Microfinance in India


	In India, the loans have ranged from financing of agricultural inputs to rainwater harvesting systems

AKDN’s microcredit operations in India are concentrated in rural and urban areas of Gujarat, Andra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Its largest programme is in Gujarat, where the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India) has run savings and credit programmes that operate as part of an overall rural development programme. These loans have ranged from financing of agricultural inputs to rainwater harvesting systems, livestock purchases and community water initiatives. Special instruments have been designed to assist indentured workers repay usurious multigenerational loans that were keeping them in perpetual servitude. Other instruments reward families for sending their children to school.

AKAM worldwide

AKAM’s microfinance initiatives range from village lending cooperatives to self-standing microfinance institutions to full-fledged microfinance banks. These activities currently operate in Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Egypt, India, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyz Republic, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Pakistan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, and Zanzibar. Often they are part of wider integrated development strategy being implemented by the AKDN within each country. In addition to providing financial services to the poor, they may include business or technical advisory/training extension services and business development programmes that work directly with local entrepreneurs.