经济学人04:小额信贷蓄势再发

 　　Finance and Economics;Microfinance in India;Road to redemption;The industry is starting to revive;

　　财经;印度的小额贷款;救赎之路;小额信贷蓄势再发;

　　India'S microfinance sector¹ was once touted² as a saviour³ of the poor and a good bet for investors⁴. The high point for the industry came when SKS—then India's biggest microfinance company with a $1.2 billion loan book, a third of it in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh—went public in July 2010. The $350m offering was more than 13 times oversubscribed.

　　小额信贷在印度曾一度被吹捧为是穷人的救世主，投资者的好选择。当时印度最大的小额信贷公司SKS以12亿美元的放贷额将这一行业推向了高潮，其中三分之一的贷款流向了南部州安得拉邦。该公司在2010年7月上市时，价值3亿5000万美元的新股被超额认购13倍多。

　　Things went downhill fast. Many in the industry admit that runaway⁵ growth spurred reckless lending to poor Indians. Just months after the SKS listing, Andhra Pradesh's state government accused the industry of strong-arm collection tactics that drove some farmers to suicide. It issued suffocating⁶ rules; almost all loans in the state were written off; business ground to a halt. But the industry is starting to revive, with regulators in a far more central role.

　　然而这一形式却急转直下。很多业内人士承认小额信贷的疯狂发展刺激公司把钱轻率地借给穷人。SKS上市几个月后，安得拉邦州政府便控诉信贷业中的暴力收账迫使一些农民自杀。州政府随后下发了遏制条例，使得该州几乎所有小额贷款都被当做坏账核销，当地商业活动也被迫停顿了下来。但现在小额信贷业又将蓄势再发，不过这次管理人员担当着更为核心的角色。

　　Microlenders are attracting capital again. Grameen Capital India, a social-investment bank, says $144m of equity⁷ has been injected into microfinance groups in the past 12 months, more than double the amount in the preceding year. The International Finance Corporation, a multilateral lender, invested $18m in Equitas, a mid-sized group in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. SKS, whose loan book is now worth just $325m, raised $47.5m by issuing shares last year.

　　眼下小额放贷公司又在吸引着投资者。印度乡村资本银行是一家社会投资银行，该行表示过去一年里已经将1.44亿美元的股本注入小额信贷集团，相比头一年要高出一倍多。多边放贷人国际金融公司将1800万美元的资金投入到了泰米尔纳德邦一家名为Equitas的中型信贷集团。SKS目前的放贷总额仅有3.25亿美元，其去年增发的新股筹集了4750万美元。

　　Outside Andhra Pradesh microlenders' loan books rose in value by 33% year on year in the third quarter of 2012, according to the Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN), an industry body. Southern states and the eastern state of West Bengal are new hotspots. Bandhan, a no-frills company based in West Bengal, now has over 4m borrowers and the largest microfinance loan book in the country. Analysts⁸ say the sector's outstanding loans are now worth $2 billion-3 billion, compared with a peak of around $5 billion during the boom.

　　小额信贷机构网（MFIN）的数据显示，2012年第三季度里，邦外的信贷公司流向安得拉邦的贷款比去年同期上涨了33%。南方各邦以及东部的孟加拉邦是新的热点投资地带。孟加拉邦的基本服务公司班丹目前已经为400多万人提供过贷款，人数上在印度排名第一。分析师说目前小额信贷的未偿还贷款约为20到30亿美元，而繁荣期时的峰值约为50亿美元。

　　India's central bank is behind the renewed confidence. It released national guidelines for microlenders at the end of 2011 and has set up a licensing⁹ system. Although a bill officially appointing the central bank as the industry's regulator is languishing¹⁰ in parliament, these moves have helped stem what M.R. Rao, the boss of SKS, calls a “fear of contagion”, the worry that other states will copy Andhra Pradesh and suddenly draw up new rules.

　　印度中央银行是促成小额信贷复苏的主要原因。2011年年末，中央银行就小额信贷公司出台了国家指导方针，并建成了许可制度。虽然对议会来说，将中央银行指定为这一行业的管者的法案令人难以接受，但这些措施却帮助阻止了SKS老总所说的“蔓延恐惧”，即担心其它各邦会效仿安得拉邦，也突然起草新规定。

　　The guidelines try to draw a line between profits and profiteering. Microlenders' annual interest rates are now capped at 10-12 percentage points above their own borrowing costs, leaving most charging 23-27%. Some charged 40% during the boom; dodgy local loan-sharks, the only alternative source of credit in many rural areas, have even higher rates. Microlenders are also barred from lending to anyone with more than one outstanding loan.

