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Tag Search: “financial inclusion”

UPI: A game changer towards achieving a cashless economy

Since the launch of the Unified Payment Interface (UPI), the volume of digital transactions in India has increased exponentially over the last few years. Shamim Ara highlights the trends in the expans...

  • Perspectives

Credit cooperatives: Promoting worker well-being during crises?

Research shows that access to alternative credit mechanisms during the pandemic enabled informal women workers to gain financial security, benefitting their mental well-being in the process. Based on ...

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The low productivity trap of collateralised lending for MSMEs

The share of bank credit extended to MSMEs increased dramatically during the pan-demic. In this post, Harsh Vardhan discusses the the government guarantee of bank loans as a possible driver of this gr...

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The 10,000 FPOs scheme ignores women farmers

In this piece, Shilpa Vasavada puts forth her concern that if we don’t revisit the new Farmer Producer Organisations (FPO) guidelines with a gender lens, women in the agriculture sector will be left b...

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The future of old times

India needs to plan for a radical expansion of public support for the elderly. In this piece, Drèze and Duflo argue that near-universal social security pensions would be a good start. Elderly persons,...

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How financial access impacts women’s decision-making role in households

Government programmes which grant women access to financial support often provide assistance which is too small to significantly impact women’s economic position within the household. This article use...

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Accumulation of household debt in India: Repercussions for economic recovery

The Covid-19 crisis and the subsequent recession has brought about a shift in financial savings; households have cut back on consumption and reduced their demand for credit, and banks tightened lendin...

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Addressing the economic trade-offs of interlinkages in contemporary agrarian markets

Agrarian markets often see interlinked market transactions – the arhatiya deals with the farmer in both the crop market as a commission agent, and in the credit market as a moneylender. In this post, ...

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Can access to finance spur entrepreneurship in Indian informal sector?

Credit constraints, a consequence of the widespread failure of credit markets in developing countries, are widely regarded as a key constraint to entrepreneurship. Using 2010-11 and 2015-16 National S...

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Consumption smoothing and household savings: Role of demographics and durables

Canonical predictions of life-cycle models indicate that households will smooth consumption over their lifetimes. Conversely, empirical data from high-income countries have shown that consumption cont...

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Caste inequalities within socio-religious groups: Evidence from Uttar Pradesh

The Mandal Commission and Sachar Committee reports, among others, have indicated the existence of caste inequalities within the four major caste groups. However, data on this subject remain limited. U...

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Thinking about financial sector reforms in India

A key element of the economy that needs to function well in order to facilitate India’s strong and sustained recovery from the pandemic is the financial system. In this post, Sengupta and Vardhan dis...

  • Perspectives