Hyderabad, October 15: The Andhra Pradesh government today issued an ordinance to rein in microfinance institutions (MFIs), whose coercive tactics led to the death of a number of people in the state recently.
Christened ‘Andhra Pradesh MicroFinance Institutions (regulation of money lending) Ordinance, 2010’, the Ordinance came into force today with the Governor E S L Narasimhan giving assent to it.
About 30 persons have died in the state in last 45 days reportedly due to the harassment by MFIs, official sources said.
Taking a serious note of the deaths, Chief Minister K Rosaiah convened a special meeting of the cabinet yesterday to adopt the Ordinance.
The ordinance is aimed at regulating the functioning of the MFIs and to come to the rescue of the victims who have been facing harassment from the MFIs, state Rural Development Minister V Vasant Kumar told reporters.
–Agencies