Our opinion editorials are published in newspapers, magazines, and new-age online publications. They are an important tool for public discourse and advocacy. They help us to raise awareness about important issues, and they often provide a platform for perspectives from our researchers, to be presented and to be heard.
For every loan of Rs, 10,000 made through a Public Sector Bank rural branch, it costs them about Rs. 4150. The same number for a Private Sector Bank rural branch is about Rs. 3210. Little wonder then that rural branch expansion meets with so much resistance.
A few colleagues and I recently travelled through Varanasi and Mirzapur in Eastern Uttar Pradesh visiting Micro Finance Institutions (MFI) in that region and their clients. I am delighted to report that this region, one of the poorest in India, is a hotbed of innovations.
What does the asset allocation look like for people living in remote rural India (villages with less than 5000 population)?
What will it take to make payments universal in India with a ratio closer to one point for every 100 citizens and importantly, who will pay for creating this infrastructure?
There has been much discussion recently about the distorting nature of various indirect subsidies such as those being offered via price controls on fuel and fertiliser.
Governments have proven to be too inefficient, the non-profits too small and the corporates too greedy to provide basic services. What about for-profit social enterprises?
The recent controversy surrounding the microfinance sector has entirely eclipsed the fact that it is the first effort in India to have delivered financial services to remote corners of the country in a self-sustaining manner.
India has a concentrated banking system, which means that if five individuals decide that this needs to be done, it will be done.
The power of finance to transform the lives of the poor is not well understood.
Finance is a tool that, when it works well, is designed to help an individual or a firm move resources smoothly across time and across different states of their lives (such as good health and ill health).
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.
