (MFIs) eventually perceive it to be costly and restricting loan growth thereby resorted to individual lending method to enhance profitability. ...

Most of the world’s poor face large risks, which affect their investment decisions and contribute to the perpetuation of poverty (Karlan et al. forthcoming). In this context, insurance products targeted at the poor are seen as having substantial promise, as opportunities both to make profit and to improve efficiency and social welfare. The marketing of insurance products to the poor has faced t...

This paper focuses on the banking correspondent’s network as social innovation NETWORK. We argue that banking correspondents are contributing to achieve societal goals of reducing poverty under conditions of knowledge sharing of microfinance technologies among social relevant groups. More specifically, we are looking at how to propagate bank’s microfinance services within low-income communities...

Microfinance is considered a better solution for the fight against poverty. It allows integration of excluded into productive activity. The current challenge MFIs (microfinance institutions) to seek their durability and sustainability, in order be able achieve objective. Sustainability can defined as ability institutions maintain sustainability actions. assessed through three dimensions, namely...

Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) face unique challenges since it must achieve a double bottom line— outreach and sustainability. So is microfinance worthwhile or worthless? The proper performance measurement framework here is a better way to judge this than a simple measure of numbers. This paper seeks to present, to MFIs, a new rigorous performance measurement framework that incorporates the b...

India accounts for over one-third of the world's burden of lymphatic filariasis (LF). Although most coastal districts of Orissa state (eastern India) are LF-endemic, the western districts of Orissa are considered non-endemic. During a large-scale insecticide-treated bed net/microfinance trial, we tested one randomly selected adult (age 15-60 years) for LF from a random sample of microfinance-me...