GramaVidiyal Microfinance (Trichy and Chennai) is the largest and fastest growing microfinance institution in Tamil Nadu providing small loans to women without access to formal credit.

GramaVidiyal has been dedicated to empowering women of the poorest families socially, economically and politically through networking them into community institutions and through their efficient poverty alleviation and microfinance program.

www.gvmfl.com

S. Deveraj

Mr. Deveraj has over 30 years of experience in the development sector and is influential in Tamil Nadu’s political arena. In 1986, he was awarded a UNDP fellowship and travelled extensively across India, visiting and studying voluntary organizations. He has been the director of CASHPOR and Asmitha Microfin Limited, two large and well-known Indian MFIs, headquartered in Varanasi and Hyderabad, respectively. He has also served as the Chairperson of New Entity for Social Action (NESA), a regional level network of voluntary organizations and as the Executive Secretary of Indian Network of Micro Finance (INDNET) and Microcredit Network in Tamil Nadu (MICNET).

He completed a Diploma in Social Development (DSD) with a specialization in credit, savings and rural cooperatives from Coady International Institute (Canada) in 1985.