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We are within striking distance of every Indian having access to a bank account and being able to easily send and receive payments. We should care deeply that millions of Indians are still turning to expensive informal financial services in the face of seasonal and volatile incomes, despite years of trying to improve access to basic financial services.
These less-discussed applications of fintech can transform microloan pricing and personal finance, leading to fair lending and wider inclusion
Non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) represent an important linkage between the formal banking sector and informal segments of the real economy in India (wage labourers, smallholder farmers, unorganised retail, and domestic workers) through the channelling of credit from the former to the latter. They have a significant presence in the microfinance, small business finance and commercial […]
Even as the city of Chennai was grappling with the after-effects of the devastating floods of December 2015, exactly a year later, Cyclone Vardah unleashed its fury, leaving behind a trail of destruction and devastation.
For the first time, the majority of Indian women have been financially included. Fresh data show that the proportion of Indian women with individual accounts in formal financial institutions (primarily banks) reached 61% in 2015, a sharp increase from 48% in 2014, lagging men by only eight percentage points.
Despite the best efforts by policy makers and state-owned banks, the last mile problem has been an insurmountable hurdle in the way of financial inclusion for the poor. Bindu Ananth, Chair - IFMR Trust & IFMR Holdings, busts some common fallacies about financial inclusion.
Imagine you are a labourer in a village in Odisha and have painstakingly completed your Aadhaar formalities (for which you gave a proof of permanent address and your fingerprints).
In India, however, it has been applied to the sale of derivatives by banks to corporate customers.
A new paper by Anandi Mani et al in the August issue of Science has a stunning finding – that the cognitive impact of being poor may be equivalent to as much as 13 IQ points.
I read an excellent post by Ajay Shah recently that questioned the policy wisdom of emphasising house ownership over rental housing.
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.
