Microfinance is at a crossroads on the subcontinent. Muhammad Yunus is under investigation in Bangladesh by a government determined to discredit the Grameen Bank founder and Nobel Peace Prize laureate for deigning to seek higher office.
In India, the situation is worse. A spate of suicides in the impoverished southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh, most occurring in late 2010, were blamed on overzealous, even aggressive debt repayment collections by microfinance institutions (MFIs).
The Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty totted up 54 suicides in October alone.
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