The controversy sparked by suicides and harassment of the rural poor by micro finance institutions has the Self-Employed Women’s Association (Sewa) founder and Ramon Magsaysay award winner Ela Bhatt worried.
Ahmedabad-based Bhatt, who set up Sewa in 1972 and is considered a pioneer in the field of micro credit in India, called the big boys of the micro finance industry for an informal chat on Monday. However, she is learnt to have been given a royal snub.
According to sources, most of the biggies like Vikram Akula of SKS Microfinance, which has been in the eye of a storm lately, Padmaja Reddy of Spandana Sphoorthy and Udaia Kumar of Share Microfinance, did not turn up at the meeting. "Elaben had called the promoters of the top MFIs for an informal meeting. It was to try and put some sense into people and basically ask them to behave, but none of them turned up," a source said