{"title":"Hinduism and Microcredit","authors":"A. Ashta, M. Hannam","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.1728384","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1728384","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show that the microfinance industry practices can benefit from the culture and spiritual traditions of a country. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use the Bhagavad Gita and the codes of Manu and Kautilya to describe the background of Hindu teaching and practical wisdom. The authors use a case study of a Hindu microfinance institution (MFI). Findings – The authors find that Indian spirituality is a case-based application of learning through experience. Research limitations/implications – The case used in this study is one of a religious organization led MFI. It would be interesting to have follow up case studies of for-profit organizations and study their philosophy and links to spiritual traditions. Practical implications – The authors find that business in general, and MFIs in particular, should adopt risk-based pricing. The specificities of each product, its delivery and price should be based on continuous learning from experience of helping customers. ...","PeriodicalId":201612,"journal":{"name":"HIN: Hindu Culture (Topic) - Forthcoming","volume":"29 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133169650","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}