Who developed the basic idea of micro-credit program for poverty alleviation in Bangladesh ?

Professor Muhammad Yunus is the managing director and founder of Grameen Bank, which currently operates 1,148 branches providing credit to over 2.4 million poor people residing in 39,857 villages in Bangladesh.

Grameen Bank was his creation and he continues to be a strong advocate of micro - credit, arguing that it is only through collateral - free credit, made available in particular to poor women, that poverty can be alleviated.

He started the Grameen Bank Project in 1976 and saw it to its completion in 1983, and still holds the post of managing director in the organization.