Independent Research and Policy Advocacy

Response to Niti Aayog’s Discussion Paper on “Digital Banks – A Proposal for Licensing and Regulatory Regime in India”

Identifying the Market Failure and Mis-identifying the Intervention The discussion paper highlights a ‘market failure’ in the debt market for MSMEs wherein incumbent banks are unwilling to lend to MSMEs, who are otherwise creditworthy, due to lack of documentation and thereby leading to suboptimal outcomes for both banks and MSMEs[3]. Adding to these frictions is […]

Comments to the Reserve Bank of India on the Report of the Working Group on Digital Lending including Lending through Online Platforms and Mobile Apps

In this blog post, we present our comments to the Report of the Working Group on Digital Lending including Lending through Online Platforms and Mobile Apps, November 2021 (the Report) in response to the call for comments from all stakeholders by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Our response is accessible here.     We appreciate the Report’s […]

Detecting Over-Indebtedness while Monitoring Credit Markets in India

The household sector, comprising of individuals, households, proprietorships, and other non-corporate entities, has over INR 46 trillion as outstanding in the Indian formal credit market. The ability to access credit enables an individual and her household to gain better financial wellbeing and economic welfare outcomes, and an excess of credit can diminish any developmental gains. […]