MFIs in India are money-spinning machines: Yunus

KOLKATA: Muhammad Yunus , the celebrated pioneer of micro finance, has criticised India's microfinance practitioners for turning the sector into a money spinning opportunity.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2006, jointly with Grameen Bank for creating economic and social development from below in Bangladesh, said microfinance activities in India have taken a wrong turn and referred this as one of the major reasons behind the near-collapse of the sector.

"I feel sorry for the current situation in microfinance sector in India," Yunus said in an interview with ET, even as he is fighting a legal battle against his expulsion from Grameen Bank.

"One reason for this problem (In India) is some of these microfinance programmes have taken a wrong turn. They see microcredit as a money-making opportunity to make profit for themselves. That has shaken the trust of people who believed in its mission," said the 70-year old Yunus.

"We never saw micro-credit as an opportunity to make money out of the poor," Yunus said. The 38-year-old Grameen Bank today serves 8.3 million poor borrowers. The Nobel laureate has, however, been subjected to bitter smear campaign in Bangladesh since 2007 when he announced to form a political party.

Source: EconomicTimes