What are the new ways of proving lons to the poor
Answers
The line dividing "informal" credit and "formal" credit is very fine, and credit suppliers on both sides actually form a continuum that range from very informal suppliers (like friends, relatives neighbours etc.) to fully formal suppliers (banks and specialized financial institutions). Ranged in between these extremes are rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs), money lenders, pawn brokers, credit societies, traders etc. [Srinivas and Higuchi, 1996]. They mobilize savings and provide credit, or as in the case of ROSCAs, do both. The ICM is highly heterogenous in nature. It encompasses short term flows in funds markets, lending and borrowing of small amounts among group members, friends or relatives. It includes activities of finance companies, as well as those of pawnshops and money lenders. It runs the gamut from large wholesale traders financing trade, to village level crop buyers, to petty shopkeepers and itinerant peddlers.