Independent Research and Policy Advocacy

July 28, 2023 | Dvara Research

MFIN India and Dvara Research partner to gather insights on users’ experience of navigating the MFIN-Customer Grievance Redress Mechanism (MFIN-CGRM). The study deploys mixed methods — a primary survey of over 300 users, stakeholder interviews and desk research to understand the user-centricity of the MFIN-CGRM.

By Anubhutie Singh, Beni Chugh
June 30, 2023 | Dvara Research

The SDG Agenda, the sovereign debt crisis and the climate crisis will need brave leadership from not just individual governments of both the global north and the south, but also groups such as the United Nations, the G20, G7 and others, to closely negotiate tough decisions that can have enough impact on the triple inequality – of wealth, carbon and power.

By Deepti George
June 28, 2023 | Moneycontrol

Insurance companies should align their sales practices to generate the best outcomes for low income households by ensuring easy access to a variety of products with disclosures that provide accurate information.

By Priyadarshini Ganesan, Sowmini G Prasad
June 5, 2023 | Dvara Research

Managed competition is a theoretical concept for designing and regulating health insurance systems. Such systems can secure consumers' interests by managing diverging incentives, instituting uniform regulations, equipping consumers to make informed choices, and creating a competitive environment tailored to rewarding those organisations that improve services to consumers.

By Anjali Nambiar, Hasna Ashraf, Aarushi Gupta
June 3, 2023 | Economic and Political Weekly

Analysing the contents of the Reserve Bank of India’s biannual FSRs and the methodology of the RBI’s supervisory stress tests reveals that there is scope for improvement, specifically regarding the continuity in the tracking of certain risk drivers, the extent of commentary on the information, and aspects of stress tests.

By Amulya Neelam
May 30, 2023 | Dvara Research

This research brief aims to synthesize existing evidence on the performance of PMJJBY and PMSBY since their inception, the reasons for low participation in these schemes, and the barriers to their successful implementation.

May 29, 2023 | Dvara Research

When viewed from a consumer’s perspective, these challenges manifest at different stages of their journey with a health insurance program, beginning from the decision to enrol in a program and ending at the renewal stage. While tweaks to the design of the health insurance program or moving to a more integrated model of healthcare provision may help in this blog post, we explore the role that social capital can play in circumventing some of these challenges.

By Sowmini G Prasad, Anjali Nambiar
May 15, 2023 | Dvara Research

This post presents design elements that providers can use to make the consent artefacts more effective for constrained users. These design recommendations emerge from the insights from an immersive behavioural field study we conducted with 60 constrained customers through a gamified simulation of an AA transaction.

By Srikara Prasad, Beni Chugh, Nishan Gantayat, Anushka Ashok
May 8, 2023 | Dvara Research

This blog post summarises key takeaways from a virtual workshop we recently hosted. It was conducted against the backdrop of a study that we recently concluded titled “Can information disclosures influence life insurance purchase decisions for low-income households?”.

By Sowmini G Prasad, Priyadarshini Ganesan, Misha Sharma
May 6, 2023 | Economic and Political Weekly

Large gaps exist in life insurance coverage in India. The paper examines this issue through a supply-side lens by examining the two key features—the distinction between the agent and the broker model and the alignment of incentive structures with product life-cycle servicing.

By Sowmini G Prasad, Deepti George