Understanding Low-Income Households from a Social Capital Perspective
The objective of this paper is to draw attention to those aspects of the lives of Low-Income Households (LIHs) that aren’t related to their income. In doing so, the paper characterises LIHs from a social capital perspective, highlighting the maintenance and strengthening of social capital as a deep-rooted cultural trait that is central to meaning-making in the lives of LIHs.
Transformative social protection: Do we understand what we are transforming?
This paper traces the historical evolution of TSP in social protection discourse and argues that TSP rests on an incomplete diagnosis of poverty and inequality that underestimates the role of a hyper‑financialised global economy.
Financing the Unseen: Blended Finance for Nano Enterprises
The objective of this blog is to articulate the scope and relevance of various blended finance instruments in advancing access to suitable credit for nano entrepreneurs.
Understanding CMIE-CPHS Data: A handbook
This document offers a guide to understanding and using CPHS data, focusing on its stratified multi-stage sampling design, weighting methodology, and operationalisation in statistical analysis.
Paisas to Prosperity: The Long Road to Savings
In this blog, we delve further to uncover the institutional, cultural, and evolutionary factors underpinning the challenges of engendering formal savings among LIHs.
Reflections on the Theory of Impact for Mobile Instant Credit
Mobile Instant Credit (MIC) is rapidly growing as a financial inclusion tool, attracting policy and research interest. However, its impact remains understudied, with a weak Theory of Change. The blog highlights three overlooked impact areas and calls for insights from microfinance research.
Know Your Kisan – A Peek into the Financial Lives of Indian Farmers through the NAFIS Survey 2021-22
In this blog, we will highlight some interesting facts about agricultural households from the survey through a set of questions that can help contextualise the financial lives of farmers and their families.
How rural households manage their financial lives- Insights from the NAFIS Report 2021-22
This blog presents key insights from the second round of the survey report, NAFIS 2021-22, and finds that the rural households’ investment portfolio continues to be dominated by physical assets, which is in contrast with the predominance of formal debt on the liabilities side of the household balance sheets.
How have household balance sheets changed post the pandemic? A descriptive analysis of household portfolios using CMIE’s Consumer Pyramid Household Survey Dataset
According to a report by Crif High Mark, microfinance loans overdue for up to 31-180 days increased from 2.1% in March 2024 to 2.7% in June 2024. While there could be several supply-side factors at play for the rise in defaults, in this blog we direct our attention to reviewing the household side of the story by assessing the changes in household balance sheets post the COVID-19 pandemic.
Agriculture Finance in India: A Landscape Review of Challenges & Opportunities
How can finance be designed and structured for agriculture, farmers, agricultural households, agrarian communities and the larger economy so as to ensure economic equity, social well-being, and environmental sustainability?
