B’lore Reaches Out to its Urban Poor – CNN-IBN (Ujjivan)

November 6, 2006 Posted by Media Exposure

Bangalore: Ujjivan Chief Executive, Samit Ghosh is of the opinion that when you give money to a woman, the majority of it will be spent on the family, whereas if you give it to a man, chances are that it will go to alcohol.

This seems to the mantra behind every micro finance organisation. But while micro finance has largely meant financial services for the rural sector, Bangalore-based Ujjivan is among the handful that lends to urban poor.

“Traditionally micro finance has been for rural areas, the thinking being that poverty arises in rural areas and migrates to cities. But today, we have over 100 million urban poor and they have been there for generations, so they really can’t be ignored,” says Ghosh.The census figures of 2001 show there are 2 million poor people in Bangalore, which is 35 per cent of the population.

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