The Hindu : ICICI Bank's thrust on micro-finance

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004

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ICICI Bank's thrust on micro-finance

By Our Corporate Reporter

CHENNAI, MARCH 9. ICICI Bank has entered into partnerships with various microfinance institutions (MFI) and non-Government organisations (NGOs) to scale up its micro lending business. Addressing presspersons here, today, Nachiket Mor, Executive Director, ICICI Bank, said, the partnership model would provide assured source of funding to NGOs and MFIs. The bank had extended advances to the tune of Rs. 150 crores as on February 29, this year, under this scheme, Mr. Mor said.

The bank had acquired a network of self-help groups (SHGs) developed by the erstwhile Bank of Madura after its merger with ICICI Bank. Since then the SHG programme had grown substantially and 10,175 groups had been promoted reaching out to 2.03 lakh women spread across 2,398 villages, the Executive Director said.

One of the micro finance institutions, `Microcredit Foundation of India', established by K. M. Thiagarajan, former Chairman of Bank of Madura in 2002, had initiated a programme for microcredit through self-help groups.

ICICI Bank has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Microcredit Foundation to outsource SHG development, maintenance of groups, credit linkage and recovery of loans.

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