As of now Grameen Bank has disbursed $3 billion in micro-credit loans and $185 million in housing loans. Currently, it serves 2.35 million clients, 94 per cent of them are women, covering 40,000 villages.

Grameen Global Network, a body to coordinate the international activities of Grameen Bank, now conducts more than 80 micro-credit programmes in 30 countries around the world, bank sources said.

The bank sources said Malaysia was the first country where the Grameen micro-credit methodology was piloted in 1980s with some funds from UNDP (United Nations Development Programme).

Selangor state government of Malaysia was keen to try the Grameen approach to poverty reduction and wanted to co-sponsor the pilot project.

The pilot project in Malaysia has now blossomed into a full- scale national micro-credit programme for the hard-core poor known as Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM), with more than 56,000 borrowers and savers.

This accounts for over 50 per cent of the total population of hard-core poor of the Southeast Asian country. As of January 2000, AIM had an average loans outstanding of $21 million and a portfolio-at-risk of 0.37 of 1 per cent.

The encouraging results of the pilot project in Malaysia has prompted other Asian nations including India, Nepal Vietnam to replicate the Grameen Bank approach to alleviate poverty.

The Indian pilot project, Share, has now converted itself into a non-bank financial institution, providing micro-credit services to more than 30,000 active borrowers, while maintaining a portfolio at risk of zero per cent.

The Nepali project has transformed itself into a development bank called the Nirdhan Utthan Bank Ltd. It serves 22,000 active borrowers and maintains a portfolio-at-risk of less than 3/5 of 1 per cent.

The Vietnam pilot project has become a full-fledged micro-credit programme of the Vietnam Women's Union known as Tau Yu Mai. It has over 10,000 active clients, and a portfolio-at-risk of less than 1/5 of 1 per cent.

The encouraging results of the early replications of the Grameen micro-credit methodology in the Asian region has gave birth to a regional network called Credit and Savings for the Hardcore Poor (CASHPOR) which promotes establishment of Grameen-style programmes in Asia.

CASHPOR now has 20 member institutions in China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Nepal, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea. The institutions provide micro-financial services to some 3,17,876 of the poorest in Asia. Their combined loans outstanding are $43 million.