When Dr Thorat and I Could Have Competed With the Best Astrologers on This Planet!!!

That microfinance in India turned into a macro-mess in 2010 is indeed a sad truth. However, the fact is that much of this was predicted in May 2005, when Dr Thorat and I presented a paper {Regulation and Areas of Potential Market Failure in Microfinance, by Thorat, Y. S. P. and Ramesh S. Arunachalam (2005)} at the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) high-level policy conference in New Delhi. This paper had suggested that the burgeoning growth of microfinance could result in a number of not-so-desirable practices being adopted. I reproduce the Hindu Business Line article dated October 2005 as per link given below:

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/bline/2005/10/01/stories/2005100102220600.htm 

It needs to be noted carefully that despite a paper in which the Managing Director of NABARD (Dr Thorat was that then) was the first author and the same was presented in a high powered panel (chaired by a Joint Secretary, Ministry of Finance, GoI) to a distinguished set of participants in May 2005 including representatives of regulators such as RBI and even international donor's like CGAP,  consistent regulatory failure occurred through the years in microfinance in India. First in 2006, then 2009 and finally 2010. My forthcoming book, An Idea Which Went Wrong: Commercial Microfinance in India, talks about these happenings in detail with a historical perspective...

Déjà vu...