MicroCredit Gone Bust
Not sure where our esteemed city leaders are in their contemplation of forking over $200K to help jump start a local microcredit Grameen America branch in the Queen City, but they might want to check out what’s happening in India before they start doling out taxpayer loot.
This from The New York Times:
MADOOR, India – India’s rapidly growing private microcredit industry faces imminent collapse as almost all borrowers in one of India’s largest states have stopped repaying their loans, egged on by politicians who accuse the industry of earning outsize profits on the backs of the poor.
….
The region’s crisis is likely to reverberate around the globe. Initially the work of nonprofit groups, the tiny loans to the poor known as microcredit once seemed a promising path out of poverty for millions. In recent years, foundations, venture capitalists and the World Bank have used India as a petri dish for similar for-profit “social enterprises” that seek to make money while filling a social need.
Granted, Charlotte-Mecklenburg isn’t North Bihar on the Catawba, at least not yet. But still, just saying.
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