Independent Research and Policy Advocacy

Publications

Blogs

We produce blogs to discuss new research findings, ongoing projects, and even personal reflections on the research process. Our blogs are written for a variety of audiences, including other researchers, policymakers, practitioners, financial service providers, grassroots organizations, impact investors and the public. The format is simple and easy to grasp. The language is straightforward, and the tone is non-academic. Our blogs can be of varying lengths. We choose to write a blog when we don’t want to do a full- fledged study or follow a rigorous research process. Blogs may contain opinions and they can also be based on experiences. Some of our blogs may just share some observations, learnings, or challenges.

Our Work

July 14, 2016 | Dvara Research

Insurance contracts to lower income households (micro-insurance) are typically for one year.

By Renuka Sane
July 5, 2016

Payments banks are different from regular banks. They can only accept deposits up to Rs. 1 lakh per person, roughly $1500, and cannot grant loans. Furthermore, payments banks can only invest their money in safe government securities and other highly liquid assets. Their primary objective is to further financial inclusion by providing access to small savings, payments and remittance services to low-income customers without compromising financial stability.

By Liliana Rojas-Suarez
June 30, 2016 | Dvara Research

In this post, we attempt to compare the regulatory landscape for NBFC-MFIs and Housing Finance Companies (HFC) within the broader context of the regulatory landscape for niche credit intermediaries.

By Deepti George, Nishanth Kumar
June 21, 2016 | Dvara Research

Natural catastrophes, whether in the form of the severe drought that regions like Bundelkhand are currently witnessing or floods, like the one which deluged Chennai in 2015, leave behind them a tale of destruction that is both unparalleled and deeply disturbing

By Vipul Sekhsaria, Nikhil John
June 17, 2016 | Dvara Research

Recently the Reserve Bank of India released a Consultation Paper on Peer to Peer Lending aimed at defining the contours of regulating Peer to Peer (P2P) Lending in India.

By Linda George
June 14, 2016 | Dvara Research

I had an opportunity to participate in the excellent conference organised by the Stanford Centre for International Development (SCID) on Indian Economic Policy as a discussant for a presentation by Dr. Rakesh Mohan.

June 9, 2016 | Dvara Research

This post is a continuation from our earlier post about a conversation with S. Anand, Chief Data Scientist, Gramener. The earlier post covered the fundamentals of a good data visualisation and the nuances one has to keen in mind while undertaking such an effort.

By Nishanth Kumar
June 6, 2016 | Dvara Research

The role of data in shaping public perception and informing policy decisions cannot be emphasised enough. Given the shift towards increasing digitisation and an influx of data points that is now available in the public domain,

By Nishanth Kumar
May 23, 2016 | Dvara Research

As we saw in the previous post, seasonal migrant workers and their families face several endemic disadvantages, both at source and destination.

By Rupal Kulkarni
May 16, 2016 | Dvara Research

“Why did I migrate? Because it’s a question of my survival, my family’s survival” – Mogji Meena, Limdi Village, Aaspur Block, Dungarpur District, Rajasthan

By Divya Varma