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Urban Microfinance in India:Issues and Challenges


Affiliations
1 Department of Economics, Motilal Nehru College (Morning), University of Delhi, Delhi, India
     

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With the rapidly growing rural urban migration and increasing settlement of the poor in the cities and town in search of avenues of livelihood, access to adequate and timely finance by urban poor has become an imperative need. This has resulted in shift from earlier total focus on rural poverty to a balanced view that includes urban poverty as well. Urban microfinance, thus has caught immense attention of the policy makers and financial institutions. The size of urban microfinance market has increased significantly and number of players has considerably expanded. With its growing coverage and outreach, urban microfinance has now become an important instrument of urban poverty alleviation. However, inspite of its huge growth potential, urban microfinance is not an easy market because of its diverse client profile, their expectation and variety of products and processes needed. The provision of financial services to the urban poor involves different approach as well as innovative and diverse financial products suitable to the needs of poor and migrant population. Urban areas, especially the big cities, pose various challenge and difficulties. It requires supportive policy, regulatory environment and suitable technology for the orderly growth of urban microfinance sector.

Keywords

Microfinance, Urban Poverty, Microfinance Institutions, Financial Services.
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  • Urban Microfinance in India:Issues and Challenges

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Authors

Vandana Sethi
Department of Economics, Motilal Nehru College (Morning), University of Delhi, Delhi, India

Abstract


With the rapidly growing rural urban migration and increasing settlement of the poor in the cities and town in search of avenues of livelihood, access to adequate and timely finance by urban poor has become an imperative need. This has resulted in shift from earlier total focus on rural poverty to a balanced view that includes urban poverty as well. Urban microfinance, thus has caught immense attention of the policy makers and financial institutions. The size of urban microfinance market has increased significantly and number of players has considerably expanded. With its growing coverage and outreach, urban microfinance has now become an important instrument of urban poverty alleviation. However, inspite of its huge growth potential, urban microfinance is not an easy market because of its diverse client profile, their expectation and variety of products and processes needed. The provision of financial services to the urban poor involves different approach as well as innovative and diverse financial products suitable to the needs of poor and migrant population. Urban areas, especially the big cities, pose various challenge and difficulties. It requires supportive policy, regulatory environment and suitable technology for the orderly growth of urban microfinance sector.

Keywords


Microfinance, Urban Poverty, Microfinance Institutions, Financial Services.

References