The crucial link between financial access and decision making of the poor
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.
Improving the Competitiveness of the Indian Banking System
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.
Reserve Bank of India revisits ‘Small and Local’
The Reserve Bank of India has published on its website, a discussion paper on Banking Structure in India – The Way Forward which covers the following aspects:
The century of the city – “Urbanized”
Gary Hustwit’s documentary film, Urbanized (2011), presents an optimistic overture about the future of cities, but is not unchecked with caution.
Structured finance for small business loans in India
The fast emerging small business loan (SBL) segment caters to the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and entrepreneurs which typically find it difficult to access funds through traditional sources.
Pricing in Microfinance: Theory and Empirical Evidence
Rosenberg et al. recently published a report on Microcredit Interest Rates and Their Determinants covering the period 2004 to 2011
Shadow banking as the symptom and not the disease
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.
Analysing a city’s finances – Example of Srirangapatna TMC, Karnataka
Continuing our focus on Municipal Finance, we look at the financial statements of Srirangapatna TMC in Karnataka in this post. We are currently working with the town of Srirangapatna as a part of IFMR Finance Foundation’s Financial Access for Small Cities initiative. In this post, we examine the town’s finances over the past ten years and find similarities to national trends.
Financial inclusion through the lens of CRISIL Inclusix
Financial inclusion is a key enabler of economic and social development. The effectiveness of the financial inclusion agenda in India can be significantly enhanced if there are objective ways to measure it.
FSLRC on Micro-prudential Regulation
The financial-legal framework envisaged by the FSLRC comprises nine important components, one of which is Micro-prudential regulation.
