How financial stress impacts consumer confidence
The financial turmoil of 2008 and the subsequent recession amplified the association between vulnerabilities in the financial markets and the real economy. Examining the behavioural responses of India...
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Anurag Banerjee
Debasis Rooj
Reshmi Sengupta
15 May, 2025
- Articles
New banks, credit, and misallocation
In the late 1990s, India opened its banking sector to new private banks – both domestic and foreign. This article shows that this resulted in greater flow of credit – but only for big firms. Highe...
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Pavel Chakraborty
Nirvana Mitra
28 April, 2025
- Articles
Seeking ‘greenium’
While sustainable investing is growing rapidly, it is unclear who is benefitting from this and how. Based on analysis of data on green bonds and loans, this article finds that the gainers are mainly f...
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Jitendra Aswani
Shivaram Rajgopal
17 April, 2025
- Articles
Covid-19 crisis: How policy can revive lending appetite among banks
Amid the economic crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, the expected surge in non-performing assets and its potential impact on the fragile capital base of banks, is alarming. In this post, Srini...
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K. Srinivasa Rao
09 November, 2020
- Perspectives
Lead Bank Scheme: Does organisational design matter?
The Lead Bank Scheme of the RBI involves a ‘lead bank’ in each district of India that coordinates financial services in the district, and a ‘convenor bank’ in each state that monitors these ac...
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Samarth Gupta
26 October, 2020
- Articles
Going beyond passive investing in the stock market
Investing in the stock market through passive funds is now becoming popular in India. This is, broadly speaking, a positive development. However, Gurbachan Singh contends that we need to go well beyon...
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Gurbachan Singh
09 September, 2020
- Perspectives
India’s insurance sector: Challenges and opportunities
While India’s insurance sector has been growing dynamically in recent years, its share in the global insurance market remains abysmally low. This article traces the journey of the Indian insurance s...
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Kuntala Bandyopadhyay
Saon Ray
Vasundhara Thakur
31 August, 2020
- Articles
Using contract price to identify ‘right’ clients for flexible microfinance
While repayment flexibility in microfinance helps mitigate the impact of negative income shocks on MSMEs, it might increase default due to borrowers’ time-inconsistent or excessively risky behaviour...
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Giorgia Barboni
Arjun Malhotra
27 August, 2020
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Achieving the target of complete financial inclusion in India through fintech
A significant number of people in India remain outside the purview of the formal financial system. Use of financial echnologies can help address the gaps in financial inclusion left by the traditional...
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Arindam Sarkar
Onkar Shivraj Swami
07 August, 2020
- Perspectives
Unearthing “zombies” in the Indian corporate sector
The secular rise of "zombie" borrowers – insolvent firms sustained by continued extension of credit by complicit banks – is a source of concern as these firms tie up productive workers and capital...
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Nirupama Kulkarni
S. K. Ritadhi
Siddharth Vij
Katherine Waldock
04 August, 2020
- Articles
Effect of conflict on bank lending: Evidence from Indian border areas
Conflict can affect economic outcomes through the decisions of key individuals. This article studies the effect of repeated incidents of shellingacross the India-Pakistan border, on loan officers work...
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Mrinal Mishra
Steven Ongena
28 July, 2020
- Articles
Productivity growth in Indian banking: Who gained?
Since the deregulation and privatisation reforms of the early 1990s, Indian banking has witnessed many significant changes. This article finds that the sector experienced steady productivity growth un...
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Rajeswari Sengupta
Harsh Vardhan
07 July, 2020
- Articles
Covid-19 and debt moratorium conundrum: The case of microfinance
Given the extent of liquidity shock caused by Covid-19, the Reserve Bank of India enabled all lending institutions to provide their borrowers with a repayment moratorium on term loans until 31 Augus...
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Giorgia Barboni
Misha Sharma
02 July, 2020
- Perspectives
Covid-19: Right opportunity to strengthen the Insolvency and Bankruptcy code
The government has recently exempted all Covid-related debts from the definition of default, and stalled the invocation of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016 for one year, to allow ailing ente...
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K. Srinivasa Rao
11 June, 2020
- Perspectives
How microfinance can help entrepreneurs escape the poverty trap
The idea of poverty traps being important for microenterprises is captured in the adage “it takes money to make money”. This article reports on a study following households in India exposed to dif...
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Abhijit Banerjee
Emily Breza
Esther Duflo
Cynthia Kinnan
15 May, 2020
- Articles
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India’s insurance sector: Challenges and opportunities
While India’s insurance sector has been growing dynamically in recent years, its share in the global insurance market remains abysmally low. This article traces the journey of the Indian insurance s...
Kuntala Bandyopadhyay
Saon Ray
Vasundhara Thakur
31 August, 2020
- Articles
Financial inclusion in India: Progress and prospects
Financial inclusion is globally considered as a critical indicator of development and well-being of society. In this post, Srinivasa Rao traces the financial inclusion journey in India so far, and dis...
K. Srinivasa Rao
11 July, 2018
- Perspectives
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 d...
Rajeswari Sengupta
Harsh Vardhan
15 November, 2021
- Perspectives