Dharavi in Mumbai is not far from Bandra-Kurla complex where you will find National Stock Exchange and the corporate offices of the entire range of banks and financial institutions. However the annualised interest rate for a short term loan in the informal sector of Dharavi is at least 60% or above . This is still after 4 years C K Prahalad in his book ” The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid ” mentioned about this poverty premium. In the rush to introduce products and services for rural India are the businesses not paying enough attention towards urban low income informal sector ? Or the market size is not lucrative enough to deploy resources to develop these markets?

The accompanying photograph shows the card which is used to record weekly payments after one has taken the loan.