　　指导方针试图划清盈利和暴利之间的界限，规定小额信贷公司的贷款年利率与其成本利率之间的最高差额要在10到12个百分点之间，这使得大部分贷款利率处在23%-27%之间。信贷繁荣时期的年利率有时高达40%，而在很多农村地区，奸诈的高利贷主作为唯一的信贷来源收取的利率甚至比这还要高。方针还禁止小额信贷公司贷款给任何有一笔及以上未偿还贷款的人。

　　But capping profits may end up harming the neediest borrowers, say lenders. Undertaking¹¹ small transactions in remote areas is not cheap. Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, Bandhan's managing director, says he keeps costs down with one-room branches containing little more than plastic chairs. Alok Prasad, the head of MFIN, warns that others may ditch the hardest-to-reach villages.

　　但是信贷公司表示限定利率最终可能会伤害到最贫困的借款人群。在偏远地区承办小额交易的成本很高。班丹公司总经理钱德拉-谢卡尔 高希说，为了节约开支，他们的分行只占用一个房间，里面只有几个塑料凳。MFIN的总裁阿洛卡-普拉萨德警告道，要是其他的信贷机构，可能就会放弃那些最难抵达的村落。

　　Some microfinance firms are looking beyond small, unsecured loans, which the central bank caps at 50,000 rupees ($910) a pop. Equitas last year set up a subsidiary that sells mortgages to poorer customers. Bandhan has similar plans. P.N. Vasudevan, the managing director of Equitas, says his housing loans, starting at 100,000 rupees, involve lower operating costs, in part because mortgage payments often get transferred via banks and do not require collection. If firms start to gravitate towards these lines of business, that could yet again leave the neediest behind.

　　央行还规定抵押贷款一次不能超过50,000卢布（910美元），但一些小额信贷公司的眼光却没有停留这种小额无担保贷款上。Equitas去年成立了一个子公司，专门为较为贫困的客户提供抵押贷款。班丹公司也有类似的计划。Equitas的总经理P.N.瓦苏德万说他们公司的房贷门槛是100,000卢布，营业成本相对较低，部分原因是按揭付款通常是通过银行转账，不需要亲自去收账。如果小额信贷公司把重心向这些业务转移，最贫困的人群将再次被甩在后面。

1 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

2 touted   

v.兜售( tout的过去式和过去分词 )；招揽；侦查；探听赛马情报

参考例句：

• She's being touted as the next leader of the party. 她被吹捧为该党的下一任领导人。
• People said that he touted for his mother and sister. 据说，他给母亲和姐姐拉生意。 来自辞典例句

3 saviour   

n.拯救者，救星

参考例句：

• I saw myself as the saviour of my country.我幻想自己为国家的救星。
• The people clearly saw her as their saviour.人们显然把她看成了救星。

4 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

5 runaway   

n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的

参考例句：

• The police have not found the runaway to date.警察迄今没抓到逃犯。
• He was praised for bringing up the runaway horse.他勒住了脱缰之马受到了表扬。

6 suffocating   

a.使人窒息的

参考例句：

• After a few weeks with her parents, she felt she was suffocating.和父母呆了几个星期后，她感到自己毫无自由。
• That's better. I was suffocating in that cell of a room.这样好些了，我刚才在那个小房间里快闷死了。

7 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

8 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

9 licensing   

v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• A large part of state regulation consists of occupational licensing. 大部分州的管理涉及行业的特许批准。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• That licensing procedures for projects would move faster. 这样的工程批准程序一定会加快。 来自辞典例句

10 languishing   

a. 衰弱下去的

参考例句：

• He is languishing for home. 他苦思家乡。
• How long will she go on languishing for her red-haired boy? 为想见到她的红头发的儿子，她还将为此烦恼多久呢？

11 undertaking   

n.保证，许诺，事业

参考例句：

• He gave her an undertaking that he would pay the money back with in a year.他向她做了一年内还钱的保证。
• He is too timid to venture upon an undertaking.他太胆小，不敢从事任何事业。