KHETI BARI

MFI in crisis, at the moment

With the sacking of Gurumani, CEO of SKS MicroFinance and the change in guard has become headline for many Business dailies and thw matter is yet to be settled with it going to the court. And many of the clarifications issued on behalf of SKS, but the things are far from the pacification mode and raised the very doubts of orivate sector's participation in the financing, that too at the ground level to the naive and illiterate people. For another jolt as a reverberation of almost the same event, the Andhra Govt vowed to make the days harder for the institutions, due to many fradulant practices and wrongful way of recovery. AP is only considered as the birthplace of MF activities in recent past and then later only the movment has further moved to other parts of Eastern & Southern India, where these agengies almost become moving force for the small and marginal farmers and rural artisans. MFIs might have transformed many a lives but the apprehensions can't be denied on any account, as there is mushrooming of the MFI all throughout, without any Govt watchdog and, exclusive legislation for nailing down the guilty, in case of defaults and fradulent reports. Earlier NGOs did the same and now the practice has been extended to the MFIs but this case may prove to be another stint of mass-suicides, on par with Vidarbha and many other drier tracts of the country.