Dr. Rajendra Prasad is a development professional and working with Small Industries Development Bank of India for past 24 years. He has earned PhD from Tata Institute of Social Sciences [TISS], Mumbai in Development Studies and masters from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi in Political Science (M.A.), International Politics (M. Phil). He has been associated with policy formulation, advocacy and risk related functions at Small Industries Development Bank of India and has interacted with thousands of entrepreneurs in connection with project finance. He has been responsible for capacity building of few dozen micro finance institutions, impacting lives of several million people, mainly women folks and resources support to them for onward lending to poor and marginalized people, mainly in the rural India. Dr. Prasad has also been a freelance researcher and educator and provided faculty support for bankerstraining at Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Development Banking at Hyderabad, National Institute of Bank Management at Pune and SIDBI Swavalamban Academic Centre at Bhubaneshwar. His areas of research interest are poverty and its various socio-economic aspects.