About Rang De

I just came back from a presentation about Rang De. It is a very good concept that is aimed at trying to alleviate a lot of Indians from poverty. I was thoroughy impressed by the presentation made by the two co-founders (N.K.Ram & Smitha Ram) of Rang De. They were people who had given up working abroad with the thought of trying to make some difference in India. Their concept is not new, in that it is based on micro-financing. There are lots of micro-finance institutions in India which are trying to do the same thing. But what sets them apart is their interest rate and probably the main thing the transparency. Please visit http://www.rangde.org for more information though I will attempt to give you some information that I gathered . They have partnered with a few NGOs in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh and are close to partnering with an NGO in Karnataka. Through the investments by social investors they lend the money to the borrowers in the villages that the partners are associated with. Their concept is to lend money to a group of women and the group is accountable to the amount that is lend. They do write a disclaimer in their webpage that the money lend by the social investor is not guaranteed to be returned by the borrower but they say there is a 98.5% success rate of return.

They make regular visits to the villages to meet with the borrowers to also ensure that the money is being put to good use and that the end-borrower is benefiting from it and not the partner NGO (though their partner NGOs credibility is duly checked before partnering with them). They don't believe in getting huge amount of money from people (though it would help if there were such generous people) but they believe in a lot of people contributing even the minimum amount of Rs.1000. I find this concept pretty neat and the commitment that is shown by the two of them. When asked a question that "what if the other micro-finance organizations (one of their competitors) start to reduce their interest rate?" - one of the co-founders Smitha Ram gives a plain answer that their job is done. Their main motive was to make sure the lesser-priviliged get access to loan at affordable rates. And if the competition reduced their rates to make it affordable their job is done they say.

They are planning to launch another campaign or product of theirs which is meant towards helping children get access to education. I am glad somebody is working towards empowering people with money and providing access to education and all instead of just donating money and making them dependable. I hope to spread the message of Rang De through constant updates about them as and when I get the information. But please do your bit and spread the word even if you are not able to contribute there will be lots of people you can reach out too. I am finally glad that I have had an opportunity to write one useful post in my blog. Thanks to N.K.Ram & Smitha Ram. Will update with their picture soon.