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Grameen Bank till date has provided microcredit to over 2.4 million borrowers, 95% of whom are women, across 40,000 villages. Microfinance in India today only reaches around 20 million people through 7000 MFIs⁴. In India, about 240 million people are in need for microfinance.
ICICI and ABN AMRO are two private sector banks actively involved in disbursing microfinance. If Bangladesh can do it, why can't India do it? The fact is microfinance today is available to those who seek it; the only problem is lack of awareness.

5.2. Lack of Electricity to Run Computers - Dominican Republic Shows the Way

There is a small village by the name of El Limon in Dominican Republic. The population of the village is just 350 people. The village is situated in arid mountainous region.

The citizens of this village, with the help of a volunteer from the United States, developed the micro hydro-electric system and labored hard to put it in place. They channeled whatever little water coming down from mountains to a tank built at a height. Then, using a series of plastic pipes from an existing irrigation system, they channeled water to turbines. They mixed cement by hand and poured it into wooden molds to craft 500-pound electric poles. Then, they carried the poles up the mountain, dug the holes and installed the wiring system.

Their hydro-electric system generate enough electricity to power a light-bulb in each of the village's 50 or so houses, and have enough left over to power their cinder-block schoolhouse.

Once they had electricity, the villagers hooked-up a donated computer to the Internet using a digital radio and an antenna relay system that connects to the nearest phone line, ten miles away. Now their school, which has no library in a village with neither telephones nor indoor plumbing, has a connection to the World Wide Web.

4 MFIs - Micro Financial Institutions

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* Contributed by -
Rohit Garg,
Final Year, PGDM,
S. P. Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai.