SKS Microfinance is caught between the need for profitable growth and its social imperative to serve the poor. Its choices in the coming months will show which way it goes
SKS, like the sector it represents, is at a crossroads today. The company is working to become the world’s largest microfinance institution (MFI) next year by overtaking Muhammad Yunus’ Grameen Bank. SKS is also on the verge of becoming the first-ever MFI in India to go public. Not only is the management divided on how to grow, but is also facing charges of losing sight of its customers in favour of profitability and investor targets. Yunus, widely regarded as the father of microfinance, shivers at the thought of mixing private profits and microlending. “That’s what loan sharks have been doing over centuries.”
(This story appears in the 04 June, 2010 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)