Research Paper or Working Paper is the culmination of a research process and critical thinking. Here, we present our findings of primary research, surveys, and/or literature review in a format that is mostly found in academic papers. These may take us several months to produce and may involve a slow pace and deliberate reflection by the researchers.
As part of IFMR Finance Foundation’s “Notes on the Indian Financial System” research series, Anand Sahasranaman, Vishnu Prasad & Aditi Balachander, have authored the latest research note on “Simulating Housing Choice for Low-Income Urban Households”.
Generalized Herfindahl-Hirschman Index to Estimate Diversity Score of a Portfolio across Multiple Correlated Sectors
Municipal finances in India are characterised by the constant tension between the funds and functions of local governments. Cities in India have insufficient revenue tools to meet their expenditure requirements.
This note highlights the need for active and deep debt capital markets, both fixed income and derivative markets in India.
This note assesses the state of the Indian banking system including its small overall size and high concentration risk, poor indicators of financial inclusion and depth, opaque balance sheets, weak profitability, and highly covariant strategies followed by government-owned banks.
A friend pointed me to an interesting new book recently, “Inside China’s Shadow Banking: the Next Subprime Crisis”. This is written by an investment banker turned shadow banker, Joe Zhang.
As a part of our series on Municipal Finance, we present a summary of Anand Sahasranaman’s paper on Pragmatic Municipal Finance Reforms in India, published in the November 2012 edition of Environment and Urbanisation Asia
Central to the debate on access to finance for India, is the question of the most appropriate channel for credit delivery. Credit intermediation has traditionally been the stronghold of banks, driven by policy mandates and regulatory backing.
Following the sessions by Dr. Isher Ahluwalia and Mr. Vikram Kapur, (covered in this post) the workshop participants discussed critical topics such as decentralisation and governance, political economy and institutional fragmentation, revenue generation and infrastructure financing, water and sanitation, capacity building, and land and city growth.
The structured finance approach has given MFIs access to a new class of debt investors, thereby reducing over-dependence on traditional sources of funds. This therefore enables risk transfer over a larger gamut of financial institutions and also provides access to mainstream capital market investors. The need for continuous and reliable sources of capital is critical for growth and sustenance in this sector.
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.
