India’s Most Recent Microfinance Crisis: Theory, Empirics & Learnings
In the paper, we lay out a theoretical frame for thinking about microfinance crises. The theoretical frame draws from Hyman Minsky’s 1977 work on financial instability, and layers over it a cultural reasoning that recognises overlending and overborrowing as cultural traits that sometimes takes hold of microfinance markets.
Understanding Low-Income Households from a Social Capital Perspective
The objective of this paper is to draw attention to those aspects of the lives of Low-Income Households (LIHs) that aren’t related to their income. In doing so, the paper characterises LIHs from a social capital perspective, highlighting the maintenance and strengthening of social capital as a deep-rooted cultural trait that is central to meaning-making in the lives of LIHs.
Transformative social protection: Do we understand what we are transforming?
This paper traces the historical evolution of TSP in social protection discourse and argues that TSP rests on an incomplete diagnosis of poverty and inequality that underestimates the role of a hyper‑financialised global economy.
The World Bank’s State of Social Protection Report: Context matters, but in what ways?
In early April, the World Bank published its State of Social Protection report (2025), earlier known as the ‘State of Social Safety Nets’ series. These reports use global-level data about social protection programs to reflect on trends in social security and to ascertain future requirements of social security.
Summary of the RBI FREE AI Committee Report
In the first blog of this series of two, we break down (i) the Committee’s methodology, (ii) key insights on the current state of AI adoption, (iii) FREE AI Framework and (iv) its recommendations.
From Periodic to Perpetual – Rethinking the process of KYC
This blog is based on the recent uptake in conversations on the reformation of the know-your-customer (KYC) process in the financial sector. We find the periodicity of the current KYC system to be of concern for various reasons. The periodic updates of KYC present a burden on the customer to validate themselves every few years, failing which they are at risk of being excluded from the financial system.
Assessing the Borrower-Level Impact of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code: A Study of the Fresh Start Process
This paper focuses on Part III of the IBC, which deals with natural persons, proprietorships, and personal guarantors for corporate debt.
Policy Research vs Academic Research
The two worlds of policy research and academic research (in economics) sometimes do intersect, but for the most part, they appear to me to be quite different arenas of inquiry, with different epistemologies and types of truth claims. This blog is about those differences as I see them, having worked in both domains.
Financing the Unseen: Blended Finance for Nano Enterprises
The objective of this blog is to articulate the scope and relevance of various blended finance instruments in advancing access to suitable credit for nano entrepreneurs.
Understanding CMIE-CPHS Data: A handbook
This document offers a guide to understanding and using CPHS data, focusing on its stratified multi-stage sampling design, weighting methodology, and operationalisation in statistical analysis.
