Author Archives: admin

Workshop on Mainstreaming Traditional Knowledge to support Climate Change Adaptation Policies

IFMR LEAD jointly hosted a workshop with UNESCO on “Mainstreaming Traditional Knowledge (TK) to support Climate Change Adaptation Policies” in Chennai. … Read More

Digitizing Self-Help Groups in India

Despite efforts from all quarters, 2 billion people globally are still excluded from formal sources of financial services. Digital financial inclusion has emerged as the new wave in the hope that it will reach the last mile consumer in the most … Read More

Policy Workshop: Evidence in Financial Inclusion

IFMR LEAD co-hosted a policy workshop along with Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) and CAFRAL titled ‘Evidence in Financial Inclusion: New Findings and their Applications.’ … Read More

Assisted Models of Digital Finance – A Stepping Stone?

Parul Agarwal, Suraj Nair

This is the second article in a series on the progress of digital financial services in Bangladesh. It draws on discussions held at a recent seminar on the subject, organized by BRAC’s Social Innovation Lab in Dhaka, in collaboration with a2i, and USAID’s mSTAR project … Read More

Revitalizing the Self-Help Group Movement in India

Growth of the self-help group movement in India has slowed in the past five years. How can challenges be overcome to improve and revitalize these programs? In this article, Misha Sharma and Shreya Chatterjee from our research team highlight findings from … Read More

Preliminary Findings from the KGFS Impact Evaluation Study

Iris Braun

This article shares preliminary findings from an ongoing study by IFMR LEAD, Evidence for Policy Design at the Harvard Kennedy School and Duke University, on access to finance in rural Tamil Nadu. Happy Birthday Pudhuaaru KGFS, and if we may … Read More

Round Table: Mapping the Digital Finance Ecosystem in India

IFMR LEAD, in collaboration with J.P. Morgan, hosted a roundtable as part of their research project “Process Mapping and Evaluation of Digital Financial Services in India’” in Mumbai. … Read More

Digital Finance in Bangladesh: Empowering or Excluding Women?

Parul Agarwal and Suraj Nair

This article is part of a series of Blogposts on the progress of digital financial services in Bangladesh. It draws on discussions held at a seminar on the subject in Dhaka in April 2016. The seminar was organized by BRAC Social Innovation Lab, … Read More

Open Letter to Traffic Planners

Dear Traffic Police and transport planners,    I am a Chennai resident for the past year and a half. In this period, I have taken up several modes of transport in the city and tried various combinations of private, and … Read More

Using ICT to Help MSME’s Prosper – A Qualitative Insight of Mobile-based Financial Training in Bangalore

Kanika Joshi

Can an ICT-based training program help improve financial outcomes for women entrepreneurs? In this article, Kanika Joshi gives us an insight into the life of Shakuntala – a woman entrepreneur and participant in our ongoing evaluation of a mobile-based business … Read More