There are some interesting discussion points in Tiwari's column 'Thinking Small' (Strictly Business, #205). First, with a primitive market infrastructure, small businesses in Nepal are literally excluded from the privilege of getting help from financial institutions. The financial institutions are interested in bigger businesses that have substantial equity, or in business owners with a good network of influence. The public knows that some of the financial institutions have provided assistance without people having equity just because they fell within the influential circle. Secondly, during the medieval times (or even today), there was an established socio-economic institution of rich merchants helping poorer farmers with financing. However, the downside of this institution was that poor farmers became kamiyas or slaves if they were not able to payoff their loans. Since the bigger financial institutions can only cater to the rich and influential, the government should target these traditional merchants and poor villagers with financial provisions, and also some type of penalty mechanism (other than slavery) if the loan cannot be paid off.

D Mahat, Baltimore,
USA