At a time when the microfinance sector is in news for all the wrong reasons, Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) has chosen to provide a platform to discuss problems and innovations in the field. As a part of its annual business festival — Udaan 2011 — IRMA students will organise a symposium to discuss innovations in micro finance industry on February 26.

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The idea of the symposium cropped up following a suggestion by Vijay Mahajan, one of the board members of IRMA. Mahajan is a social entrepreneur and chairman of Basix, a microfinance institution.

"The Indian microfinance sector is well-known across the world for adopting innovative methods to tackle poverty. MFIs like SKS and Basix, technology providers like FINO and banks like ICICI have been at the forefront of delivering innovative solutions to provide financial services to the poor.Even the late CK Prahalad documented ICICI Bank's innovative method of financing the poor using microfinance, in his seminal book Fortune at the Bottom of Pyramid," said one of the students at IRMA, Naga Trinadh.

He added that the recent controversies in the microfinance sector have narrowed discussions to interest rate caps, ordinances, etc and IRMAns see this as an opportune time to innovate, citing his belief in Joseph Schumpeter's creative destruction model. The panel discussion will comprise of industry veterans, bankers, academicians and government officials.

The discussion will centre on how the industry innovated to provide financial services to the poor and current innovations in the sector. Panelists in the symposium include Jayshree Vyas from Sewa, SL Kumbharey from NABARD, CP Mohan of NABFINS, ICICI's Utpal Isser and IRMA professor H.S. Shylendra.

Apart from symposium, Udaan 2011 will also see business plans, case study analysis and a quiz. The band Euphoria will perform live at the institute on the last day of the event.