SHG members educated about micro financing

Imphal, Jun 26 (UNI) A three-day workshop on orientation for micro finance is being organised by the Institute of Cooperative Management(ICM) here.

ICM officials here said following the financial sector reforms, several changes were taking place in the rural micro-financial system. While a large number of Self Help Groups(SHGs) are coming up to meet the credit needs of rural poor in some parts of the country, particularly in southern states.

With the economic reforms, private banks, NBFCs, NGOs and MFIs too are entering this sector the official added. However, most lending institutions have discovered that rural lending can be sustainable only if the transaction costs were brought to the minimum.

The rich entrepreneurial tradition of Manipur women should be viewed as a strong basis on which sustainable micro-finance models could be built he further observed. This is one of the objectives of this workshop.

The three-day meet is expected to share the micro-finance experience from other parts of the country, identify critical gaps in policy, programme and institutions in taking micro-finance to rural poor in Manipur and build strong, and sustainable models of micro-finance interventions in the state.

The workshop was inaugurated yesterday by Dr S Budhichandra, Speaker.

UNI