Citibank India and SKS Microfinance, a microfinance organization, have announced a $44 million financing program involving Citibank India purchasing loans that are originated by SKS.

<p>The program aims to deliver income-generating loans of between INR5,000 and INR20,000 to a population of more than 200,000 unbanked customers spread across 7,000 villages in 11 states of the country by the fiscal year 2007/2008. <br /><br />The partnership combines SKS&#0039; customer acquisition and management model with Citi&#0039;s extensive experience in financial structuring for microfinance institutions, networks and investors in emerging markets. <br /><br />Under the partnership, the origination and servicing of loans will rest with SKS. <br /><br />Vikram Akula, founder and CEO of SKS, said: We are pleased to partner with Citibank in this ground-breaking initiative to bring greater financial inclusion to India&#0039;s poor. The partnership will enable us to provide increased economic opportunity to hundreds of thousands of poor families across the country and move us closer to our goal of scaling to five million families by 2010.</p>