VCCircle

BusinessWeek has a nice article on microfinance in India, the key players and how the banks are upbeat about it. It gives a decent overview of the market. According to Vijay Mahajan of Basix, a micro-lender in Hyderabad, microfinance in India is a $30 billion market. There are 350 million homes living under poverty conditions and 100 million do not have access to any kind of credit. The lending ranges from $40 to $200. That's a huge market out there.

There is a also talk of creating a secondary market for microfinance. Banks plan to securitise by bundling all microloans together and sell them as bonds to global investors. Micirofinance is an area to watch in India.