Bengal examining Yunus model

The West Bengal government is looking at ways of replicating the innovative micro-credit model of noble laureate Md Yunus in the state.

"We are examining the Grameen Bank model of Md Yunus," state's chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb said

Officials of the panchayat and rural development department have already visited Bangladesh. Grameen Bank officials, too, visited West Bengal to get an overview of the micro credit system prevalent here.

Deb said an expert committee was looking into the matter A report would be placed before the state Finance Ministry for consideration before the budget session.

Yunus had claimed that one of the most compelling poverty solutions in the world today was microfinancing.

Yunus, founder and managing director of Grameen Bank, the Bangladesh microcredit lender whose model of financing the poor has been copied elsewhere, won the Noble Peace Prize in October.

Yunus founded the bank to lend small amounts of cash "" often as little as $20 (Bangladeshi taka 1,370) "" to local people, almost always women, who could use it to start or sustain a small business. It could be buying a cow to sell milk or a simple sewing machine to make clothing.