From You to Us

From You to Us
India Wise to Green Opportunities
Dear Editor,
I read with absorbing the interesting Xover edition on green funds.
I have a different take on this and I am a little more optimistic. While VCs may not be too keen on small green/ cleantech ventures, many VCs and not-for-profit organizations are today providing significant amount of funds to Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) which in turn finance microenterprises both in rural and urban areas, there is growing awareness among MFIs that the activities they support should not cause environmental harm.
It is a fact that informal sector activity causes much less harm to the environment as compared to formal sector. Also, in urban areas, MFIs can convert environmental challenges into opportunities by encouraging businesses such as waste collection and recycling; they can work with clients whose activites contribute to air pollution by providing cleaner alternatives.
In a span of two decades, Microfinance institutions have become commercially viable and even large players like Citicorp have seen business sense in funding MFIs or even micro enterprises directly. I have come across an environmental source book for MFIs on the net, which is expected to help MFIs to understand their responsibility as well as opportunity in sustainable growth. While MFIs came in with the laudable objective of 'financial inclusion', to begin with, the way forward would be to integrate environmental concerns into their product offerings.
Regards,
Lata Chakravarthy
Dean ICFAI
lchakravarthy@yahoo.com
Dear Editor,
I presented your magazine in a forum held by the Cleantech Advisory board. It was well received and everyone found it to be a good compendium of articles on VCs interested in green technologies in India.
Regards,
Murali
murali@margabandhu.com

Dear Editor,
It is great to know that we still have people like you around to propagate green ideas. Alternate methods are not as expensive as most people make out. I remember making a solar drier for a fishing village a decade ago. The idea came from an article about a french NGO helping out a West African state. The total cost amounted to about Rs.300-400 then. We used polyethylene sheets instead of glass and used packing cases to save on costs.
Regards,
Jawahar

Dear Editor,
Technical entrepreneurs are only promoting their products. Venture Capitalists switch off if an entrepreneur cannot talk about what is in it for them if they were to invest. In such a situation the services rendered by Shri Suneel Parasnis is to be commended. We need more such interpreters and selfless mediators to bring to the fore many innovative products that are actually on the drawing boards of many entrepreneurs’ minds.
Regards
Chandra