Independent Research and Policy Advocacy

A Randomized Evaluation of Financial Services in Tamil Nadu

A recent report titled “Latest findings from Randomized Evaluations of microfinance” by Jonathan Bauchet, Cristoball Marshall, Laura Starita, Jeanette Thomas and Anna Yalouris, throws a lot of interesting insights into the realm of randomized evaluations and how they are being increasingly used by researchers across the globe to better understand financial services for the poor and the impacts achieved when an appropriate financial intervention is introduced.

A structured finance approach to microfinance

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.

Challenge of financing SMEs

India is home to about 26 million small enterprises (with investments less than 50 million) that account for about 20 per cent of the country’s GDP .

Managing risks in microfinance

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) essentially act as financial intermediaries, bridging the gap between mainstream financial institutions and low-income households for a specific type of credit need that is short-term and unsecured.