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.
Households slip into “bad states of the world” due to several reasons, including accident or death of the earning member, medical emergency of a family member, poor or excess rainfall that ruin crop production, theft or fire.
G E Balajee, IFMR Blog Team in conversation with Abhishek Sinha, CEO, Eko India Financial Services Private Limited on the Business Correspondent model, its challenges and prospect.
Recently, we flagged off our new blog series on financing options for non-bank originators with our first post that explored debt-funding options in some depth.
A defining characteristic of the finances of low-income households is the irregularity and seasonality of cash-flows, and the generally small surplus.
Increasing urbanization and massive demographic pressures that India is witnessing has brought housing and infrastructure to centre stage.
Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a discussion on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) which was attended by chartered accountants and key financial stakeholders.
In a move aimed at developing the secondary market for securitised debt instruments, SEBI has released a Listing Agreement for such instruments and directed the exchanges to do the needful to enable listing of securitised debt instruments.
It is now well-accepted that the power of financial services to the customer, particularly low-income households, is realised only through the availability of a broad range of services, and not just through small loans or opening bank accounts.
Credit Derivatives are great financial tools that help entities manage their risk in a better, more efficient way.
In the wake of recent reports of dramatic decline in the availability of capital, microfinance service providers struggling to keep afloat, and the recent proposal by the finance minister to create a dedicated fund for providing equity to smaller MFIs
In all our research efforts, we strive to maintain an independent voice that speaks for the low-income household and household enterprises. Our ability to perform this function is significantly enhanced by our commitment to disseminate as a pure public good, all the intellectual capital that we create.
