Principles of responsible and trustworthy AI in digital lending

The paper explores what RTAI means in the context of digital lending. The first section compiles principles of RTAI along with its essential components. The next section maps relevant tools for each principle. These tool recommendations can help lenders implement RTAI practices in their operations.
Examining ‘Gender Gap’ in Financial Inclusion in India using the Global Findex Database 2025

This blog critically examines the concept of the “gender gap” in financial inclusion by distinguishing between unconditional differences and those that persist after controlling for socio-economic factors, using evidence from the Global Findex 2025 dataset
Heterogeneity in India’s Nano-Enterprises: A Heuristic for Delivery of Suitable Credit

This blog is the second in our two-part series on nano-enterprises, building on the discussion introduced in Part 1.
Mapping India’s Informal Enterprises: A Descriptive View from ASUSE

This blog is the first in a two-part series on nano-enterprises, a segment that remains underrepresented in official statistics and policy discussions. It presents a descriptive overview of India’s unincorporated enterprises using evidence from ASUSE, laying the empirical foundation for subsequent analysis focused on nano-enterprises.
Comments to Draft Reserve Bank of India (Commercial Banks – Responsible Business Conduct) Amendment Directions, 2026, dated 11 February 2026

In this response, we present our comments to the Draft Amendment Directions for ‘Advertising, Marketing and Sales of Financial Products and Services by Regulated Entities’ issued by the Reserve Bank of India on February 11, 2026.
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.