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

February 4, 2013 | Dvara Research

I was recently made aware of a fascinating speech2 on this topic given by Mr. V. K. Sharma (ED, RBI) in Mumbai on November 8th, 2012.

By Dr. Nachiket Mor
January 30, 2013 | Dvara Research

In India, rice and wheat comprise 70 percent of agricultural produce by area, but less than 25 percent by value.

By Dr. Richa Govil
January 20, 2013 | Dvara Research

his post is a continunation of our series of posts on Unemployment Support in India. The below post borrows heavily from Kamimura’s “Employment structure and Unemployment insurance in East Asia

By Anand Sahasranaman
January 6, 2013 | Dvara Research

The previous post covered the process of “Suitability” in financial services. Here, we cover aspects of the legal and regulatory structure that will aid in establishing an effective Suitability regime in India.

December 30, 2012 | Dvara Research

Here are our picks: 1)Direct Cash Transfer Scheme – To be rolled-out from January 1, under this scheme government plans to provide subsidies and other benefits directly to the poor in cash rather than in the form of subsidies.

By Dvara Research
December 26, 2012 | Dvara Research

As the government plans to transfer 29 benefits (pensions, scholarships, fuel subsidies etc.) through the direct cash transfer scheme, we look at what research tells us about unconditional cash transfers.

By Vishnu Prasad
December 24, 2012 | Dvara Research

This is the second post in the series of posts on the Municipal Finance Scenario in India. In this post, we discuss the functions devolved to ULBs as per the 74th Constitutional Amendment. We also discuss briefly the capabilities of ULBs to carry out these functions successfully.

By Vaibhav Anand
December 17, 2012 | Dvara Research

I recently had an opportunity to read an interesting book on farmer suicides in the Yavatmal district of Maharashtra by Secretary Health Meeta Rajiv Lochan1 (meeta29 [at] hotmail.com) and Professor Rajiv Lochan2 (mrajivlochan [at] hotmail.com).

By Dr. Nachiket Mor
December 11, 2012 | Dvara Research

There has been a lot of stress on assessing a customer’s cash-flows before sanctioning a specific loan, for instance a home loan or a crop loan.

By Shweta Aggarwal
December 7, 2012 | Dvara Research

The previous post delineated the Indian context for finance and suitability as part of our Consumer Protection series. This post delves deeper into the conceptual discussions on suitability as the new paradigm for financial sector regulation in India.

By Vishnu Prasad, IFMR Finance Foundation